Instagram considers itself a "home for small businesses"

These days, if you're not marketing on Instagram, you're likely missing out, but at the same time, things aren't as rosy in that department as they once were. For those trying to get more marketing bang from the photo and video sharing service, there's good news and bad news, and the bad news is probably only going to get worse.

Instagram's follower growth also remains rather impressive when you compare it to other networks like Facebook and Twitter. The number for Instagram in January was 0.37% while Facebook was 0.16% and Twitter was 0.11%. Again, we're just talking about organic growth

Having 'audience size' as one of your KPI's is not the most appropriate way of measuring performance. It's very difficult to grow much without spending money on advertising, no matter how great your organic content efforts are. It's worth considering this when setting your goals and targets for the year. Engagement rate may be a metric that helps you measure the results of your efforts better.

And that's where the bad news comes in. Engagement rate is down by 66.07% on Instagram over the past ten months. It fell by 12.04% just from December to January. And why is that, you ask? Most likely because of ads.

Instagram is a place where people come to be inspired and [find] things they care about, and that includes content from businesses. In fact, 60% of Instagrammers say they learn about products and services on Instagram and 75% say they take action after being inspired by an Instagram post—like visiting a website, searching...or telling a friend.

As we discussed, Instagram has been making some significant improvements to its marketing offerings, including longer campaign options, longer videos.

Videos on Instagram haven't been performing as well as photos in terms of engagement, but the time users spent watching videos increased by over 40% over the past six months. 

In addition to the aforementioned video-related improvements from Instagram, the service is also promoting video views by curating videos related to live events. Look for them to do even more with video as time goes on.

Do you expect to put more or less time and resources into marketing with Instagram?