Have you ever thought about marketing your product or service with Instagram?
If you are currently using the application to its fullest potential, then you already know the tremendous benefits a business or brand can gain by being a part of, and engaging with, the community of the platform. If you’re not yet using Instagram as part of your marketing plans, simply put…what are you waiting for? The time is now to join the multitudes of new users each day, to connect with thousands of potential clients, and to showcase, in visual artistry, what you and your brand are all about. Now is the time to tell your story using Instagram.
Instagram is both the number one social media platform being used by Millennials today as well as the fastest growing mobile site in the world. At the end of 2014, the app had over 400 million users, completely trumping that of Twitter. That being said, you shouldn’t just WANT to bring your brand to the Instagram community…you NEED to bring your brand to that population. Twitter has had a good run at the development of a business’ social media presence, an online existence first truly developed of course with the rise of Facebook…but now Instagram is in the driver’s seat.
Many brands and business stay away from Instagram because they think…”We are not a visually pleasing brand.” They think that if they are not an art gallery, architecture firm, modeling agency, or even gourmet restaurant, that they shouldn’t have a place with the millions of other users posting pictures on the platform.
This is a myth. Here’s why:
- With Instagram, every single one of your posts will appear on the newsfeed of your followers, clients, and customers. Do you think 100% of your posts are seen by your customers that Like your Facebook page? Think again.
- The number one screen in our homes is no longer the television set, and it’s not a laptop or desktop…we are glued to the screens of our smartphones. Instagram is not only a ‘phone-first’ app, it also flourishes in that capacity. Easy to use, mildly (and arguably more so) addicting, featured on just about every smartphone in the world…you do the math.
- The best thing about Instagram is the ease of use, and the speed at which you can use it. Take a photo. Tag said photo. Hashtag. Done. You’re not trying to be eloquent and clever limited to 140 characters. You can be completed with an entire promo in under 140 seconds.
- Hashtags started with Twitter, ran past Facebook, and were brought to their full potential with Instagram. All of those potential users, many of them logging on multiple times a day, with an excess of millions of photos uploaded in a given day…how does a business stand out? The hashtag. While they aren’t ‘ownable’ you certainly can ride hashtags to marketing success. This tool is vital because you can target your marketing to individuals who you know are interested in your product or service. Then again, with a national event and some creativity…you’ve got a chance for a marketing boom. For example, let’s say you own an accounting service. Use #accounting or #accountant to drive users searching for and using that hashtag to you. And if it happens to be Super Bowl Weekend? Use #SuperBowl or #SB2015 to drive that huge number of additional users to your image, a photo that may literally ask the question: “Who do these NFL players use to count their money?” Quickly and easily, taking only a few moments of your day, you’ve increased your viewership, and potential client-base, ten-fold. And did you really think you could compete with the big businesses for those Super Bowl ads? Well with Instagram you are able to…the playing field is leveled and with photos and hashtags you are able to tell the world what you are all about.
- And lastly, once you have new customers on Instagram, you have a seemless, almost ‘too easy’ medium to connect and engage. Never before was it this simple for a business to interact with the public – you can comment on photos, have others post photos of your product or service on their own accounts, tag usernames and so much more to work towards getting your name out to the world. And, similar to Twitter, the ‘domino effect’ of followers is key…the more followers you get, the more they like your photos (aka free advertising), which in turn equals additional followers. Friends of friends will follow along to get to know more about you, your business, and your brand. As with all social media, they will want to hear your story.
