As you might have guessed, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms around these days. Instagram has 100 million monthly active users, 40 million photos posted per day, 8500 likes per second, and 1000 comments per second. For many business owners, these statistics raise the question: Should I be on Instagram? While we recommend Facebook for almost all businesses, Instagram is not for everyone in the business world. However, for some it can be their most valuable social media platform.

Then WHO is Instagram for? Instagram is for any visually-driven business. For example, if you are an interior designer, your business relies heavily on your customer liking what they SEE. The problem is you can’t bring all of your potential customers into every single room you decorate, as the homeowner would probably not appreciate that. But with Instagram, you can snap a few pictures of your design and within seconds share it with a very large audience. Or say you are a cake decorator, you might post a picture of a beautifully decorated cake before and after the actual decoration. This way all of your customers could see your work before it is gobbled up by its owner, never to be seen again.

Now that we know who Instagram is for, you might be wondering, “WHAT exactly is Instagram?”  Simply put, Instagram is a FREE photo sharing app that allows you to conveniently share moments with your audience in picture form. They can be fun, serious, quirky, informative or even off-the-wall. Once you have uploaded your photo, you can then apply a variety of filters to change the look and feel of your photo. All that matters is you are communicating with your customers in a unique way that only your business can. If it’s true that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then Instagram allows you to write novels to your customers about your business.

HOW will Instagram benefit your business? Not only, as we discussed above, does Instagram allow you to easily share your photos with a large audience in a short amount of time, but it also increases the value of your branding, awareness, and customer relationships.  It gives you a personal platform to share your brand, or who you are as a company. Whether it be a picture of an employee on their birthday or the office Christmas party, you have the ability to show your audience who you are at the heart of your company. It also allows you to interact with your customers on a daily basis through comments and likes. This is a great asset, as it often provides free and valuable feedback to your business about your customers’ opinions and preferences.

The world we live in today is constantly changing and evolving, including the business world. It is swiftly shifting into a majority relationship-driven transaction right before our very eyes. People no longer simply buy the cheapest priced good or service, they want to know the story behind what they are purchasing. Instagram does just that, as stated in their FAQ, “We imagine a world more connected through photos.” So what are you waiting for? Download the app today and start connecting to your customer-audience in a revolutionary way.