Should I be on Instagram for Business?
Melanie Herschorn
In Just 2 Hours Per Week, Publish a Book That Establishes Your Authority & Elevates Your Practice | Be the Attorney Clients Trust Before You Meet | Your Partner in Writing Your Reputation-Building Book.
Does your business need to be on the ‘gram?
Instagram is not for every business.
There, I said it.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (and even then), you probably hear about Instagram every single day.
Now that the platform has rolled out reels – direct competition with TikTok – it’s getting a lot of attention extra attention.
Visual Fun
It can be a super fun social media platform to use. You can post amazing photos and get lots of likes (hello dopamine!) and follow some really cool people.
But if your clients and customers are not on Instagram, then you don't need to be spending time there either.
It’s so easy to get consumed by the next big thing. Tik Tok is all the rage, but if your clients are baby boomers, you can use it for dancing, not marketing.
Instagram By the Numbers
Here’s what you need to know about Instagram.
The average Instagram user is between 25 and 34 years old, while the next largest group is 18- to 24-year-olds.
More than half of Instagram users in the U.S. are female.
But there aren’t as many users in America as we often think. Of the millions in the world, only 116 million users are in the United States. Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Russia help round out the top five.
Older Americans, ages 50 to 64, are a growing demographic on the social media platform, with an average of 23% of users in that age bracket.
Knowing the Figures
Being mindful of Instagram’s demographics will help you determine if you should be spending time on the platform.
For example, if your ideal client is over the age of 50, chances are they're going to be hanging out on Facebook much more regularly than they will be on Instagram. So unless you have extra time and money to spare, you likely don’t have to be putting all your eggs in that basket.
If you are trying to reach the Gen Z population, and you want to be on Instagram for sure, TikTok and Snapchat!
Mind Your Language
Your ultimate goal should be to figure out where your ideal clients are spending the most time online.
The next step then is to make sure that you are speaking to them in the language that is appropriate for the particular social media platform.
When you are reaching out to a cold prospect on LinkedIn, you might start with Hello <name> or Dear <name>.
If your kind of people are on Facebook, you could begin with Hello or Hi!
On Instagram, however, there is very little formality. In fact, that would be really strange and your message would likely be ignored altogether. You’re more likely to connect when you reach out with Hey babe or Hey girl.
When you’re an entrepreneur, your time is money. You have to consider what ROI you’re actually getting from each social media channel you focus on.
To Shop or Not To Shop
Another thing that you should be aware of is that when somebody signs into Instagram, they're not always planning to go shopping. While 81% of users check out brands on IG to learn more about them, only 11% say they’re actually there to shop or find new products.
Mostly, Instagram users are there to look at beautiful photos, follow their favorite celebrities, see what their friends are up to, and undoubtedly experience a little FOMO.
So if they do happen to engage with what it is that you're selling, you want it to be enticing. You want to provide lifestyle photos that don't speak directly to your service or product, but that shows how great this person’s life can be when they're using what you sell.
One of my favorite social media platforms is Facebook and I’d love for you to join our private Facebook community. Click below to become our newest member!