Do you use Instagram for business? To me, answering that question should be the same as if someone were to ask: Do you have a Digital Marketing strategy? Both should receive an unequivocal yes. But you’d be surprised how many people bypass Instagram for their brand and miss out on what could be one of the best Visual Marketing tools out there. What makes it so great? Glad you asked.

Here are five reasons Instagram Marketing should be part of your brand’s Digital Marketing strategy.

1. Direct Access to Your Target Audience

Think hard on this one…do you know anyone who doesn’t have a personal Instagram account? Your grandma and the librarian don’t count.

Let’s face it, with multiple sources concluding that over 1 billion people use Instagram every month, you can rest assured that at least some part of that population fits the description of your target audience. This access, combined with the personal nature of Social Media Marketing, results in a sure-fire way to get your marketing message seen and, ideally, acted upon.

2. No Training Required

Instagram, like most social media accounts, is ultimately intuitive to use. Considering the fact that such a huge, diverse population uses it every day, there isn’t a huge learning curve to understanding how to create, post, share, like, etc. content.

This means you won’t have to invest in expensive training programs that take months to complete and delay any actual use of the platform. Chances are, you and your team already have a strong grasp of how Instagram works. Just apply your Digital Marketing strategy and it’s all systems go!

3. Free, Free and Free

When was the last time you added a new digital tool or software to your Marketing arsenal and didn’t spend a dime for it? How about never!

At the end of the day, Instagram is another social media platform, not a specialty program or cutting-edge Google plug-in. It’s open to anyone to use at no cost whatsoever. Therefore, your decision to take on Instagram as part of your Digital Marketing strategy won’t need to include your budget – or brainpower (get it, a “no-brainer” decision?).

4. Your Smartphone Makes It Happen

Because Instagram is an image-based social media platform, some peoples’ minds automatically gravitate to professional photography/photographers getting involved somewhere along the way. But this is nothing more than a myth – or an expensive unnecessary investment.

Today’s smartphones are better than yesteryear’s top-of-the-line digital camera lens and can produce professional-looking images with just a little patience and smart lighting.

Employees with photography backgrounds may be helpful when it comes to planning photoshoots and choosing product layouts, but that’s nothing that you or other associates can’t learn quickly by reviewing other popular Instagram accounts for inspiration.

Instagram thrives off of original ideas and clever approaches to otherwise ordinary content. Which means, armed with only your creativity and your smartphone, you’re well on your way to marketing success.

5. Set It and Forget It with Automation

I know what you’re probably thinking right now. This is all great information…but now you have yet another social media platform to worry about posting, engaging, responding, etc. on every day, and you can barely keep track of everything you’re managing now. But, thanks to updates made to Instagram’s API last year, you can now use various scheduling tools to plan and schedule Instagram posts in advance.

This means you can choose when to sit down and build out next week/month/month(s) worth of Instagram content, upload the posts, set the schedule, and then go back to focusing on engagement and other core business activities.

It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Understanding the basics is something you can easily learn from helpful articles online that cover the complete process of linking accounts and scheduling posts on Instagram, for everyone from beginners to professionals to business owners to personal users.

With just a few minutes of reading and a few more hands-on learning, you can boost your Digital Marketing strategy without costing yourself more of the time you definitely don’t have to spare.

Make Instagram Work for Your Brand…Today!

Designing a social media strategy is unique to every brand, every Marketing team, every product/service. In much the same way, every company’s Instagram account is unique in the way it features content and targets customers.

Essentially, the only wrong way to use the platform is to not use it at all. So, what are you waiting for? Don’t miss out on adding a tool to your Digital Marketing strategy with an unmatched ROI and a potential only limited by the boundaries of your own creativity.

Read more: Moving Images: The Future of Digital Marketing