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By now, almost everyone has Instagram. But not only is it a fun tool, it’s become THE optimal tool to use to grow your blog or business. Since Facebook overtook the app, it’s now easy to advertise on Instagram and sharing photos has become necessary to gain steady followers.In the past two years, Instagram has gone from strength to strength, amassing a billion active users and growing at the fastest rate of any of the major social platforms.Instagram has created sub-genres, businesses and careers, and has disrupted whole industries.

It is fairly obvious why today's marketers are drawn to this social platform. Instagram is a handy tool for businesses that rely on the common public to sell off their products and services. Branding, in today's digital age, is highly dependent on visual media such as videos and images as they can be more appealing than plain text, and they can raise emotions leading to actions. A study, done by mashable.com last year, stated that using photos along with posts increases the chances of interaction with comments and likes by about 40% as compared to the text-only posts.As brands have jumped on board the Instagram marketing bandwagon, there have been some standout success stories. Some of the savviest early adopters have been able to create brands entirely on Instagram. Watch brand Daniel Wellington is a perfect example - they've used the platform to advertise their product, bypassing traditional advertising altogether.

Its strategy of using its ad budget to gift watches to influencers has resulted in a flood of posts, and that hype has translated to sales, helping it become Europe’s fastest growing company between 2013 and 2015. With an emphasis on all things visual, and direct access to millions, Instagram has also helped bring worthy causes to the fore. Imagery is incredibly powerful, and many activists now use Instagram as a storytelling device to spread their message far and wide, inspiring others to get involved. It also gives influential individuals direct access to their followers to deliver undiluted messages of support - like Justin Beiber’sInsta announcement of his support for the #blacklivesmatter movement.Bloggers were already popular in 2010, but Instagram gave them a platform to distribute short and sweet updates. With one image and a caption, they were able to make bite-size content which could be published more regularly for more frequent conversations with their followers. Some used this to complement their blog content, some switched to Instagram completely, while others found social fame on Insta alone. The app has undoubtedly propelled the influencer movement, and turned some personalities into social celebrities.

There's a range of ways in which Instagram is influencing culture, and changing the way we communicate, discover and get involved in different elements. From a marketing perspective, it pays to have an understanding of these developments in order to better contextualize not only your Instagram strategy, but how Instagram's growth is changing consumption habits more broadly also.