Instagram marketing in Nashville: why is that mural in the Gulch so popular?

Instagram marketing has become a major part of many social media marketing strategies. 

The image and video-sharing platform is opening even more opportunities for businesses to market their products and services.

Nashville businesses can take advantage of the unique Instagram culture in our region to set themselves apart and attract both locals and tourists alike.

Verify your account

One way to boost your presence on Instagram is to verify your account. Verified accounts for celebrities, public figures and brands help users determine which accounts are genuinely managed by the people and businesses they want to follow.

To verify your account as a business, you will need to submit photographic proof. This proof can be in the form of a tax filing, recent utility bill or article of incorporation.

Getting verified is not a clear-cut process though. Verification can take weeks and there’s no guarantee that you will receive the verification checkmark. However, being verified on Instagram will help you stand out as an authoritative brand and could boost your business in the eyes of customers who spend a lot of time on the platform.

Follow these directions to verify your account.

Instagram for business

If you can’t get your account verified, don’t worry. There are still plenty of ways to use Instagram marketing, especially since the platform rolled out their business accounts in 2016.

Business accounts come with options for tracking how users engage with your content, adding more information about your business and advertising directly in the platform. Also, a business account on Instagram can be linked to your Facebook Business Page so you can create ads in the Ad Manager on that platform as well.

Instagram advertising can be great for businesses that want to reach the demographics that spend the most time on the platform. According to Pew Research Center, Instagram is most popular among 18-24-year-olds, with 71% of people in that age group using the platform. Instagram users are also more likely to be:

  • Women – 39% of women have an Instagram account
  • Black – 43% of Black U.S. adults use the platform
  • A college graduate – 42% of college grads are on Instagram
  • Urban-dwelling – 42% of people in urban areas have an account

If you are trying to reach these demographics, your business might benefit from Instagram advertising.

However, overall usage of the platform has gone up from 28% of respondents saying they used Instagram in 2016 to 35% in 2018. So even if you’re looking to target other audiences, you may not want to discount the platform entirely.

Click here to see how to convert your Instagram to a business account.

Unique Nashville Instagram culture

Instagram has seen an explosion of “influencers” who share photos and videos about brands or products on their feeds to thousands or even millions of followers. This is one facet of the unique culture of Instagram that prioritizes aesthetics, fame and followers.

One industry that should be particularly aware of the influencer trend is hospitality. Hotels around the world are working with influencers to boost their social media clout. In Nashville, this trend could be exploited by hotels looking to stand out from competitors, as long as they partner with the right people.

Another Nashville Instagram marketing trend: the murals. All across Nashville (and other major cities in the Unites States) there are murals that sometimes attract hundreds of users in a day. Search #WhatLiftsYou on Instagram and you’ll find more than 128,000 posts. #IBelieveinNashville has more than 29,000 posts of another popular mural in town.

Following these hashtags, and liking the posts, could be a great way to expose your business to the tourists visiting these murals (especially if you’d like to target bachelorette parties).

No matter what your business does, you should at least consider building an Instagram presence. If you can build a following that shares and engages with your content, it can have huge returns on your brand awareness and consumer purchase behavior.

For more marketing tips, click here to find other marketing articles.

Connect With the Chamber