Instagram creating new wave of UK entrepreneurs

With one in three UK small businesses building their business on Instagram, the picture-sharing social media network that launched seven years ago states that millions of entrepreneurs are using the platform to transform their passions into businesses.

In a new report, ‘The Insta-Economy’, Instagram reveals that the growth in small businesses is being fuelled by its platform and is having a “significant impact” on the UK economy, as when it asked small and medium-sized businesses to consider the revenue growth they attribute to Instagram, Development Economics estimates that in 2017, Instagram will contribute an increase in Gross Value Added of 1.253 billion pounds to the UK economy, which is forecast to increase to 6.776 billion pounds per annum by 2022.

This growth has also led to job creation, as when polled, 45 percent of UK small and medium-sized business leaders said they’ve been able to hire more employees due to growth in demand for their products and services since joining Instagram. From June 2016 to June 2017, it is estimated that 6,100 new jobs in small businesses were directly attributable to the social media platform.

The economic impact attributable to Instagram isn’t limited to London but is being felt right across the country, states Instagram, with over half (54 percent) of additional GVA driven by Instagram small businesses being achieved by companies outside of London and the South East. At a local level, almost a third of UK small businesses (31 percent) believe that Instagram helps create jobs and economic opportunities in their local community.

Small businesses and job growth fuelled by Instagram

What makes Instagram an important tool for business growth? Well, it states it is because “inspiration provokes action” and in the last month alone, 180 million Instagrammers from around the world were inspired to visit a website, get directions, call, email or send a direct message to learn more about a business or product as a result of their Instagram activity.

Instagram adds that in the UK, 60 percent of Instagrammers say they learn about products and services on the platform, with one in four people in the UK stating that they have discovered and bought products that they found on Instagram, while more than two-thirds (69 percent) of business profile visits globally are from non-followers.

It’s this trend in consumer behaviour that has led to the evolution of Instagram being used as an important tool for entrepreneurs, and why 53 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK using Instagram see the tool as a means to grow their business. This jumps even higher for entrepreneurs under the age of 35, where 63 percent say their business is stronger today because of Instagram, while two out of three believe the platform helps them find new customers.

With one in two UK small business owners claiming that the platform has helped them create “deeper and meaningful relationships”.

The report also highlights a number of successful businesses who have grown on the platform including beachwear brand Pampelone, with founder Holly Anna Scarsella stating that Instagram has been “essential to the growth and success of her business, from receiving customer feedback to connecting with potential brand ambassadors, and is delighted to be supported by a growing team”.

While designers Ian Campbell Cole and Felicity Baggett from Campbell Cole say that their Instagram feed acts as a “shop window for the brand” and allows them to showcase to a global customer base, and London-based clothing business Double Trouble that hand embroiders T-shirts notes that Instagram has helped it drive exports, as it now has more than 100 stockists around the world including Saks Fifth Avenue. The report adds that 51 percent of UK businesses believe that Instagram is a way to connect with customers in other countries, so giving them scope outside of the UK.

‘The Insta-Economy’ data was complied by Ipsos Connect, who interviews a sample of 1,500 online Instagram users aged 13-plus across the UK as well as 500 Instagram business users from small and medium businesses (under 250 employees), as well as Instagram-commissioned analysis by Development Economics, and Morning Consult who conduct a poll among a sample of 1,000 small and medium-sized business employees in the UK between August to September 2017.

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