To get a better handle on the opportunities and usage of Instagram for marketing purposes, we recently partnered with the team from SEMRush to conduct a survey of over 800 digital marketers to get their insights into what they’re doing on the platform, what they’re seeing success with, and where they see future potential.
You can download our full ‘State of Instagram Marketing 2019’ survey report here, but this week, we’re taking a closer look at each element of the data, and what it means for your marketing approach.
Our first two review posts looked at how marketers are currently using Instagram’s various options. Today, we take a look at what coming opportunities on Instagram are driving the most excitement among marketing-folk.
In our first overview posts, we got a handle on how, specifically, brands are seeing success on Instagram. The next element we wanted to look at was future opportunities, and how marketers see Instagram moving forward, in regards to their broader social media strategy.
First off, as a baseline measure, we asked respondents how important they see Instagram in regards to their broader strategy.
The majority clearly put significant marketing value in the platform, with 64% of respondents indicating that Instagram is either ‘Extremely’ or ‘Very’ important to their broader planning.
But it’s the future potential where marketers are most enthusiastic about the app.
Almost 72% of respondents indicated that it’s ‘Very Likely’ that Instagram will become a key marketing channel for them in future, which would be reflective of both the rising usage stats and coming platform additions (like Shopping Tags and on-platform shopping) which will provide a whole range of new opportunities for marketers.
Clearly, businesses are paying attention to the trends, and are keen to get involved – and with so many planning to use Instagram more in future, you can bet that competition for attention on the platform is also going to increase. If you’ve not established your Instagram presence, it may be the time to get started, as it only looks set to become more significant.
Stories is also where marketers see potential – 77% of respondents indicated that they plan to use Instagram Stories more in future, while in terms of broader promotional opportunity, Stories also came out on top of the various on-platform options.
Interesting to note, too, that Instagram Live is seen by many as a valuable option, even though, as noted in the first element of our report, few businesses are currently using it.
If you were looking for an immediate Instagram marketing opportunity, Instagram Live may well be it – it has reach and engagement potential, and is not being flooded with brand content. Yet.
Will IGTV become a more relevant consideration? It’s hard to say – at present, marketers don’t seem overly interested in the long-form video option. That could still change, Instagram could still find new ways to promote the platform and get more users across. But at this stage it seems unlikely, and it’s not a significant consideration for most businesses.
Overall, marketers are enthusiastic about Instagram’s evolving platform, with the data once again highlighting the rise of Stories. If you want to build a stronger Insta presence, Stories, according to most marketers, is where you should be looking, while Live may offer more potential, and on-platform shopping is a key area of future focus.
You can read the full ‘State of Instagram Marketing 2019’ report here, while we’ll be breaking down more of the specifics in further posts on SMT this week.
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