Instagram remains a growing social platform that presents a great opportunity for content marketers to increase their impact. However, major shifts in the digital marketing landscape over the past year have led to changing challenges for brands on social media. Using new research from TrackMaven that led to some compelling conclusions, I examine the data describing how these changes affect social marketing, and highlight four key Instagram tips.
Let’s take a look!
In TrackMaven’s new report, The Content Marketing Paradox Revisited, data from 22,957 brands over a 12-month period was examined to analyze the latest trends in digital marketing. This analysis covered 50 million pieces of content across six digital marketing channels — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and blogs — with a combined total of 75.7 billion interactions.
From that data, I’ve outlined four essential Instagram tips content marketers will need to conquer major digital marketing shifts in 2016.
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1. Instagram hasn’t reached content saturation, but is on its way. Keep an eye on what content performs best as the network matures.
Instagram has an engagement ratio that is a whopping eight times the average of the other four social platforms. However, engagement ratios for Instagram videos and pictures dropped 31 percent and 36 percent. As the network continues to mature, track your engagement and referral traffic on social to understand what content perform best for your brand over time.
2. Use engagement analytics to determine which where to spend your money as Instagram monetizes.
As social networks proliferate and fight to monetize, the social media “free lunch” is over. As Instagram continues expanding its ad platform, marketers can expect engagement to continue to decrease, more to the level of the already monetized Facebook. More and more, marketers will have to pay to play on Instagram. Although increased ad revenue may be a sign that you should expect your organic reach to decline, it also signals the increasing relevancy of the platform. Marketers should use engagement analytics to make sure you spend effectively and sponsor the right stories.
3. Growth in mobile usage doubles the necessity for brands to deliver Instagram content that is consumable on the go and at first touch.
Growth in the number of brands posting video content on Instagram outpaced growth in the number of brands posting photos (139 percent versus 91 percent). Brands should continue to strive to deliver richer in-platform content, as mobile usage and in-app access to content continues to increase.
4. Marketers should keep a close eye on how their (and their competitors’) Instagram posts perform.
The average number of Instagram pictures posted per brand increased by 11 percent, while the average number of Instagram videos posted per brand grew 29 percent. Despite this growth in video content on Instagram, brands post only a handful of Instagram videos per month, but posting Instagram photos is a near daily activity (24.2 to 26.9 per month on average). Marketers should keep a close eye on how their Instagram posts perform, and seek out competitive intelligence for comparisons and new ideas, as content on the platform continues to proliferate and diversify.
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