Is Your Business on Instagram Yet?

If you’ve been looking at marketing on Instagram, you aren’t alone; eMarketer estimates more than 70 percent of brands will be using the image-driven social network this year. It could knock Twitter out of its position as the second most popular platform among marketers.

That popularity is impacting the online job market, too: Instagram marketing expertise is one of the 10 fastest-growing skills, according to the latest Upwork Skills Index.

What’s behind that growth? In addition to an increasingly large international audience—more than 500 million users, the majority of whom live outside the U.S.—Instagram posts get attention, particularly in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space.

Instagram posts often inspire action. Instagram for Business found “75% of Instagrammers take action after being inspired by a post, like visiting a website, searching, shopping or telling a friend.”

Compared to Facebook, engagement is as much as 10x higher. A study by Forrester found that people were much more likely to interact with brands on Instagram than other networks.

It’s a powerful network for influencer marketing, where a brand partners with a platform celebrity to boost their visibility.

“[Instagram] is very easy to use, imagery has a high consumption rate, and ecommerce brands in the fields of fashion, cosmetics, health, etc can’t get enough influencers to satisfy demand.”
Joe Sinkwitz, CEO of Intellifluence
“Becoming a Top Tier Influencer: Get Visible”

Get expert help with your social media efforts

Another one of the top 10 skills on Upwork is social media management—someone with the skills to help establish and build your online presence, whether you want to focus on a network like Instagram or create something from the ground up.

Working with a social media manager can do more than keep your social publishing calendar consistent (although that matters, too). They help represent your business, keep your audience engaged, create original content, and analyze the results—but you can also benefit from their varied expertise.

“[The value of a social media freelancer] comes from their marketing know-how, their deep understanding of the social networks that are most relevant to your audience, their knowledge about connecting with that audience, and their passion for the dynamics of such a fast-paced environment.”
— “How to Hire a Social Media Manager“

Finding the right marketing pro for your social media project starts with a great job description—one that explains your overall goals, the types of skills or insights required, and a clear timeline.

You’ll also need to set an appropriate budget. Consider the following questions:

1. Does it involved existing social media channels, or will they need to set up new ones?
2. How many social media profiles will they manage?
3. Will the project involve targeting influencers?
4. Will they handle customer service?
5. How will content be created?

Ready to start your social media project? Learn more about social media in the Hiring Headquarters, or post your first project today!

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