By: Peter Girard
So remember last week when I blogged all about using Pinterest for your business? Well I’m back to drop some more social media knowledge only this week we’ll focus on Instagram and how you can harness its power for your business.
Hello…my name is Instagram
First things first, what is Instagram? Well, Instagram is an online photo-sharing, (and now video-sharing!) social networking service that enables users to take pictures and videos, apply preloaded digital filters (or not, your choice) and share them via a variety of social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, etc. Have you ever seen someone out at a restaurant, their food arrives, and instead of chowing down, they take out their phone, snap a couple pictures and then start eating? Chances are, those photos are somewhere on Instagram.
Myths Debunked
A popular (mis)conception about Instagram is that it’s an ocean of food and pet pictures, and while to an extent this is true, Instagram is so much more than that. Part of what’s made Instagram so wildly popular (and powerful) is its ability to find beauty in the mundane. You can find some of the most amazing photographs you’ve ever seen on Instagram and that’s good news for you and your business.
Need some inspiration?
In response to the number of businesses that have been flocking to Instagram, Instagram started the Instagram for Business blog. So if you’re looking for some ideas, tips, examples, or brand spotlights featuring companies who are doing Instagram right, that’s an excellent place to start.
Now that you’ve got a pretty good handle on what Instagram is, here are some tips/tricks that will help you start planning the Instagram strategy for your business.
Humanize your Brand
Don’t be afraid to showcase photos of employees or staff! Customers enjoy seeing and getting to know some of the faces behind the brand. Showing off your employees at work gives followers a behind-the-scenes view of your company but is also a great way to celebrate the great work your employees do and makes them feel valued. Aside from photos of employees, experiment with sharing photos from around the office or work place.
Find a Balance
Just like you would do (or should be doing) with all your other social platforms, you need to find that happy balance between fun pictures, and pictures from your business. Some recommend the 80-20 rule which would break down to 8 pictures relating to your business and 2 ‘fun’ or ‘non-business related’ photos. The balance you ultimately decide on is your choice and it might take some tweaking to figure out the ratio that works best for your business but it’s all worth it in the end run. This is also not a fixed ratio, what worked one week might not necessarily translate to next week or next month. Continuously track the engagement on your photos to find out what your followers like best. Which brings me to our next point.
Cultivate a Following
Getting individuals to follow you on Instagram so that you have an audience to share all your awesome photos with is very similar to building a following on any other social media platform. If you already have a successful Twitter or Facebook account, connect those accounts to your Instagram page. You can also encourage fans from your other social media platforms to follow you on Instagram. Hash-tagging on Instagram works just like it does on Twitter so make sure you’re using relevant, popular hashtags when posting your photos. Engage with others on Instagram by following them and liking their photos. You’ll want to find a balance to this too, following someone and then liking ALL of their photos can come off as a little creepy…
Take & Share Video
This is a fairly new feature but when Instagram introduced video, it was a big deal and has since been giving Twitter’s Vine a run for its money. One of the largest differences between an Instagram video and a Vine video is the ability to capture up to 15 seconds of content vs. Vine’s 6.5 seconds. While this does give you some more time to play around with, you need to make sure your videos are interesting. Taking a video is great for showcasing a process that images just don’t full capture and can be a very powerful tool in the Instagram toolbox but don’t share video for the sake of sharing video.
Mix it up a bit
Instagram allows you to add a digital filter to the images you take and make slight edits. Some of these filters can really improve an image you’ve taken, other filters might ruin your photo. Play around with all the filters to find the ones you like best but don’t be afraid to branch out and try a new one. Try to avoid posting pictures with the same filter one after another and remember, sometimes your image might not need any filter! If you’ve taken a truly spectacular photo that doesn’t need a filter, you can always post it with the hashtag #nofilter!
Develop a Posting Plan
Work out a schedule that works for you and your business. Compared to the high ‘feed speed’ of say, Twitter, Instagram is pretty relaxed and laid back. You do not need to post on Instagram every day. You certainly can post everyday but you run the risk of saturating your followers’ feeds and that might turn off potential followers or cause the ones you already have to ‘unfollow’. Instead, work out what you already have that’s ready to post, brainstorm some posts you’d like to make, and create a schedule. Spacing out your posts gives followers time to engage with your content and will also allow you to track what’s working once you get your schedule going.
While there are a TON more Instagram tips, these should be enough to get you started, or at the very least spark the conversation surrounding using Instagram for your business. If you have any questions or are interested in some additional tips, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter or if you’re feeling especially ambitious, check me out on Instagram!
pete_girard 