We Know What You “Like:” Instagram’s Pro-Small Business Platform

You’d be lying if you said that scrolling through your Instagram feed was not the first thing you did in the morning.

And you’d be wrong if you said the things you see in your feed didn’t influence what you choose to buy.

It’s all part of a brilliant marketing strategy tailored by Instagram. The ads that pop up in between friends’ vacation pictures and heavily filtered photos of impossibly good-looking food are specifically meant for your eyes. The products you see are so accurate and attractive because take into account many factors, including your age, location, and the things you’re interested in. Instagram even has a comprehensive guide to using the platform to improve business results. To quote Instagram itself, “60% of people discover new products on the app” and “75% of people take action after being inspired by a post.” Instagram’s Business Tools go so far to give business owners specific stats about the demographics they’re attracting and more, enabling these businesses to grow rapidly.

According to CNN, almost half of the 400 million users of Instagram are under 25, making it the perfect place for young people to connect with each other and the perfect place for companies to advertise to just the right demographics with stunning payoff. Instagram’s power over businesses and their marketing campaigns have particularly influenced millennials to replicate and use products or styles they see in their feed. One focus of Instagram has always been fashion and the rise of constantly searching for the right “aesthetic.”

Instagram’s place in the rise of aesthetic obsession can be seen clearly in the world of fashion. As CNN reports, Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships, Eva Chen, says that Instagram is “democratising fashion” and exposing more people to the latest trends. It also has contributed to widening the lens of high fashion, allowing brands to reach and inspire more people than ever. Instagram’s widespread appeal, especially with young people, has spurred the rise of a tendency to be constantly photo ready—constantly embodying a certain, fashionable “aesthetic.” This has placed a lot of power in the hands of small business owners, especially in the fashion and lifestyle industry. Businessmen and women now have a large and receptive platform for spreading new and lucrative trends.

In addition, Instagram has the unique ability to give these small and artistic businesses the exposure they need. According to Forbes, Instagram’s newest feature, allowing anyone to create a “business account,” enables ordinary people to reach out to a vast pool of potential customers. Instagram also offers “insight features” which allow independent sellers to see the demographics they should target along with a slew of information that allows these sellers to tailor their product and marketing strategies to maximize exposure and efficiency. Forbes also reported that when clients linked their Instagram to their Facebook account, the number of likes their ads got on Instagram quadrupled in comparison to the amount of likes their Facebook ads got.

Instagram’s rise coupled with the new fascination with cultivating the perfect “aesthetic” has enabled small businesses and large ones with a new and more trendy way of reaching new demographics. It allows businesses to target audiences based on the trends their audiences are appealed to. The way Instagram is so strongly linked to fast moving and fleeting trends makes it an ideal platform for small businesses to launch new and innovative products for a certain group of people.