Firstly, I want to thank Pippa Akram (@Social_Pip) for the inspiration for this blog (the link to her article is at the end).
Instagram (Insta) is still a relatively new social media tool. Once utilised by selfie takers, braggers and photography buds. Insta now has commercial value for businesses: corporates and SMEs.
Insta is for photos and (short) videos. People can then like, comment and follow you and you can follow others.
Why, Insta for business?
Most if not all businesses will have something they can show to the public either to sell, improve brand reputation and/or increase brand awareness. Insta is easy and cost effective to use and there are plenty of apps out there to make Insta even easier and convenient to use (links below).
As a starter, HertsHour have come up with 3 key things when using Insta for Business.
- Strategy
What’s the purpose of your Instagram, how will it bring value to your business and what do you want to achieve? Increase popularity, brand awareness, increase sales? All three? Your Insta needs to tell a story and be worthy of a follow.
- Content
You can’t just post anything and everything. You need consistency and quality. Insta is visual, it’s filled with users who are extremely creative and professional. How will your posts keep up with this? Also, Insta uses hashtags and has daily ones specific to insta that you can get involved with. For example, #MotivationMonday #ThrowbackThursday #FlashbackFriday
- Connect
If you haven’t learnt by now, the connect aspect is very important, especially for small businesses using social media. You need to follow the right people and pages in order to get the right people to follow you back. Find out whether the people who follow you on your other social media have Instagram and connect with them. Add your Instagram to all your advertising and other social media. Additionally, you need to take the time to interact with those who comment on your posts. Not everything should be a sales pitch! It’s about building relationships and promoting your brand.
This blog is not exhaustive of all the benefits and uses of Instagram for business, but is a short insight to those looking at engaging with another social media platform.
*Insta recently changed their logo!
Useful links about using Instagram for business:
http://socialpip.tumblr.com/post/132998002256/how-to-build-an-audience-on-instagram
http://blog.business.instagram.com/
https://business.instagram.com/gettingstarted/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-for-business-tips/
http://blog.wishpond.com/post/115675435990/top-10-tools-apps-for-instagram-marketing
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