Using Instagram For Marketing

The web and online marketing move at a breakneck pace with new markets and marketing avenues opening all the time. Taking advantage of them can pay big dividends, but you have to know what you’re doing. Instagram, a booming mobile photo-sharing app for iPhone and Android is one such marketing channel. Here’s what we’ve learned about showing off your company on Instagram.

Is Instagram Right For Your Brand?

Instagram is not for everyone — but sometimes the people it is for can be surprising. Although popular ‘hip’ companies like Starbucks and Red Bull have strong Instagram followings, General Electric has been able to leverage Instagram to great effect by showing the amazing technologies GE is pioneering in a variety of fields and by running photo contests for its followers to share images of technology and innovation.

Focus on Exclusivity

Instagram gained its large user base in part because of the photographic filters it offered to help the ordinary look beautiful. Similarly, its users look for the interesting, the unexpected, the expressive in the small, simple images available. Reusing press photographs or marketing images would be a big faux pas — instead, show the tiny things about your company that no one but an insider would otherwise see. And be careful about cross-sharing on other social media. What works for the Instagram audience doesn’t necessarily work for them all.

Participate Fully

Professional images are the antithesis of what the Instagram community stands for. Take the pictures yourself, and take pictures not only of your product but of your employees and your offices. Show people the nuts and bolts behind the scenes. Show them the personality and the culture of your brand. Show them the company as only one who is a part of it can.

Invite Fan Interaction

Run contests, inviting followers to share their own images– whether they’re at your venue, using your product, or simply happy to be your customer. Allow them to be inspired — isn’t that what your marketing is for? Allowing your followers to curate and associate beautiful images for your brand can only help you.

These are just a few ways that website internet marketing with Instagram can help you promote your brand. For more insight into online marketing avenues, book your free consultation with the experts at Conversion Pipeline today!