The eye-opening influence of Instagram on buying [Infographic]

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From 2014 to 2017, Instagram has seen a 357% increase in users and as of September 2017, it has a whopping 800 million active users.

Looking at this growth and traffic, Instagram has become a major platform for influencers (the most influential on shopping habits, followed by Facebook and Pinterest) and this is a big deal.

Adweek stated it best, “As the world has shifted to social media, consumers look at fellow consumers to inform their purchasing decisions. Instead of looking at companies, as they did in the past, they now look at each other and at their favorite personalities.”

72% of Instagram users report making purchase decisions based on something that they saw while browsing the app so if you’re not incorporating it into your social media marketing, you’re missing out.

And get this, you don’t need to a huge celebrity to influence buying behavior. Fans and brand advocates drive the most engagement at 8.0%, while celebrities only drive about 1.6%.

You may be thinking to yourself that Instagram is probably more B2C than B2B, but really anyone can use it to promote their brand or product/software/service and use their current customers as influencers.

Now, I know what you’re thinking; what about Sponsored Posts? The number of advertisers using Instagram doubled in March of 2017.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has asked this, but the average cost of a sponsored post is $300.

As your followers go up so will your average post rate so building your network of advocates and influencers may prove to be more cost efficient long-term.

Take a deeper look into this infographic from eCommerce software company, X-Cart, on the influence of Instagram and get out there and be an influencer!