How can business grow on Instagram?

Fundamentally, business can grow on Instagram by three things, first being engaging with a community of people, creators and brands as well. Second part is creativity, they can express themselves creatively by using various creative formats on the platform and there are many creative tools, there are stories, AR ads, branded content ads and now there are reels so there are many opportunities for brands to creatively express themselves on Instagram and the third part is culture, so brands can engage with emerging culture platforms and connect with the consumers strongly.

To shed further light on the same, Raghav Bir Singh, Strategic Partner Manager, India, Meta, and Devendranath Bangi, Business Marketing Manager, India, Meta, delivered a masterclass at Goafest 2022.

Edited excerpts:

According to Deverndranath Bangi, Instagram is one of the top places to express and explore. 90% of people follow their interests on Instagram.

“There are people who have interest around sports, music, fashion, films, and so on and these interests have been thriving especially post pandemic. People have consumed a lot of content on Instagram, connecting with people, sharing interest and these passions are actually turning into actions. People embrace business from Instagram, which is great because as marketers we would want people to mutually grow the business. What is interesting to see here is 90% of people follow our business, so there is lots of interest in connecting with brands, nearly two in three set Instagram allows them to form meaningful relationships with brands,” Bangi said.

On what drives this relationship, he added, “Our platforms, Instagram and Facebook, are known for discovery, you just visit and swipe through the platform and you will find something on your own, which is based on your interests, so you discover a product which is personalised to you and based on your interests. This discovery drives meaningful relationship with the brands, which rightly goes for other businesses as well. What is interesting to see is that on the platform people come to express interest, they connect with brands and establish meaningful connections with them. People take action on Instagram, so this personalised discovery definitely helps people to engage and take meaningful actions. 96% of the respondents said that they have taken action on Instagram after seeing a product or service. It is not just engagement like ‘Likes’ and ‘Comments’, but they take meaningful actions which are going on websites, making a purchase, adding to cart and a lot of outcomes that are important to the brand, so those are the actions people take on the platform.”

About creators’ association with Instagram, Raghav Bir Singh said, “There are creators and brands on the platform which come together and create branded content. Branded content is not new; it has been there for a long time. There have been brands partnering with celebrities, which has been going on for decades. What’s interesting is how technology enables branded content in a personalised manner. There are two parts of branded content on the platform. Firstly, the definition of branded content is creator or publisher content on Instagram, which features or is influenced by a business partner for exchange of value. A creator makes a post, tags a brand and calls out that it is a partnership with the brand. Branded content is in two forms: organic branded content and other is branded ads. In terms of organic branded content, if a creator shares a post with a brand, then the post reaches the creator’s followers that may be in million. It reaches that percentage of the followers. With branded content ads you get more scale so you can target your audience as branded content is something that you can control.”