Thursday 5 March 2015

Best Practices for Using Instagram for Your Personal and Business Brand

Social media has proven to be a fast and efficient marketing tool for businesses of any size. For individuals, it is a savvy means to stay in touch with the people you know. Instagram is one of the more popular new kids on the block as far as social media is concerned. One of the reasons that Instagram is so popular is that it uses photos to convey a message. This is a marketer's dream as photos and pictures tend to attract more attention and draw more people as compared to textual content.
As a person, you may also benefit from growing your profile by using Instagram. Using Instagram on Facebook will increase the visibility of your profile since people share and interact with photos more than any other content that is available. The app allows you to run your photos through a filter, which in essence, just edits them so they look better and more professional. You can also share photos on your Twitter account so that you can garner more interest and get more people to follow you.
Everything is more visually focused
As a small business, social media is one of the most effective marketing tools that you can use without spending too much. Instagram allows you to keep your clients updated on what is new. You can upload many photos in a day to keep people interested in what is new with your business and for any new developments. However, ensure that you do not share too many photos so that you give people enough time to see them and respond to them. It is important to be consistent so that your clients also know what to expect in terms of posting photos, new information, or any other news.
You can also share some photos of the behind the scenes of your business so that your clients and customers feel much more like a part of your business, which will make them more likely to become loyal customers. You can also show them how to use a product, photos of an event that you are having or something else that is not public information and is more personal, such as photos of your office or employees. This shows people the human side of your business which would make them want to keep checking back, or they want to follow your profile to see what new things they can learn or discover.
"As a personal brand, give them insights into how you think, decide and discern"
Instagram is also a great way to share some of the work you have done. This, in essence, shows others what you can do and will sell your work to potential clients. Engage your followers to promote brand loyalty; for example, responding to a comment made on your product. This also works for a personal profile; to get people to follow you and interact with your Instagram profile. Of course, you also have to interact with them, follow them, and comment on their photos.
Because your Instagram profile can only be viewed by the people you are friends with in your fans and followers list, it is best used with another type of social media such as Facebook since so many more people will be able to see and respond to your photos.
First point of contact
You can use Instagram to direct people to your personal blog, other social media such as Pinterest, or your company website. In both of these cases, the photos act as a bait to get people interested in you so that you can then introduce other content. You can also use hashtags to trend a photo or connect different photos that are related in some way which you would like people to see. It also attracts like-minded people as they will gravitate to hashtags on things they are interested in.
It is best to take good, clear photos on Instagram. A badly taken photograph cannot be salvaged by the filter function in Instagram. People will respond more to photos that are well taken. You also need to keep abreast on what is relevant and interesting to your followers so ask for feedback and understand what they are saying so that you can post photos that keep them interested in your profile. You can also make your photos fun by experimenting with creative photo shots.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7464708

No comments:

Post a Comment