Marketers everywhere are noticing the recent Instagram boom. This is especially true for those who keep an eye on trends in visual storytelling, and social media-based audience-building.

The most recent official stats for the Instagram community were released in the fall. They showed that the channel had more than 800 million active monthly users as of the end of the year. This makes it twice as popular as Twitter.

Audience engagement is particularly strong in this niche, as data shows from RivalIQ.

Facebook recently announced that multiple accounts can broadcast live together. This is a huge boon for co-marketers as well as brands looking to make the most of their relationships and influencers.

You can also include poll questions in your story posts. This will provide you with additional data and allow you to segment your audience for better messaging.

Much of the hype around Instagram is based on money. Instagram’s monetization strategy relies on paying advertisers to promote posts. It’s working wonderfully well. According to a recent eMarketer report, Instagram’s 2017 ad revenue will hit a new high of $2.81 trillion.

Many Transactions, #NoFilter

Major developments in Instagram’s product line of ad formats, targeting capabilities, and integrated booking platforms are unlocking potential revenue growth.

In 2015, only a few advertisers were allowed to promote standard images and “carousel” posts. However, anyone can now book multiple video and image-based ads on Instagram and can use Facebook’s incredible targeting capabilities.

Instagram’s economic ripples radiate even further thanks to their Ad Booking API. This allows third-party platforms such as MailChimp to offer their own Instagram advertising functions.

Parallel to the growth of Instagram’s economy, many platforms, marketplaces, platforms, and services are also rising to support it. This creates a stronger, wider Instagram economic ecosystem.

Harper’s Bazaar recently calculated that brands spend over $1 billion annually on sponsored Instagram posts. Noting that influential people with hundreds of thousands can easily land sponsorship opportunities worth over $100 per post, Harper’s Bazaar also noted that there are many ways for influencers to get over $100 in sponsorship fees. If they are correct, Instagram’s economy will surpass Poland’s GDP. Don’t forget to include Instagram’s direct revenues from advertisers.

Let’s look at three-party marketplaces and tools that marketers can use for increased Instagram engagement and more sales.

1. Manage Your Community

Crowdfire lets you manage your Instagram following (and Twitter too). You can see who you have unfollowed recently, and who is no longer active on the network, and discover common accounts among your followers. Also, you can identify profiles that you don’t follow back.

Crowdfire can also be used to identify your most engaged followers so that you can interact more with them.

2. Make money with your merchandise

Instagram finally launched its own “shoppable posts” solution earlier this year to qualified merchants. It’s now possible to directly sell your products to your followers without asking them to click the link in their profile or expecting them to leave Instagram.

Shoppable Instagram works by connecting your account to your ecommerce platform. BigCommerce is the first service to offer this feature. Merchants who have tried it have had great success. Magnolia Boutique saw an increase in revenue week-over-week thanks to Instagram-acquired customers.

3. Take the time to measure your contests

Iconosquare offers rich analytics and contest management for Instagram. It also provides embeddable hashtag boards, moderation modules, and engagement metrics.

Your contest hashtag, and start and end dates, are ready to go. Once it’s finished, you can drill into performance details or download a list with participants for follow-up engagement.

4. Curate and Embed Submissions

UGC is an effective marketing tool because it allows prospective customers to see past buyers’ experiences with products. Later lets you search, curate and schedule content from other users. You can also use their images to create your account. You can search for hashtags, user accounts, volume, and other relevant keywords.

You can use the platform to gather authentic photos from customers. These photos can be shared on Instagram and other social media platforms to increase fan engagement and social proof. These posts can be featured on your website or in your Facebook posts to increase brand authenticity, trustworthiness, and social proof.

5. Image Rights: Buy and Sell

The stock image backlash is real and Instagram’s economy may be the key to finding solutions. Lobster is one of many emerging marketplaces. It allows marketers to source images from community members and helps them find new markets.

Lobster allows photographers to sell rights to their content. Businesses can also purchase a subscription to have instant access to images on the marketplace.

6. Schedule your posts

While Instagram is all about engagement and real-time posting, not every marketer can be as active as their audiences. Targeted scheduling is essential due to the nuances of Instagram’s algorithmic newsfeed.

Onlypult’s Planner allows marketers to upload scheduled images directly to Instagram. Most of the other tools that claim to support this functionality (including Tailwind and Agorapulse) are fancy reminder systems that send push notifications to users to alert them to use Instagram’s mobile application. Onlypult has its analytics reporting, and supports Instagram Direct and stories.

7. Imagery of Sponsor-Buyable Product

You can search for Instagram influencers who are interested in modeling your products via Stylelinity. They will then distribute the UGC to their followers.

The “Shoppable Content Management System”, which is used by the company, works across multiple social networks. Market members can follow their favorite brands to find out about new opportunities called “Looks”

8. @Mentions – Buy and Sell

Shoutcast has a network of influencers available for hire that can help you get your brand in front of an extensive Instagram audience. They have over 120 million followers.

You can search this marketplace to buy and sell Instagram shoutouts. Each niche has its strengths.

9. Sponsored Posts Available

TapInfluence allows brands to team up with top Instagrammers and create sponsored posts that they can share with their followers on an automated basis. Advertisers have access to the platform’s tools to search for influencer matches, automate workflows, and promote content.

TapExchange supports advanced audience targeting and cost-per-engagement metrics.

Investing in the Instagram Exchange

Analysts are pointing out that Instagram’s meteoric rise may be slowing down. They point to a drop in engagement and a saturation of followers as the key factors to watch. The marketing opportunities available to those willing to try a “pay-to-play” model are just as vast as the economy.

There are many tools available to help you with any Instagram-based marketing task. Many products can help you make your Instagram marketing tasks easier.