Jean L. Serio says, “With 100 million daily users and everyone from teens to Millennials and seniors uploading and viewing photos and videos, it’s easy to see why Instagram is no longer simply considered “one to watch”. The fact is, Instagram is now a full-scale social network. And a force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, as of 2015, Instagram is the “king of social engagement,” delivering 29 percent more engagement than Facebook and 60 percent more than Twitter, says Nate Elliott of Forrester Research. Their research evaluated 11.8 million user interactions... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Half of Fortune 500 brands are now on Instagram, and the platform is providing the highest engagement levels for these businesses of any social network, according to recent research from TrackMaven. The report was based on an analysis of Instagram content posted by Fortune 500 brands between May 1, 2015 and May 1, 2016. The researchers examined 41,071 unique Instagram posts, in total. Only 123 Fortune 500 brands had Instagram accounts in 2013 (24.6%); today that number is up to 250 (50%), and an additional 1.4% have Instagram accounts for subsidiary brands. Below, additional... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “What insights can you learn from Fortune 500 brands using Instagram? TrackMaven has your answer. After analyzing over 40,000 unique social posts on the image sharing network, they’ve released The Fortune 500 Instagram Report: 2016 Edition, sharing data on what marketers can learn from these big brands. Looking at both B2B and B2C companies from May 2015 through April 2016, the key takeaways we can glean from the report are as follows: – Instagram usage is increasing among the F500. Exactly 50% of the F500 are using Instagram, up from 24.6% in 2013 when TrackMaven... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “As of just last week, Instagram hit a major milestone: the platform doubled its monthly active users to 500 million in just two short years. What’s more, over half of those monthly users — 300 million, to be exact — are active on the platform daily. That’s a whole lot of action. All that said, it should come as no surprise that Instagram has become a place of interest for businesses. And with the massive potential audience in mind, those businesses are looking for ways to create meaningful, quality experiences through Instagram’s ad solutions. You... [...]

John Stevens says, “Without awareness and traffic, your website will never be able to convert customers. On the other hand, most businesses put too much emphasis on generating traffic, and invest insufficiently in optimizing their websites for conversion. According to research from Eisenberg Holdings, for every $92 that the average company spends to attract people, it spends just $1 to convert them. This explains the abysmal conversion rates many companies suffer from (with rates typically under 3.5 percent, according to Monetate Ecommerce Quarterly’s data). It also explains why generating... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “Instagram has hit a significant milestone today, announcing it has hit 500 million users. But that’s not all — 60 percent (or 300 million) are logging onto the image sharing social network every single day. More interesting is the fact that Instagram boasts less than 100 million of those users in the United States; more than 80 percent of its user base resides outside the US. As Instagram goes deeper to provide value to its users and advertisers, launching analytics to appeal to more brands and attracting more advertisers due to its non-interruptive in-stream appeal,... [...]

Lesya Liu says, “Instagram is one of the hottest social platforms right now. You have to pay attention to Instagram, especially if your target market consists of millennials. While this network is pretty self-enclosed, it is still a powerful tool to gain business benefits. So, how do you increase engagement and ensure that it stays consistently high? 1. Great images. This one is pretty obvious, yet it’s not uncommon to see blurry, badly-lit pictures. If you post anything on Instagram, make sure it is good. Don’t treat Instagram as a tool that’s just an accessory for everything else... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “With over 400 million active users, brands are quickly recognizing the need to have a presence on Instagram. But, as with any social network, the brands that are getting the most out of Instagram are the ones who are smart about what they post, when they post, how often they post, and whom they’re targeting. But how do they know what’s “smart”? That’s where the data comes in. There’s a whole lot of research out there about Instagram — everything from the demographics of its users and how often brands are posting, to how caption... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “With over 400 million active users, brands are quickly recognizing the need to have a presence on Instagram. But, as with any social network, the brands that are getting the most out of Instagram are the ones who are smart about what they post, when they post, how often they post, and whom they’re targeting. But how do they know what’s “smart”? That’s where the data comes in. There’s a whole lot of research out there about Instagram — everything from the demographics of its users and how often brands are posting, to how caption... [...]

Zak Stambor says, “Instagram Business Tools let retailers choose how they want their customers to contact them, as well as analyze who their followers are and which posts resonate with them. Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram today launched Instagram Business Tools, which give retailers and other business more ways to interact with and understand their customers on the social network. Not surprisingly, there’s also a tool that makes it easier for a merchant to pay to turn one of its posts into an ad. “With so many companies using Instagram, and many people from our community interacting with... [...]