They say that a picture says a thousand words; I don’t know how true that is, but it seems as though a picture may well say more than 140 characters.
According to figures released by internet analytics firm ComScore, the photo-sharing app Instagram received more visitors than Twitter in the US in August. The Facebook-owned app tallied some 7.3 million daily active users during the month compared to the 6.9 million active users that visited Twitter. ComScore’s data also showed that Instagram fared better than the micro-blogging site when it came to the amount of time people were spending on each of the sites – 257 minutes verses a considerably lower 170 minutes.
If you take a look at Instagram’s monthly visitors numbers earlier in the year, it is clear to see just how much of a phenomenon photo-sharing has become. In March Instagram had 886,000 daily active users, following the release of a dedicated Android app in April, and the sale to Facebook for a reported $1 billion cash plus stock in the same month, daily figures rose to 4.5 million in June. With the release of August’s figures, the total number of users has risen by almost three million in just two months!
The visual trend
From a marketing perspective, Instagram can help a company appeal to a wider audience. A study conducted by Facebook in 2011 looking at journalists’ pages, revealed that posts that were uploaded with pictures were much more popular than those without. Quite tellingly, photo posts received 50% more likes than text-only posts and shared links that contained a thumbnail image had 65% more likes and 50% more comments than links without a picture.
Before making any sort of post on social media, you should think about adding a picture. If you have a new product that you want to share, do it with Instagram. Your original photos don’t have to be professional quality, the added Instagram effects will see to that. The app also lets you add text to the photos, allowing you to squeeze in a couple of hashtags, making it easier to track audience reaction to your post. SEO can also be integrated into the photos by naming them with keywords, including alt tags.
Social media is all about engagement and there is no better way of engaging with your audience right now than with Instagram.
