Here a few tips on the effective use of Instagram to promote your business. This isn’t intended to be a definitive guide or A to Z of how to use Instagram, it does outline the fundamentals of how to use this often overlooks social network to boost your web presence.
1. First thing’s first – let’s start by creating an account, for this you’ll need an email address. Whilst I’m not going to provide screenshots on how to sign up for an account, it’s pretty straight forward, I will say that establishing a connection with Facebook is the first thing that you should doing after signing up for an account.
2. Once you have an account and have connected it to your Facebook profile – familarise yourself with Instagram Video. Have you noticed how your Facebook friends seem to be able to post videos to their profile without the use of YouTube. Well, this is because they’re using Instagram Video.
3. Go easy with the hashtags – make your hashtags unique and don’t inappropriate ones. These will help other users to find your images more easily and you’ll get more views.
4. Meet others online – engagement with other users is key to your Instagram success. Take a step back and consider two things: Instagram is a social network and this means that you should use it to engage with other users; and Instagram can be a branding and awareness exercise for your business. This is a key concept when using Instagram as a part of your business online promotion strategy.
5. Don’t be boring – we all know that corporate websites are meant to be professional and the whole point of Web 2.0 and social networks is to portray your more human side – your personality and the personality of key people within your organisation. Do this by running Instagram competitions. Again, this is all about engaging with your prospects and customers. Make it fun. Do something that is innovative and different to your competition.
