Have you wondered how successful brands use Instagram for business marketing and branding? To help new businesses harness the potential of Instagram, I share 5 Instagram business case studies that illustrate how you could use Instagram for your content and visual marketing needs. Learn from how others businesses have increased their brand awareness and revenue by using creativity to capture more audience’s attention

1. Instagram for Business: 5 Stunning Case Studies Illustrate The Social Platforms Branding Power by Jolynn Oblak | Dec 12, 2014
Instagram is a visual marketing platform that offers increased brand building and customer engagement for businesses. Instagram is swiftly becoming a respected branding tool, if used the right way, will result in increased customer loyalty and retention for savvy businesses. Why? Because visual content elicits emotions, it tells a story and it connects with people in a way that no other medium can.
Instagram reported a huge growth in their user base from 200 Million to 300 million over a period of 9 months CLICK TO TWEET
Instagram reported a huge growth in their user base from 200 Million to 300 million over a period of 9 months, this now puts them ahead of Twitter in the number of active users. To date, there are over 2,500 brands that have adopted Instagram to market their product and services. The chart below from TOTEM shows the distributions of industries that use Instagram. As you can see, the automotive industry ranks as # 1. Nike wins the #1 spot for the most popular brand on Instagram. With top brands finding success using Instagram, startups, solopreneurs and small businesses should adopt a visual marketing

2. plan that capitalizes on this inexpensive and effective social platform.
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Source: TOTEM
To help you think about how you could use Instagram for your content and visual marketing needs, I am sharing five Instagram case studies of businesses that have increased their brand awareness and revenue by using immense creativity to capture more audience’s attention.
Instagram for Business: 5 Stunning Case Studies Illustrate The Social Platforms Branding Power

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Levi’s
Levi’s is an iconic San Francisco denim clothing brand. Its jeans are the most known and emulated clothing in world. Levis has 359,729 followers on Instagram. Levis wanted to be at the forefront of customers’ minds and increase its brand awareness among audiences.
Levis ran a 9 day campaign in November; they showcased four photos of their customers who were dressed with unique denim fabric and shared photos of memorable times in beautiful outdoor spaces. These photos ads were aimed at 18-34 aged audiences in U.S.
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Results were awesome, as Levi’s posts reached 7.4 million viewers who visit Instagram on a regular basis to get motivated by well-crafted images, and they saw a 24% lift in ad recall.

4. Director of digital Levis Julie Channing said, “Not only were we able to reach a large audience with our ads on Instagram, but the metrics clearly show we engaged with them in a memorable and authentic way. We’re pleased with these results.”
Chobani:
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Chobani is founded by Hamdi Ulukaya in 2005, New York. They are unique in creating their appetizing and nutritive yogurt that is prepared with natural ingredients. The goal of Chobani was to change the outlook of people towards yogurt being great for any meal rather than only for breakfast.
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5. Chobani ran a four week campaign in which they targeted females aged 18-49 in U.S. They posted images of quick breakfasts, a savory snack and indulgent dessert images that can be made with yogurt.
Chobani reached 4 million users in U.S., 22% lift in recall, 7% lift in people who used Chobani anytime in a day.
Jessica Lauria, Director of Brand Communications Chobani said “Instagram is a great platform for Chobani. It allows us to show how people actually use our product and inspires new ways to savor. This campaign showcased delicious creations and different times of day, extending our existing presence of real, beautiful imagery to new audiences and effectively changing people’s perceptions about enjoying Chobani throughout the day.”
Ben & Jerry’s:
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Ben & Jerry’s is an American ice-cream company founded in 1978. Ben & Jerry’s wanted to drive brand awareness for the creative and fun-loving brand and its new flavor launch: “Scotchy Scotch”.
Ben & Jerry’s , one of the first brands to join Instgram in 2011, ran an eight day campaign that included four photos of ice-cream in a cartoon, bucket and cone to tell its visual story. Photo ads were targeted to users among 18-35 age in the U.S. It managed the frequency of ads so that users were able to see Ben & Jerry’s ad only three times on average.

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Ben & Jerry’s reached 9.8 million people in the U.S., saw 33% lift in ad recall and 17% more people became aware of its new flavor launch.
Mike Hayes, Digital Marketing Manager of Ben & Jerry’s said, “Since its launch, Instagram has provided us with an amazing platform to connect with our fans and tell our story visually. Ads on Instagram let us reach and engage with more fans about our flavors, fun and values.”
You Fresh Naturals:

7. You Fresh natural is a nut gourmet butter company that focuses on natural, gluten-free, and vegan products. It has 83,530 followers on Instagram. The goal of You fresh Natural was to create healthy treats for all kinds of palettes. It also wanted to increase brand awareness and conversion sales.
Jay, CEO of You Fresh Naturals, knew that an Instagram account was needed to achieve its goal. The company used hashtags, creative campaigns, Tagging Friends and Affiliate Selling with its Instagram friends.
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The company earned $34,000 in one month, out of which $10,000 were earned only by affiliate selling. It made $7,827 in one week, found 1,980 new customers and made $1,290 per sale with Instagram.
CEO Jay Lawrence said, “Instagram is modern. The scroll function means it’s in your face. With Instagram, I’ll literarily get 20 comments in two minutes. It’s the best platform I’ve ever used to attract customers to my products. I knew Instagram comment selling would work. People love the impulsive side. If I put a post of an order for two jars, I would get a hundred comments in 40 minutes.”

8. Ikea:
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One of the pioneers in the selling and designing of ready to assemble furniture and home accessories, Ikea was started 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. Ikea has its presence in more than 40 countries, and it owns more than 340 stores
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Ikea wanted to target a huge customer base of people who are young and constantly on the move. In order to promote their new 2014 PS collections, Ikea teamed up with the Moscow based agency Instinct to create a unique campaign on Instagram. It created an account within Instagram to showcase its new 2014 PS collection. The Instagram account, ikea_ps_2014, functions just like a regular website. It has 12 image tabs displaying the different product categories, like a virtual catalog.

9. It included a call to action in its timeline to generate a pro-active feeling in its client base. The initial numbers are encouraging, with the account having gathered more than 12,000 followers since the promotion started in June.
As you can see from the examples above, each company had a goal in mind and a strategy for achieving it with Instagram. Make sure you clearly identify your goal and then develop the right visual marketing strategy to promote it. A great article on Convince and Convert by Jennifer Gioglio gives you seven tips for jumpstarting your visual storytelling strategy.
I have shown you some advantages of using Instagram for business by showcasing 5 successful businesses that prove Instagrams power as a visual marketing tool. Now it’s time for you to take the step to start using Instagram for your business. To get visual marketing content ideas and more detailed case studies and strategies, check out my Amazon eBook INSTA-ADVANTAGE: How To Leverage Instagram For Your Business and Connect With Your Ideal Customer.
Tell me , do you use Instagram for marketing, what success have you had using it and what are your best tips for businesses?