Tuesday, 19 March 2024
News

Use Instagram for marketing? The goalposts for small business promo just moved

Comment by James Hamilton of sports marketing specialists Accelerate Agency.

In a controversial move that will undoubtedly make Instagram’s ad revenue increase substantially – the feed went algorithmic last week.

What does this mean for a business using the social channel for promotion? It likely means you will no longer see posts as they were posted up, but rather what Instagram thinks you want to see. The fact there’s no ‘off switch’ means this could be a touch unfair on smaller brands with Instagram flowing through their business veins.

The logic behind this move is so people will be able to follow more accounts without worrying about them drowning out their favourites. The move is also a fairly ‘polite’ way of getting brands to ‘pay to be seen’, but you should be under no illusions, Instagram just got a lot tougher for smaller brands and for those without influential posters and killer product.

TRY THIS: Make sure your marketing teams and agencies are giving you the right advice at this time – Instagram’s move is to try and benefit everyone (better content = more time spent on the platform). The strategy being you should be making / creating better content going forward and not just paying for bland stuff to be seen…

DON’T DO THIS: Overposting is no-no. This is a key metric Instagram will undoubtedly be looking at – so don’t follow this path… and lets not forget that Facebook owns Instagram.

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Accelerate Agency, who recently appointed Yvette Culbert from within the bike business in order to grow their presence in the market, can be found on Twitter here.