Instagram is anticipated to be the biggest engagement platform in the times to come. The fact that there are over 400 million monthly active accounts proves that Instagram provides an authentic experience.

Instagram overtook Twitter last year in terms of number of monthly active users.  In a few years, it might just overtake it in revenue, given the continuous support from Facebook!

This visual social media channel is particularly popular with the millennial generation catering to the young age group, generally 18-29 year olds.

The user base for Instagram in India for July 2015 is estimated to be 5.9 million monthly active users, and this number is increasing drastically each second!

So, what makes Instagram the Next Big Thing?  These are top 5 characteristics of Instagram which we feel are the reason behind its market monopoly.

1.  Mobile First Platform:  Instagram has followed a futuristic thought as it started off as a Mobile-based Platform. The brains behind Instagram understood the power and outreach of a mobile platform. As a mobile-first platform, Instagram is in a prime position to steer  the future of mobile and social commerce by leveraging immediacy.

2. Real and Organic Outreach:  Instagram has always been a means of reaching a wider audience and encouraging true engagement. Followers, comments, and likes aren’t as important as reach, ad recall, and brand awareness which is exactly what Instagram is all about. Not only is organic reach very much alive on this visual network, real engagement on Instagram is up to 7 times higher than on counterparts, Twitter and Facebook. Overtaking your parent company? Now that’s something!

3. Recently Launched Ads: Instagram officially switched on its advertising option this year.  Marketers can now buy ads on Instagram in an automated fashion. Earlier, to buy ads on Instagram you had to contact a sales representative directly, and even this was limited by region, brand and budget. But now, after integration with Facebook’s back-end Ad campaigns, Instagram is also providing everyone the option to promote their products and services via ads.

4. CTA Options: The above mentioned Ads are not just pictures and videos in your stream, they will carry the option of adding a Call To Action button. The different ad formats in Instagram include letting people sign up, visit the website, buy a product or download an app directly from the ad.  Instagram isn’t just a marketing platform anymore; it’s also an e-commerce channel.  A very good example is India based drink service, Paper Boat. They are using Instagram extensively to promote their brand and are also increasing their sales by including a “Buy Now” button that leads the user directly to an E-Commerce website featuring their product.

5. Dynamism & Evolution: Visually striking ads are most successful because Instagram is a branding environment and not a Sales channel.  A good image or creative of your product with a sales copy or pitch will fail terribly here.  But recently, Instagram has been facing increasing competition from Snapchat, an engagement channel that favours videos over images and is gaining immense popularity. With Facebook announcing an increased video presence and Instagram announcing the option of recording videos longer than 15 seconds, it might just retain its position as the leading Visual Social Media Channel.

These are our views on why Instagram might not only reach the top spot, but also retain it. What are your views? Share with us in the comments below!