Instagram Marketing: How to make the best use of it

Almost a year ago, the news flooded with the news of Facebook acquiring Instagram for $1 Billion. With this acquisition came a lot of mixed response – few though it was waste as Facebook was large enough to survive alone. Lot of companies also preferred Facebook as the one and only source for its marketing activities.

But today, Instagram has long surpassed the 300 million user’s mark, which means it has grown more than 600 percent since its acquisition by Facebook. Instagram, today, is the leading social media platform for photos and videos and is also the most preferred advertising channel for a lot of brands to get quick messages delivered to their target audience through photos and videos.

Here are a few tips to make your instagram marketing reap good mileage –

Make sure your profile as a business is complete

Create an account on your business name. Do not leave your account half filled. Ensure that you punch in all the details – address, contact number and about your company. Instagram also gives you an option to add a one line caption to your profile that is visible to your followers. So, make the best use of that space too.

Make the best use of Instagram’s USP – #Hashtags

People are using hashtags to express everything they feel and want to convey through the photo. There is no limit to the number of hashtags you can use on Instagram. Choose them wisely so that people can easily find you using the hashtags. Use general and trending hashtags that people are bound to use regularly and are often quickly noticed. Include your company name also.

Engage audience through contests

Instagram is all about videos and photos. Indulge in photo and video contests and engage your audience through these contests. Create a hashtag for the contest and make sure participants use this and your  company based unique hashtags for these contests.

Make your followers famous

Starbucks is one of the top 3 brands on Instagram and they are the best example for engaging their followers brilliantly. Every few weeks they show appreciation for one their followers  who use images of their products by acknowledging and sharing their photos. Starbucks also updates its Facebook cover image using these Instagram photos. Make sure you get their permission before sharing their images.

Comments and mentions

Reply to comments regularly and @mention your followers whenever you get a chance. Like their pictures. Do hashtag searches and comment on pictures so that they are inturn drawn to your brand’s profile.

Use Instagram filters and colour combinations to enhance the photos

Instagram has about 8-10 filters to edit your photo in the best way possible. Apart from these editing, you are allowed to make collages, increase brightness, add sharpness and other such photo edits. So, make the best way use of all these options to enhance your pictures of your products.

Keep your account active and let it fall in the newsfeed frequently

Instagram shows the latest uploads on a user’s newsfeed. Not everybody has time to scroll down to check all the latest updates. If you wish to target all kinds of audience, make sure you have an update every few hours so that your company page, products and update flash on the top of the newsfeed everytime a user is up on Instagram.

Showcase your company culture through pictures

Share pictures of milestones, achievements etc celebrated at work so that your followers can connect with your brand and also shows who you are. If you are running any contests or surprising your customers, do share pictures with your followers.

Nike is another brand that is using Instagram effectively. Instead of promoting their products directly, they promote fitness and health as a lifestyle through motivational videos and images. However, they make sure they use the hashtag #justdoit profusely to promote their brand.

Is Instagram part of your social media strategy? If yes, do share the hacks you follow and also any interesting instagram stories that you may have.

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