Use Instagram for Business

Do you use Istagram? Perhaps you already have a personal account and enjoy sharing your photographs? Or maybe you don't use Instagram at all. Well we're going to tell you why you should use Instagram - for business purposes that is.

What is Instagram?

For those of you that aren't too sure what Instagram is all about, it's basically a free online photo sharing & social networking service. You can download the application on your mobile phone, take photographs and instantly upload them to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In fact chances are that you've already seen Instagram pictures over social networks, they're the ones that look like they've had an effect applied to them. That's another feature of Instagram, you can apply a host of different photo filters to your photographs, allowing you to take beautiful pictures and practice your skills.

It is true that Instagram is also a social network, allowing you to follow other's photo streams, like photos and comment.

How do businesses use Instagram?

As well as being hugely popular for personal accounts, Instagram is now appealing to business like other social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. When people use Instagram to market their business, it's well received with their audience.

A great example of a business using Instagram, highlighted on the official website is company 'The North Face' @thenorthface. You may have heard of them, they sell outdoor apparel. Using what they know will appeal to their target audience they upload photographs in different locations of athletes partaking in various outdoor activities. This achieves a very special effect in marketing of bringing the consumer closer to the brand. They're not using Instagram to sell their products directly, they're forming real relationships with their audience.

There are many examples of how business use Instagram on the official website, click here to find out more.

How should you use Instagram?

Depending on the nature of your business, how you use instagram may be beneficial to you in different ways. Remember that it is not a place to catalog your products/ services, it's an opportunity to connect and be social - it is a social network after all! So what can you do with Instagram? Take a look at our top tips;

• Reach out to your audience - now that Instagram is more usable thanks to web presence and platform compatibality, more people are creating accounts. There are currently more than 5 million users, now that's pretty impressive. So think about how many people you could be connecting with that would be interested in your product/ service.

• Include your customers - depending on what your business actually does, you could include your customers in your photo feed. Perhaps if you own a beauty salon you can photographs of customers after treatments (with their permission of course) and upload them to Instagram. This shows the rest of followers that you're in touch with your customers, modern and have a personality.

• Be Social - just like with your other social media accounts for business, you need to stay social, participate in discussions, appreciate other's and really get involved with the appropriate community that you think would benefit your business. This won't just bring you more business, but it will reveal to you habits of your target audience giving you valuable insights for your next marketing moves.

• Stand out from the crowd - is your company going to an event? taking a trip? holding a seminar? If so then document it! Take as many snaps as you see fit and let your followers know what you're up to. You can do it straight from your smart phone, so don't worry about having to upload images from a camera. People like to be kept in the know - and it's true that people are very nosey! So give them the gossip, make yourselves interesting!

If you want to use instagram for business purposes and not sure how to get started, why not get in contact with us today for friendly advice.

Do you use Instagram account? What are your experiences? Share your stories with on Twitter or Facebook!

Or, if you want some more information take a look at our social media management services.