Branding on Instagram

05 October 20

Instagram is today's branding. This could be an overstatement, but this could also be true at least for some businesses out there. In their attempts to get to know a brand, people today often skip the official website as the first place to find out more and go straight to instagram. This is as Larry Kim, CEO of MobileMonkey (Mobile Marketing Software for Marketers), explained on a discussion in MobileMonkey website that according to a Forrester study, Instagram has a brand-engagement rate 58 times higher than Facebook's. This is especially in terms of generating conversations, creating trends, and encouraging call-to-action.

Only a few seconds of scroll-down and they could instantly determine whether they are interested for more or not. Products or services offered is definitely a bigger factor, plus the price or any exclusive offer in particular, but still how the brand presents itself plays an essential role. It shows whether or not the customers could see themselves in that brand. If this is the case, the question for brands would be, "how to do this right". Clearly companies and businesses already have their target audience persona, and they could utilize this to determine how best to speak to their audience. If you are a fashion brand for teenage boys in some urban area, then you might think to communicate your brand as if you are speaking to teenage boys in general. This seems logical and this indeed may work. However, it might be worth noticing that there is a slightly better way to communicate on instagram. Do not speak to your target audience, speak like your target audience. That is how brands use the right approach to engage with and win their market.

This is clearly not an opportunity to ignore, but not an easy one to say. For brands to communicate and market their products or services, they should  use the opportunity well utilizing the right strategy. Otherwise, they could lose their chance in that a few-second scroll-down. Brands could work with brand agencies or consultants, like Milestone, to help them present themselves better on instagram, being relevant and being part of the audience themselves.