There’s no denying that Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in existence today. Once upon a time, Instagram was only thought of as a fun way to share photos with your friends. It is now an essential business marketing tool and one you need to take advantage of today.
The trouble is, how can you use Instagram for your business? Take a look at these seven smart ways for inspiration:
1. Visual Storytelling
It’s no secret that more businesses realize the significance of using Instagram as a positive social media marketing tool. One of the great things about Instagram is that content producers can create unique visual posts rich with photos and videos.
Using such media, businesses can curate posts that help their brands reach out to and connect with their followers. Each post can then get shared on Instagram and embedded on a brand’s own website. It’s even possible to share Instagram posts on Facebook, where they can get shared within the Facebook ecosphere!
2. Contests
Did you know that you can use Instagram as a means of running contests with your followers? If you’re planning on giving away something as a means of learning more about your target audience, Instagram is a great medium for doing so.
For example, you could ask your Instagram followers to upload photos of themselves using your products and adding a hashtag that you specify. If people think they have a good chance of winning something they want, you’ll keep them hooked. Plus, the likelihood is high that they’ll look forward to future contests from your business.
3. Exclusive Content
People love nothing better than to feel that you’re involving them with something few other folks can enjoy. One such example with using Instagram for business is by posting up images of exclusive content only available to followers of your brand’s account.
The types of content you might post up could include behind the scenes images or video clips of product development. Your followers will relish having “insider knowledge” of a new product or service that your business is developing. Plus, they’ll find browsing such content fascinating!
4. Targeted Hashtags
As you will no doubt be aware by now, hashtags are an essential component of successful marketing on Instagram. In a nutshell, hashtags help group together content from a particular subject or theme.
Since you’re using Instagram to promote your business to the masses, it’s crucial that you use targeted hashtags in your photo and video posts. Relevancy is key when marketing your Instagram posts using hashtags. It makes sense to use three to five relevant hashtags with your posts. Of course, you should ensure they are targeting the right demographic.
5. Profile URL
The only place on Instagram where you can put up a link to an external website is on your profile. You may think that is somewhat limiting, seeing as you can go crazy with URL links on other social networks. But, having a link to your website from your Instagram profile really does work!
What you can do is use a URL shortening service and create a link to a dedicated landing page on your website. That way, you can easily track who visits your website from your Instagram profile.
6. Audience Engagement
When using Instagram as a marketing tool for your business, you need to have active engagement with your audience. That means responding to any questions or statements in the comments sections of your posts. But, you should also go one step further and take the time to view posts from your followers and comment on them too where applicable.
It makes perfect sense to do that with followers that have a large follower count, and doing so serves two purposes. The first is that it shows a real human being manages your Instagram profile and sees what goes on there regularly. And, second of all, you increase the likelihood of their followers coming over to view your profile.
7. Location Tagging
Last but not least, it’s a good idea to tag each post you make with your location. By default, you can use the physical headquarters location of your brand. But, if you’re at an exhibition or some other public event, you can tag the location of that venue.
Location tagging offers your followers the opportunity to find out your physical location – ideal if you’re running a retail store, for instance.