How to Grow Your Business Using Instagram

-
Whether you're new to the platform or looking to grow your presence, below are five ways you can get the advantage of Instagram.

With over 1 billion daily active users, it’s safe to make an argument for Instagram as the hottest social network of 2018. Unlike rival Snapchat and parent company, Facebook, which both
recently announced a decline in user growth, Instagram has grown by over 300 million users since Q2 of 2017 compared to 15 million by Snapchat and only 9 million by Twitter.


According to Social Media Examiner’s annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 69 per cent of marketers surveyed indicated they would increase their ad spend on Instagram while 74 per cent showed interest in finding out more about how to best use it.

What exactly makes Instagram, a social network that not too long ago was where one would go to put up that perfect Filter-altered selfie or photo of your lunch, the go-to for not just Millennials and Gen Z but big brands as well?

Plainly put, Instagram combines some of the most popular features from Snapchat with disappearing Stories including face filters; YouTube with archived video content; and Facebook’s Newsfeed minus the political give-and-take. Most importantly, Instagram continues to innovate by rolling out new features as seen recently with IGTV -- Instagram’s answer to YouTube with a vertical video that lasts beyond 60 minutes.

Whether you’re new to the platform or looking to grow your presence, below are five ways you can use Instagram to build your social media following and business, as well.

1. Hashtags 

As seen in the video above, hashtags work like categories on Instagram. You can apply up to 30 hashtags in a post, which will effectively blow up your organic reach. Still, the key is to combine up your hashtags with both popular, commonly used tags and ones that aren’t nearly as saturated with content.

2. Stories tools

Looking for a cheap way to get more engagement on your Instagram content? Tap into the all-new "Questions" and "Poll" features within Stories to add an interactive component to your content. If you’re a freelancer, imagine leveraging a Q&A or AMA (ask me anything) session on your story where real potential clients are receiving advice from you -- for free. Once you’ve given upfront value, you can then proceed to form a dialogue privately through Direct Message (DM).

3. Geolocation tagging

For any small-business owner on Instagram, location tagging at your place of business is critical. Imagine having a scrapbook of your place of business on everyone’s iPhone within your city or town. As a business owner or operator, ensure that whenever you post content from your business account, you add the location of your business in the post or tag the city where you’re located so others in the area can see posts from your account which might not be following you.

4. IGTV

YouTube’s answer to long-form video uploads albeit in the form of vertical video. Although IGTV is a newly added feature that has primarily been used by creators and influencers to repurpose video content that doesn’t fit within the standard 60-second range, IGTV can be leveraged to showcase professionally produced video content by brands or businesses as well as a place to archive Instagram Live Stories which disappear after 24 hours.

5. User-generated content (UGC)

Its Instagram’s answer to the retweet: Whenever your account is tagged in someone else’s Story you have the option to add his or her Story to yours, which is a nice bonus for any business that has a significant amount of daily foot traffic to encourage their patrons to share their experience with the brand on Instagram.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Must-Visit Digital Marketing Events for Fall 2018

-
Image
When summer vacations end, work begins again. That means it's time for digital marketers and online advertisers to decide which events to attend during the autumn digital marketing conference season. Digital marketing conferences hold fantastic opportunities to expand your professional network, learn new ways to tackle current challenges, and uncover techniques, tactics, and tips to help you become a better all-around digital marketer. We've checked the U.S. digital marketing conference calendar for the remainder of the year, and we're most excited about these 10 must-visit conferences. These industry events can help you learn new methods from top executives in digital marketing, online advertising, content marketing, search engine optimization, and mobile marketing. Here's what you should know before you register. September 2018 September 4-7             INBOUND 2018   / Boston INBOUND is a big show, with over 20,000 attendees e
Read more

The Essentials of Social Media Marketing

-
Image
Top of FormBottom of Form In an age where about 97 per cent of businesses use and rely on Social Media to attract new customers to their business, it is surprising that about 85 per cent of business owners are still ignorant of what social media tools to use to drive increased sales and profits. 63 per cent of consumers who search for businesses online feel more secure when they encounter an established brand with a strong presence on social media.
Read more