The key to a successful marketing campaign
is to connect with your audience. This
means that if your customers enjoy a particular activity you should be putting
your message in front of them – in a manner that they are happy to
receive. Instagram is the mobile phone
photography application that demystifies photo editing and is fastest growing
(and the most fun) of the social networks available.
Originally launched in October 2010, it was
for iPhone users only, more recently, in April of this year 2012, Android
phones were already able to make use of it as well. Indeed its popularity has
grown tremendously since it was first introduced to the public because of its
amazing fusion of photography and social media via the utilization of mobile
phones. Thus, such fusion has greatly influenced how business is done today.
Is it worth it for a business though?
Well a lot obviously depends on your niche,
and the product that you are selling. If
you are looking for brand awareness then it’s a certainty, with 80million users
and a very fast growing user base it’s a good place to be. For direct sales it’s a little more difficult
to make a hard sell, as you can’t have external links in the images and – as
with all social networks commercialisation is frowned upon.
Making Your Instagram Marketing Plan
Of course there are also things that you need to consider when posting
pictures. You have to ask yourself first what your goal is. This will help you
decide on what to post and how to reach out to your target market. The next
steps you ought to take will depend on how people react to your posts.
It is very important for you to have a sustainable marketing plan in order to
achieve your goal. So based on your objectives, you should come up with a
marketing plan that suits your target audience. You can create hashtags, for
instance, which you can employ for your products and services.
Select what you want to focus on in the process. A big part of this is brand
development. If you know what to concentrate on, you can carefully build your
brand, push your products and services, and acquire fan-generated content.
One example that you can follow is that of Ben & Jerry or Sharpie. They
have made use of Instagram to promote their brands by taking snapshots of their
road shows and events and posting these for others to see. They also regularly
post photos of new products. At the same time, they have allowed people to
participate actively through taking and posting pictures related to their brand
and also through contests. They use brand hashtags to encourage their fans to
do these things and to spread the word about them as well.
A
Personal Approach
If you take a look at Instagram, it appears on the surface just like any other
social networking provider. You can view the profile wherein the username is
included along with the photo's age, captions, comments, and likes. This way,
there is more interaction encouraged in the process which builds rapport and
relationship. These are, after all, essential in business.
Using Instagram for your business is more on a personal level, wherein you get
to interact with potential customers or clients through comments, likes, tags,
and posts. You get to maximize Internet marketing also because you have easy
access to a range of social networks. What's more, because you are mainly using
your mobile phone, it is much easier to be "in touch" even if you are
constantly on the go. Your updates will matter a lot so that people can always
find something new about your business and will keep coming back to your page.
Definitely, Instagram will drive good traffic to your account and even to your
website.
Making the Most of Snapshots
It is much easier to take photos from your mobile phone's built-in camera and
to post it on Instagram. Most cameras now have various features effects that
you can utilize such as zooming in and out, cropping capabilities, and colour
splashes.
Cameras have become a main stay of cellular phones because people around the
world have gotten accustomed to taking pictures wherever they are. Mobile
cameras provide great convenience, which is why taking these snapshots has
turned out to be the third on the list of common cell phone activities. Studies
show that almost a billion photos have already been taken with Instagram and
around 58 of these photos are uploaded every single second. The great thing
about this app too is that you can instantly post the pictures on Twitter,
Facebook, Tumblr, and Flicker. You can even get the chance to connect with
foursquare and also to indicate the location of the photo and tag it too.
Hence, such a modern feature is very helpful in any business where people need
plenty of visuals for their interest to be piqued.
There are really great benefits to using Instagram for your business. You just
have to think carefully of lay out the marketing plan that will guide you along
the way as your business grows and brings in bigger profits.
