According to Oberlo, 71% of businesses use Instagram as part of their marketing strategy. Having an Instagram presence is no longer optional — it’s necessary to stay competitive.
Parents of infants and toddlers are, generally speaking, young people — between the ages of 18 and 34. This demographic spends at least 24 minutes on Instagram every day, and to ignore this statistic is to do your child care business a tremendous disservice.
Today, we’ll discuss the benefits of using Instagram for business. While creating and maintaining a social media strategy can be challenging, it’s not impossible, and the rewards are worth it!
Your Target Market
In recent years, there’s been a paradigm shift in platform use from Facebook to Instagram, driven particularly by young people. People between the ages of 18 and 24 make up 30.1% of Instagram’s total user base and a measly 18.2% of Facebook’s. People between the ages of 25 and 34 make up another 31.5% of Instagram’s user base.
On the whole, Instagram is the place to be for younger parents. But don’t give up on Facebook just yet — 41.8% of their users are under the age of 35. Of course, this pales in comparison to Instagram’s 61.6%. These are the people child care business owners need to target to stay competitive. Why not go where your market is?
Benefits of Using Instagram for Business
The benefits of using Instagram for business and the benefits of advertising on Instagram are numerous! We’ve narrowed down the three most important benefits for child care businesses and detailed how best to achieve those results.
Organic Reach Still Works on Instagram
As you work to grow your business, the question of paid vs. organic (non-paid) reach will come up. While Facebook and Instagram are both shifting toward a “pay to play” model, Facebook is much farther down that road.
Organic reach can still be effective for business growth on Facebook, but you’ll need to get creative to really see its benefits. It’s a much more viable option on Instagram.
By using unique tools like reels and stories, your business can take advantage of Instagram’s huge opportunities for organic growth. Reels specifically have grown 30% quarter to quarter throughout 2022, so now is the time to churn out some high-quality content that gives parents a peek into your school’s day-to-day happenings.
Video is hot right now, and Reels are how Instagram competes with TikTok. It’s worked for businesses and personal brands, and it can work for you.
Done right, you can effectively tie your organic content into your paid ads strategy, widen your reach, and lower your cost all at the same time! Instagram’s algorithm loves content that gets engagement, and Reels drive some of the highest engagement on the platform.
If you can make high-quality Reels that generate great engagement and then turn those Reels into paid ads, the algorithm will love them and they’ll cost less for you to run. It’s a win-win!
Instagram Is a Digital Storefront
Building a great Instagram presence also validates your reputation and affirms your brand identity for your prospects.
When a parent looks for a child care center, that parent does all the research they can — and why shouldn’t they? They’re making the very important decision of who to entrust with their kids. That’s why they won’t just look at your website — they’ll want to verify you on a variety of channels, including social media.
Every representation of your business online is like a digital storefront — a manifestation of your brand in the digital world. Your social media presence informs the public’s opinion of you, just like the curb appeal of your building as people drive past. It can make the difference between a prospect calling you to schedule a tour or calling your neighbor.
You spend so much time, effort, and money building your business, so why not curate every first impression? Why not use Instagram to show off the amazing staff, culture, and quality of your business? Give parents every reason why they should choose you over your competition!
An Instagram Presence Strengthens Your Paid Ads
When you’re ready to run paid ads on a social platform, it’s important to already have a presence there. Your paid ads will go out to a “cold” audience — people who are unfamiliar with your brand. Your ad may be the first time they ever hear about you.
After seeing that ad, they’ll either look for your website or check out your content on that social platform.
If you don’t have any content or you have content that’s outdated or not very good, they’ll go from being interested enough to click on an ad to being unimpressed and leaving. Great content, however, will validate their interest and bring them further down your funnel — they may even contact you!
Consumer choice has grown with the emergence of a digital world. If you don’t nurture that existing interest, your competitor will.
Benefits of Using Instagram for Business: Final Thoughts
When you start creating great content to reach your target market where they are, you’ll discover many benefits of using Instagram for business, especially a child care business.
While great ads can generate a lot of revenue, they’re part of a larger strategy that works with your Instagram content. They’re all pieces of the same puzzle.
Once you fit those pieces together, you’ll find success. If you’re ready to get started and would like a little help, shoot us a message. We love puzzles, and we’re good at them, too!