A brief overview: Instagram was founded in October of 2010 and by 2013 had over 100 million users. Today, Instagram has 400M+ daily active users. Pros vs Cons Pros: 1. If you are looking to target the younger demographic, Instagram is the most widely used social media app for millennials. 2. As a more visual platform, you can utilize photo and video more than content to promote products/services. 3. You can utilize location tagging which has been shown to help improve SEO. Cons: 1. Images have to be uploaded via a mobile device, which isn't practical for everyone. 2. Paid advertisements tend to push out organic posts, causing businesses not paying for advertising to lose visibility. Typical Users - 64% of Instagrammers are women. - 73% of Instagrammers are ages 15 - 35 - 46% of Instagramers have higher education degrees Strategies - Instagram has a higher engagement rate than both Facebook and Twitter. Forrester did independent research on the platform’s ads and found that consumers are 58x more likely to engage with branded content on Instagram compared to Facebook and 120x more likely compared to Twitter. Businesses can use this highly engaged audience to help with their marketing goals (i.e. driving people to their website, gaining followers, boosting sales of certain products/services) - Instagram advertising can be well targeted to the audience you are looking to reach. You can focus on location, demographics, interests, and other relevant. - Locally created posts (regarding staff, the store, customers, products, etc) are more effective than general health/stock photo posts. It is recommended that someone locally help supplement the Instagram account with these types of posts. Additionally, create your own brand-specific hashtag. Misconceptions - it only works if you are selling visually appealing products. While a significant number of businesses advertising on Instagram are promoting their products, you by no means have to. Instead, you can focus on other things, such as: 1. Your team. Celebrate anniversaries and holidays, hold costume days, thank customers, participate in community events, etc. 2. Your products/services. Snap a photo of someone creating a compound or of a new product you get in. Measuring Results - Instagram uses the same advertising manager platform as Facebook, which allows you to see metrics such as reach, clicks, impressions, etc.