Think You Can’t Market with Instagram? Think again!
Have you ever thought about using Instagram for anything other than posting the latest photos you take? Perhaps using it for a business purpose, maybe?
We may have the (mistaken) notion that all Instagram is good for is the posting of endless selfies and memes, even though the truth is that Instagram is a great deal more than this.
7 Methods to use Instagram in your marketing
- Start gathering a following – You can kickstart this easily if you’ve got a Facebook following by connecting your Facebook account, use relevant and trending hashtags, as well as by engaging people and following them.
- Use videos – Instagram’s video capabilities are both unique and profound. More than double the size of the 6 second micro-video you can use with Vine, the 15 second Instagram videos offer the distinct advantage of possibly being shared with Instagram’s 200,000 members, but also the billion users on its parent site, Facebook.
- Create an interesting and informative profile – As with any other social media property, Instagram presents a fantastic opportunity to promote your brand via your profile.
- Get good at networking on Instagram – Follow brands and people, employ hashtags that are brand specific, and engage with followers. Find ways to reward followers and to cross promote on Facebook.
- Get creative with your brand – Make it your mission to not simply post images and videos, but to inject as much creativity and excitement into them as possible, showcasing your company’s products and news in a most entertaining and visual way.
- Use video to chronicle your brand – Chronicling and including your followers on important brand milestones is a terrific way to keep interest and buzz alive. Announce major initiatives, products and news through video and images.
- Great for announcements – Instagram is a terrific way to reveal new product offerings with images or videos, and give your customers a heads-up about anything new in the pipeline.
Instagram presents a wonderful opportunity to get in on the growing visual marketing trend. Acquired by Facebook last year, Instagram is still growing extremely fast, and will be for quite some time.