Know The Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing On Instagram – 2024 Guide

Social media might have been a source of recreation many years back. Today these platforms are spearheading the digital marketing movement. The more you surf on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, the more you realize that the content around is all trying to sell you an idea.

Marketing, in its more practical sense, is showcasing an idea in a relatable way to drive more sales. The author of the book “Killer Marketing,” Robert Rose, said: “Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world you are one.”

Instagram has become one of the most accessible platforms over the last decade. The platform has brought changes that can provide better benefits to its users.

Making content for Instagram has also become more comfortable because of this rising demand. You can find a free instagram video editor online and make videos in less than five minutes. One such example is invideo.io.

Social media has made it possible to leverage content that is beneficial to both the creator and the consumer. And Instagram has become one of the best tools for marketing. To understand this platform better, let’s take a deep-dive into its pros and cons.

Pros Of Instagram Marketing

The platform has been a revolution in digital marketing. It has shot down each of its competitors with better innovations and best-in-class features. Here are some significant pros:

1. Industry-Leading Targeting

After an acquisition from Facebook, Instagram has become one of the best tools to run efficient ads with flawless targeting. The platform lets you target ads to a very narrow niche, which in turn helps derive more worth for your pennies. They allow you to narrow down the ads based on region, interest, age, gender, and behavior.

2. Superior Interface

The user interface of Instagram is designed to keep you coming back to it each day. Statistics show that an average user spends at least twenty-five minutes a day on Instagram, and this is from a user base of millions. This volume gives you a more prominent medium to run marketing campaigns.

3. Seamless Advertising

Adding to the last point, Instagram runs ads that do not stand out as promotions. The ads blend in seamlessly with the rest of the feed or in the middle of Instagram-stories.

This quality of Instagram makes the user stop and look at your ads, rather than ignore them as paid content. While working with influencers, the brand can add a “paid partnership” label easily and redirect users to the brand-page.

4. Detailed Analytics

The analytics from each post and each page are presented in a very usable format. These analytics are the backbone of any marketing plan. It confirms if the campaign was a success or not.

Instagram has an implacable dashboard that lets you add multiple filters and gauge your insights better. It allows you to break down insights into small fragments like region-specific data and age-based data.

5. Multiple Ad Formats

There is no monotony in posting on Instagram. There are multiple variations of ads and posts that one can publish, which gives a wide range for brands to tailor-make posts as per their needs.

Instagram Story, feed, video ad, carousel ad, and IGTV are a few to name. No matter what the idea, there are many customization options.

6. Cross Promotions With Facebook

Since Instagram business accounts can be linked with the Facebook dashboard, you can crosspost across both these platforms from the same window.

You can employ publisher facebook ad templates and then replicate the same on your Instagram feed. This lets you get a much broader impression across platforms for the same content piece.

7. Better Value for PPC

While Pay-per-click might seem like a very overwhelming mode of online advertising, Instagram has managed to make it highly effective. Their ad-manager allows you to run ‘link-ads’ that are designed to redirect users to a dedicated URL.

Instagram will only charge you by the click, which means you only pay for a lead generated to your desired URL.

Cons Of Instagram Marketing

While Instagram is a great app, it is not free of shortcomings. Here are a few that can cause roadblocks to better marketing.

1. Lack Of Links

The most prominent disadvantage of Instagram is that you cannot add ULRs to any places other than a profile bio, or a ‘swipe up’ on the story. The ‘swipe up’ on the story is only available to those with 10K followers, or verified accounts. There is no organic integration for call-to-actions unless they are paid-ads.

2. Not For Long-Form Content

Instagram is a platform designed for short and snackable content. If you are looking to showcase longer content, then Instagram might not be the most conducive platform. Although they have tried to make innovations with IG-TV, it has not become as prevalent and easy-to-use yet.

3. Higher Reload Rate

The same low attention span works to a disadvantage for organic reach on this platform. Surveys prove that the average attention span for a consumer on each post is only around 7 seconds.

This means a person tends to re-open and visit the app more often each day, thereby making your post irrelevant in less than a day.

4. Mobile Depended

Another key drawback of Instagram is that it is a mobile-only application. All images and videos must be posted from the phone app.

Even if you use a scheduling app, the post is sent to the phone and needs to be manually updated. It also does not have a substantial user base on web-apps or browsers.

In Conclusion

It is evident from the argument that the pros outweigh the cons. Instagram has a massive userbase and is an ever-changing platform. They are always on the edge of innovations, and every new feature has been a game-changer.

No list of cons is big enough to ignore Instagram from your marketing plan. But, to ideally leverage any digital marketing plan, you will need top-quality content. The limitations of a platform cannot hamper the benefits of high-quality and consistent posting.

The secret to success with social media marketing is relatable and shareable content, tailor-made for your target audience.