Five Ways Brands Are Using Instagram to Increase Engagement

By now, you no doubt will have heard of the popular photo tool Instagram. This is an app available for smartphones that allows users to add visual effects to their pictures before sharing them through social media. Recently, Instagram has also emerged as a useful business engagement tool. It has excellent digital PR potential, so here are five ways brands can use the app to increase engagement.

Photo competitions

One great option for brands using Instagram is to hold photo competitions and encourage users to enter. The app is very easy to use and plenty of people have access to it, so there's every chance you'll get a good response - especially if there is an attractive prize on offer for the winner. This sort of competition can also lead to greater exposure, particularly if entrants share their photos on their own social media pages.

Brand marketing

Companies can also use Instagram pictures for their brand marketing. For example, as well as engaging a SEO agency to make sure a brand can be found in search engine results, a company could add extra appeal to their marketing with eye-catching Instagram pictures of products. These can be integrated into a social media strategy in order to encourage engagement.

Event promotion

Another way to encourage engagement using Instagram is to harness people power around upcoming events. By tying in with pre-defined and branded hashtags companies can invite users to upload their own photos of the event along with the relevant hashtag thereby igniting conversation amongst your target audiences.

User photos

At the start of 2012, Instagram had 15 million users. Now it has 50 million. This rapid growth, plus the fact that many people love to share photos through social media, means that you can easily find social media users who also use Instagram. Sharing cool user photos on Facebook and Twitter can be a good way for brands to engage with new people and let them know that they're appreciated. For instance, as well as running the more traditional photo competitions discussed above, you could get people to send in their favourite pictures on the understanding that you'll share the best - giving your users publicity as well as helping to promote your brand.

Behind-the-scenes info

Finally, some brands are also using Instagram to share behind-the-scenes pictures of their offices to give people more insight into what they do and help spread a more human image of their brand.

A growing number of social media agencies are using Instagram to promote their brand, and so it's definitely worth checking it out to see what the app could do for your company.

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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.

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Instagram's Effect on the Food Industry

Everyone loves looking at pictures. Whether they are photos of nature or wildlife, photos of family and friends, cooking experiences, or even pictures of fun events, people take pleasure in living vicariously through other individuals via these photographs. This has come to include the interest of seeing a delicious meal that another food enthusiast was able to sit down and enjoy. Over the previous few months, I have really begun to see the affect that Instagram has had on the food industry, whether it is home cooking, eating out or trying new restaurants, people's photographs have proven to be a unique promotional tool for anything food related. Often times, I have had to make a mad dash towards the kitchen cupboards in order to satisfy my cravings after seeing one of these mouth-watering photographs. Chefs that are cooking from home or individuals that have visited a certain restaurant are able to snap quick photos from their phone and post them to social media resources like Instagram for the world to see. As a result, it can spark another's interest in trying that recipe, visiting that food establishment or it may just simply activate that person's hunger for any food.

I have been on Instagram for about one year now and during this period I have really enjoyed seeing the lives of friends and family through pictures and short videos. However, during this time frame, one trend that has really stood out to me was how proud these cuisine fanatics were about their food orders they put in or the meals that they had prepared. Eating is one hobby or activity that is going to be a part of everyone's life and why not share your favorite recipes or cooking experiences with the social world? Any individual with access to the internet can snap photos of their appetizers, main dishes, desserts or even fancy beverages that they were able to consume, upload it to Instagram and within seconds, that tasty photo will be potentially visible to thousands of followers on some of the largest social media resources around the world. In addition to that, there are numerous different apps that will enhance these photos or even dozens of filters that will make the food and beverage item look even more mouth-watering. Even the most unappealing of food items can be made appealing through some of these fancy advancements in technology.

Another fun perk of using Instagram for meals is that this photo app also works with another app called Foursquare, which allows the user to share their location on a map with their followers. Individuals can "check-in" at certain food venues, buildings or other locations to let their friends know what they are up to. From this partnership, I see Instagram as being a unique marketing tool not only because restaurant goers and food consumption specialist are able to take appealing photos of their food and drinks, but they can also attach a location with that photo so if other interested parties want to experience that same menu item then they know right where to find it. Even if Instagram is not considered one of the most effective forms of media right now, I would recommend the free application to any chef, group or small business owner that is looking to promote any product or service.

Over the past year, this unique photo-related application has at times, proved to be sort of a motivator for me by seeing others accomplishments, it has helped me better engage in people's lives that I do not see on a regular basis and it has even brought some awareness to me on certain things like local events or charity information. For example, I have found myself saying things like "well I didn't know they served that food there", or "wow that healthy meal plan has really paid off for that person" or maybe even "dang, I did not know that bar had that fun promotional there last weekend!" and by seeing photos of individual's experiences in this situations, it has lead me to want to try new things, get more involved or not miss another similar event. Now is this going to be the feeling that everyone has who sees these photos? Not likely, but for being a free tool that anyone can use, why would groups and businesses not want to use Instagram as a marketing method? It definitely would not hurt the business or group at all!

Instagram can be a fun tool to utilize for any small business or non-profit that may not be looking to spend tons of money on marketing. For example, I began a kitchen related retail business recently with a blog, Twitter and Facebook page and as a fun marketing method I created a separate Instagram account from my personal account that was strictly for this ecommerce business. It allowed me to upload unique photos to all my other web sites as a way of interacting with my followers and visitors and my website has seen an increase in activity and engagement because of it. Now showing fancy photos of recipes that I prepared or menu items that indulged in will not necessarily sell products or make me a ton of money, but it can promote user engagement on all my pages and that is something that I want for my business.

The promotional photo options are endless and that is why I would really recommend including this resource in one's marketing plan. Business owners like myself can snap and upload pictures of basically anything associated with their business, such as people having a great time using their products, the reactions of individuals tasting new foods, specials or discounts that are being offered for a period of time, or just photos of all the different menu items or product lines that managers and owners want to promote more. In my opinion, Instagram has not become as utilized of a free marketing tool as Facebook and Twitter, but I do think it could eventually reach that point, especially with the ease at which these users can integrate their Instagram with these other major social media sites. From all of this, restaurants and bars can promote their menu options through their visitors at no cost as long as those hungry patrons enjoyed their meal.

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How To Encourage Your Customers To Sign Up To Your List

You need to encourage your customers to sign up to your email list.

Gone are the days when you could simply say "Give me your email".

Potential customers need a good reason to trust you with their email address. They get enough spam in their inbox without inviting you to send them more. Sure, I know you're not going to spam them, but they don't know that unless you tell them.

Nowadays, you need to spell out that you won't spam your list. Tell them that precisely and have a clear link to your privacy policy where you tell them that again.

After that, you need to decide what to offer customers as an ethical bribe to join your list.

It could be the promise of hard to find information.

More likely, it will be a short report that you've written (or had written for you) that addresses some of the problems they are likely to face in your particular area.

For instance, if you're in the dog training area, you could offer them a series of handy tips to get their dog in better control. If you're asking them to travel to your town or city, let them know what attractions they can visit whilst they're there. You get the idea.

If your free gift is unique to you, tell your customers that they can only get it from you.

If it's chargeable elsewhere but they get it for free for signing up with you, let them know this fact.

You need to work hard on persuading your customers to sign up to your list. Sometimes it's more difficult to give something away for free than it is to sell an item.

Monitor your signup figures. You should be aiming to get at least 25% of the people who visit your sign-up page to join your list. Ideally more.

Keep testing and tweaking until you get a sign-up rate from your landing page that you're happy with.

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Is Instagram a Fad?

Instagram is the latest social networking site to be up on the internet. The question is: is it a fad? And the answer: Heck no. Instagram, like Facebook, is the product of a lot of work, a lot of thought, and a lot of investment.

The makers of Instagram connected with a former employee of Facebook who helped them, in turn, launch their application. Ever since, the application has gained popularity in a manner not similar to MySpace. It was like Facebook with a mash up of Twitter: celebrities started getting Instagram accounts to post pictures on Twitter. Soon enough, the application caught on.

Whether it is because of the instantaneous gratification of posting a picture and getting feedback, or because the application acts as a way to demystify celebrities lives, Instagram is going strong and it is here to stay.
There is something beautiful about the communities on Instagram, even when people are grumpy, they still are interacting in a way that is not available on Facebook or even MySpace. People complement each other, connect with each other, and they can do that without sitting in front of a computer. They can do this from their phones or iPod touches.

In an article called Facetagram Photo Opportunity, published in the Economist, the writer says, Instagram has proved irresistible largely because of two big trends that are transforming the technology landscape. The first is the rapid rise of the mobile internet, which is being driven by a proliferation of smartphones and wireless broadband connections. The second is the desire of people to be able to share stuff with their pals from wherever they are. These forces have already spawned a number of mobile-phone-focused social networks such as Path and Foursquare.The writer reflects, Instagram has blossomed precisely because it is cooler, less cluttered and less commercial than Facebook.

Not only is it opening doors for other applications, it is also making photography and art easier than ever to share. I would add Vine to the list of applications that Instagram has inspired. It is a video version of the application. There is a newfound confidence found online because people rarely bash each other on Instagram. In my year on the application, I have never seen anyone respond negatively to the other, even with celebs. Instead, people tend to offer constructive criticism and maintain a good respect for boundaries. You can set up your account on private, and thus you can restrict who sees you. You can block or report anyone who bothers you and it is just a safe place.

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