Instagram is more than a place to gawk at photos of beautifully composed plates of food. On Instagram, the amount of followers you acquire can translate to real business leads. As a design pro, Instagram has the ability to elevate your brand and your business. Here are 5 reasons why Instagram really matters for you.

1. Its an active community

The majority of engaged audiences are congregating on Instagram. There are still other social media outlets like Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, Linkedin and Twitter, but Instagram has over 400 million active users per month. That means you have access to an audience of 400 million people who not only have accounts, but actually use those accounts on a consistent basis. You would have to add Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest together to equal that in active users. In 2015, Twitter even reported its active user base stopped growing entirely, virtually coming to a complete halt.

2. It’s how you make a great first impression

Your Instagram gallery may be the first interaction people have with your brand – even before your website. Curating engaging and beautiful visuals in your Instagram gallery is integral for creating a quality first-impression. The photos in your Instagram gallery have the power to establish you as a design expert. On Instagram, followers come for the gorgeous aesthetics, and they stay for the engaging content you’re sharing.

3. Instagram is a built-in audience of design-lovers.

Forget about wondering where you can reach your audience – they’re waiting for you on Instagram. The platform is built entirely around aesthetics. Its user base is already design-oriented; they are predisposed to like what you, as a designer, are offering. Instagram is a natural fit for your brand.

4. It converts

Instagram generates leads. No, really. It does. I say this from personal experience. Every week I grow my follower base by 10% and every week I generate real leads that become phone calls, in-person meetings, and client signings. With consistent growth, it’s possible to generate high-quality leads without spending big advertising bucks.

5. Instagram makes hiring easy

As your business grows you’ll no doubt be looking to add active, engaged employees who love your brand. You’ll likely need to look only as far as your own Instagram following to find the perfect candidate. These people are literally following your brand – it doesn’t get any more engaged than that.

Author Bio: STRUKTR Studios is a content and communications studio for architecture, design, and real estate. We develop evocative content and provide social media strategy and management to elevate your projects – and your story.