Instagram is leaning into its competition with TikTok by offering a more extensive music library for users to add to their Reels and Stories to make them stand out. Influencers are becoming more adept at creating content that sells using social media channels to promote and build audiences and curate interests. Music helps to do this just as much as visual content.
This could help affiliate marketers develop the ‘vibe’ of the photo or video making it more interesting to viewers and helping to attract audiences that have musical preferences. Users can choose a song from Instagram’s music library and add it to their photos, their Reels, and their stories, to bring their content to life. Instagram has stated it will help you “express your creativity and connect with friends.”
But how important is music in Instagram reels?
According to recent study shared by Influencer Marketing Hub, as directed by The HypeAuditor which found that Reels significantly outperform other content types when it comes to likes. Apparently 35.4% of the total likes can be attributed to Instagram Reels whereas simple image posts only get about 24.6% of the likes.
Choosing a trendy sound or song can boost your post interactions, as was revealed in this case study by fan page karma and increase your chances of a video going viral. TikTok is a clear frontrunner in trending sounds, as everything from press quotes to mash-ups go viral and take on their own life. Then in a week or so they eventually arrive on Instagram.
Is it the same for photos? Can this make photos more popular and interesting too? We didn’t find any definitive answers to this question other than some sites that mention photo’s uploaded as reels still work as well as video reels. Perhaps that’s something affiliates should be testing?
Not only will the music library expand, but access to the library will be expanding too. Instagram is working on adding more regions to the music library “in the coming weeks”, including a partnership with Spotify that will see Mexico and Brazil testing a new initiative. Essentially, Instagram will be hosting its own sound charts that will appear on the Spotify platform and feature the 50 most popular Instagram sounds like the radio Top 100.
What does all this mean for affiliate marketers?
Sound in marketing allows businesses to differentiate their marketing campaigns from others that only focus on the visual part of the ad. This will allow affiliate marketers the chance to expand the target audience and potentially market to more people through gathering customers that appreciate the music that interests them. Music has always been impactful to marketing and engaging the audience and now we’ll see how it continues to expand as the social platforms race to compete with one another to win favour with influencers.
