Social media has come a long way since its inception. Today there are dozens of different social platforms, with new ones continuing to appear every year — TikTok is just one example of a new platform that has carved a space in the social media world.

But despite that, Instagram remains a popular and effective social network, and not just for the everyday user. Read on to discover why Instagram is the only social platform your startup needs in 2020.

It’s perfect for driving relevant traffic to your brand

Social media is about community, about human connections that transcend geographical divides. This is what every good social network is about, but Instagram takes it to the next level.

A good example of this can be found in hashtags. While some other platforms do use hashtags to some extent, Instagram builds them into its essence. They help individuals trawl and find the content and accounts related to their specific interests.

For startups, this provides an effective way of driving relevant traffic to your account and posts. By using a well-researched blend of both generic and specific hashtags, you can get your content seen by the right people.

For instance, let’s say your startup sells email marketing software. A generic #emailmarketing hashtag will get you a wide audience of people peripherally interested in the topic.

But more specific hashtags such as #B2Bemailmarketing or #emailmarketingsequences will get you people who are specifically interested in these areas, and who are more likely to become customers — providing your content is on-point.

Of course, these are just examples. The best hashtag strategies are well-researched and comprehensive, so spend some time using a tool such as Hashtagify finding the best hashtags for your startup’s niche.

It’s big and diverse to help you reach customers better

When it comes to social platforms, bigger is better, and Instagram delivers on that front. At last count, the platform boasted a huge one billion monthly active users — not insubstantial.

With Instagram’s huge user base comes diversity too. 72% of teens aged 13-17 years old use the platform, but a not insubstantial 40% of 30-49 year-olds do too. 39% of women use it, closely followed by 30% of men across the board. Finally, 42% of its users earn more than $75K per year and another 42% earn between $30-$50K.

Consequently, Instagram gives you access to a diverse group of individuals, many of whom are likely to have considerable disposable income too — this gives startups plenty of scope for growing their audience, reaching prospective customers, and increasing sales into the bargain.

It places great emphasis on the power of visuals

Visuals are a powerful and popular content format. Indeed, 80% of marketers use some form of visual content in their marketing, testament to its enduring popularity. It’s especially effective for conveying meaning, with 65% of information retained from a message when partnered with a suitable image.

Instagram places great emphasis on the power of visuals, offering a variety of visual content formats: images, photos, videos, Stories, and more. While other social platforms also offer these, Instagram takes it further by offering live video, boomerangs, IGTV, and more, all easily customizable with an array of creative features.

Further to this, the platform’s native editing suite is surprisingly comprehensive. It negates the need for expensive software and lets startups create beautifully branded

content to reach their audience.

It offers a wide array of beautiful, dynamic features

Instagram is renowned for its dizzying variety of unique, creative content — videos, photos, graphics are all present on the platform and eagerly digested by its users.

Naturally, Instagram provides an equally creative array of unique and dynamic features to let you engage your audience.

Take Stories, for example. Stories are temporary content that appears on your profile for just 24 hours before disappearing forever (unless you decide to save them to your profile’s Highlights reel).

Stories are perfect for launching new products, showcasing features of your existing ones, providing insights into the inner workings of your startup, and more. Create dedicated Highlight reels to save your best and group them around certain themes, such as Behind The Scenes or New Products.

Your Stories can also be taken further with Stickers. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Hashtags
• Locations
• Gifs
• Shoppable Products
• Questions
• Mentions
• Emojis
• Polls

Stickers help you increase engagement with your Stories. The Q&A Stickers, for example, can be used to invite questions from your prospective customers about the new product or service you’re launching.

In this way, you can promote your startup by connecting with your target audience on a personal, human level via your Stories.

This is just one element of the many features that Instagram has to offer: Shoppable posts, live video, IGTV, video calls, and more all make for an impressive toolkit that startups can use to grow in 2020.

Instagram is just one of many social platforms available to businesses today. But it continues to be a powerful choice for startups seeking to grow. As the above attests, Instagram is the only platform your startup will need in 2020.

Written exclusively for EncontextMedia by Rodney Laws

Reference: https://ecommerceplatforms.io