Instagram: Why?

I told you that you might want to get your flight school on Instagram because it appears that users are migrating from Facebook to Instagram, which now has a user base of 1 billion worldwide.

And lest you think this is another social media platform “just for the kids,” bear in mind that 31 percent of people who make more than $75,000 per year are on Instagram, according to AdEspresso.

So. Why use Instagram? For the same reason you use any marketing whatsoever—to get your flight school’s brand in front of paying customers. Instagram allows you to do this in a way that’s free and fairly simple.

First, what is Instagram? It’s a social media platform that is essentially just photos and videos. Unlike Facebook, where engagement can be status updates—words—and/or images, Instagram is highly visual. You don’t have to be a Barry Schiff or a Dave Hirschman who can effortlessly describe flying; you can post nice photos and let them do the talking.

So in that sense, Instagram is a perfect marketing tool for a flight school. Here is where you can post all your flying photos, solo photos, airplane eye candy shots, videos of flying, and sunrise/sunset photos. Some captioning is needed to engage with your audience. Use of hashtags (#flying, #womenpilots, #studentpilot) in the captions will expose your content to a broader audience and potentially even more customers. Each photo or video that is made public can be “liked” or commented on.

You can also post photos or videos in Instagram “stories” that will disappear after 24 hours. In case you’re wondering what on earth you would use a story for, I’ve followed accounts that use stories to promote sales and other types of temporary promotions.

There are some drawbacks associated with Instagram. You can only upload photos and videos via a smartphone app. (You can manage most every other aspect of the account from a laptop computer.) A business account is required to feature contact information for your business (but business accounts are free to set up).

On the plus side, business accounts can be linked to an existing Facebook page, so if your flight school already has a Facebook page, it can be simple to expand your reach into Instagram.

As with any social media account, Instagram takes commitment. You must keep posting fresh content to attract and retain followers. You must be ready to engage with followers in the comments section, particularly if they ask questions about your business.

And with any social media account used for marketing purposes, you’ll want to measure what kind of success you’re achieving with Instagram to determine whether it’s worth the time to maintain an account. This article from Hootsuite will give you specific information on analytics tools that will help you measure success, as well as give you a very good “how to get started” tutorial.