Why Instagram is Great for Your Business

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.

Steve writes for Buy Instagram Followers – a website designed to help purchase your Instagram likes and Instagram profile artificially.