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How To Use Instagram For Marketing
Whilst Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on are still going strong, companies today need to constantly develop their social media marketing strategies to stay ahead of the curve. As a result, more and more of them are turning to Instagram – recently described by Forrester Research as one of the most effective social marketing tools out there. What makes Instagram stand out is that it is a highly visual medium – rather than the words, it is all about the image. And as we all know, the right image can be a very powerful thing.
If you aren’t yet using Instagram to market your company, maybe it’s time to think about it. Here are some of the ways you can implement it:
Use Hashtags: Because Instagram will not hyperlink URLs in comments, to really integrate it into your wider marketing strategy you need to put the emphasis on hashtags. If you manage to tap into popular hashtags then it can be a great connection between your consumers and your brand. You can use them to aggregate photos submitted as part of a marketing campaign and generate more photo submissions. And if an Instagram user submits a photo this can often be translated to sales.
Reward Your Followers: It’s important that your followers feel they have a good reason to stay with you. This means it’s not enough to simply post or gather content. To make it feel more like a two-way relationship you can set up triggered responses when people make their own posts, which shows up as a comment on their photo. A cautionary note though: it’s important this shouldn’t come across as spam. Use the response opportunity to offer a deal, discount, promo code or something else of value so you can change the post into a purchase.
Be Relatable: Nowadays, social networkers tend to be put off by unrealistic images of ‘perfect’, airbrushed models. We tend to be suspicious of this and are far more likely to buy into a brand if it offers more recognisable images we can all relate to. But the trick is to get the balance right: for example, if you are selling beauty products then you want the models you use to be appealing without bombarding people with something that feels unattainable. The best advice is to use ‘real’ models in this case. If you are posting videos then you will find that the most popular ones these days tend to have a slightly ‘raw’, in-the-moment feel. Don’t try to be too slick.
Make Customers The Stars: Remember that happy customers are your greatest asset and the best advertising tool you can have – so use them. Posting pictures of customers to accompany their real-life stories and experience of your brand is a way to make your company seem both authentic and trustworthy. If you make your customers the star of the show there’s a high probability you will gain followers and increase sales.