Social networks are simply part of our everyday life. Though, the time when social platforms used to be private only, is gone. Facebook, Twitter & Co. have been established in the media landscape as effective communication and marketing tools. The use of Facebook is declining slightly. “New” platforms which have been very popular in other countries for years are now edging into the German market instead.

Instagram in particular, a social media and photo sharing platform, is one of the upcoming social media channels that we should keep an eye on. Worldwide, the use of Instagram has grown significantly during the last two years – and counting. Last year only, the number of active users went up by 100 million people within a period of just 3 months. This is really an incredible increase!

What is it that makes Instagram that popular? The formula is pretty simple: straightforward, visual and personal. The photo sharing platform makes things easy for its users. It requires little effort as the content mainly consists of pictures, photos or graphics. Following the principle “a picture is worth a thousand words”, users communicate with each other via visual content and allow their family and friends to be part of their life.

The statistic available displays the number of active Instagram users per month in selected months from January 2013 to December 2014. According to Instagram’s own information, it had about 200 million users worldwide in March 2014.

With such an enormous increase of users, obviously Instagram has recently become interesting for companies as well. As most Instagram profiles are public, it is easy to watch trends and topics and pick up the pace. Companies have the opportunity to be very close to their consumers and to address special target groups very precisely. Furthermore, companies are able to reach to new target groups and to tap into new markets by placing the hashtags cleverly. It is obvious that content marketing plays a crucial role. Convincing pictures do the Storytelling, or rather Storyshowing and are able to reach the consumer at a stage that is very difficult to reach: emotional. Lot of brands work with emotionally powerful pictures – with success! Huge companies like Nike and Starbucks as well as newcomers such as GoPro are at the forefront. Their campaigns regularly make it to the “Top 10 most liked pictures” lists.

In Germany, many companies have not yet discovered the huge potential of the popular app. However, this might change soon, the number of users soars and everybody is talking about Instagram right now. The high level of reach confirms the trend. Instagram is the social media platform that achieves the highest rate of interaction. In Germany, in particular, Instagram is getting very attractive for companies. In many cases, there is hardly any competition and, therefore, a brand can establish itself as a pioneer and gain a considerable lead. The next step has already been planned. This year, Instagram ads are supposed to start in Germany. Brands which have an Instagram account and have already built up their “client base” will have a clear advantage fighting for the user’s attention.