Instagram Marketing for Business? Yes! It’s not just about liking foodie pictures selfies!
Instagram continues to explode in popularity with now over 100 million active users. Instagram users deliver over 40 million photos per day, 8500 likes per second, and 1000 comments per second as well. The user engagement is extremely easy, usability of the app is simplistic, and users get lost in the seemingly endless news feed of photos. There is no Facebook clutter, no private message spam, and no advertising either (at least not yet…).
Third party developers have also joined the exciting trend of the app by engineering ground breaking analytics tools providing insightful data for social users and businesses alike seeking to monetize their growing Instagram networks. Its relatively progressive API allows for easy integration and data mining from the app. Companies like Statigr.am have developed tools for growth monitoring, community insights, account history, and optimization tips.
Major brands such as Mercedes Benz and Coca-Cola have used Instagram to effectively drive mobile marketing campaigns to their user’s handsets. It’s a simple tool that when used correctly can be VERY powerful.
Just like other social networks that came before it, using Instagram as a part of your online marketing initiatives can help you showcase new products, before and after shots, photo contests based on hashtags and more. You can build a sense of a community in seconds and gain online exposure via sharing without much effort.
At WebitMD, we have put together our Top 5 Instagram secrets for marketing your business. Let’s get to them…
1. Building and Managing Contests
Building a contest is a sure way to build a solid follower foundation as a newbie to Instagram for business use. The key is to keep these followers engaged though in order to have a successful account. The like of Justin Bieber does this well by offering giveaway to Bieber product and show tickets on his Instagram page. It keeps his following engaged and waiting to hear more. You may not be Justin Bieber but you can surely follow a contest model to build your own activity.
Use custom hashtags that is just for your company to allow people to also include that tag in their own postings. For example, if you are a fitness studio in Los Angeles giving away a FREE 1 Month membership use a hashtag like #1monthfreefitness when posting photos about the contest on your Instagram page. eConsultancy published a great post a few months back about some successful Instagram photo contests if you would like further examples/ideas.
2. Consistent Engagement via “Photo a Day or Week Calendar”
Not sure what we are talking about? Check out these photos…
Create a challenge for the day or week where users should post a photo related to a specific topic only. Keep that topic in a hastag and keep the comments rolling. The user engagement will be extremely high!
3. Hashtags!!!
Seems like a given right? Yes they are but don’t just flood each one of your photos with 10+ hashtags. Instead use hashtags in reverse methodologies to search for a particular topic that you are trying to promote yourself.
For example, if you are a yoga apparel company seeking to promote your new pants use hashtags like #yoga, #yogi, #yogalife, etc..
Top-hashtags.com will show you the most popular trending topics on Instagram that can help you get a good idea of what’s trending.
4. Cross Promotion
We have seen countless Instagram business accounts where they are not linked to your other social profiles. Link them!! Place your company LinkedIn profile or CEO’s Facebook account (if his/her pictures are kosher…) and drive users from one platform to the other. Do not place your personal email address on your Instagram profile but rather have people contact you via social networks.
5. Be Personal BUT be Careful
Instagram is a platform of photos only. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so be careful what you post and how personal you get. It’s great to relate to your followers on a personal level and it’s also great to humanize the individuals behind your brand but just be careful and post only what you don’t mind the world viewing. Be genuine and be sure to craft a strategy for your Instagram followers that is suitable for your audience and will build your relationship for the future.
This blog was written by Mattan Danino, Director of Business Development at WebitMD Inc.
WebitMD Inc. is an integrated Internet Marketing & Web/Mobile Development agency based in Los Angeles and Orange County. Their creative team for web and mobile development utilize the latest in technologies while our Internet Marketing teams are internationally recognized in SEO, PPC, and Conversion Optimization services delivered to our robust clientele. We take a systematic approach to marketing and drive all our strategies by proven internal methodologies. Our client’s feedback over the years in business has always been that we provide an enterprise level marketing solution with a boutique agency feel. We like to keep it that way!
