10 Ways Brands can Use Instagram to Improve Audience Engagement
If you think words are necessary to connect your audience with your brand, think again. No amount of text can convey the eye-catching properties of a fascinating photo! Hashtags and user profiles are pretty much the only words you’ll find on Instagram, and that’s why people love it: It’s so simple.
Despite its seemingly restrictive nature, businesses are finding success connecting with Instagram users through the mere use of photos (and, more recently, videos).
So how can you get a piece of that pie?
Here are 10 great ways your brand can utilize Instagram to engage your audience:
1. Become familiar with Instagram for Business. Don’t feel your way around your marketing strategy. Get familiar with this social platform. Take full advantage of its features. You want your users to experience brand continuity, so figure out exactly what image you want to portray before your first post.
2. Pick your focus. You’re going to need a strategy before you start posting left and right. Who is your target audience? What kind of message do you want to convey to them? How will you accomplish this through images? Don’t forget to decide beforehand how often to post content.
3. Build the perfect profile.
4. Use hashtags. Your followers will see just about everything you post, but you want to do more than entertain your current followers: you want to grow the pool. By assigning hashtags to your posts, users will easily be able to find your content whenever they search for that particular term.
5. Cross post your photos on your other social media sites.
6. Upload videos. Instagram has announced it will soon allow users to upload videos up to 60 seconds long. Use this feature to introduce a quirky, fun employee or show a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes in your business. Expand your audience’s view of your company by capturing the company food drive. Bite-sized entertainment can be addictive!
7. Be fun. The content you post should definitely reflect your brand, but people aren’t interested in being sold to; they’re interested in being entertained. Post fun things to attract a larger following and give your business a personal feel.
8. Engage with others. You want people to view and like your content. So when you receive a comment, consider viewing their posts and leaving them a comment as well. Follow them, and perhaps they will follow you. And just like that, a relationship has been established.
9. Use third-party apps to enhance your experience. Sites like Gramfeed let you view Instagram posts on your computer browser instead of a phone, as well as offering a plethora of other features. Gramfeed also connects with Facebook and Pinterest, allowing users to “like” and “pin” photos.
10. Finally, take the focus off sales. Russ Meyer explains the mindset of successful
Instagram business accounts:
- Having a distinctive view of the world
- Cultivating a unique visual sense
- Capturing things that are interesting to the brand and to the core target customer
- Training your eye for what makes for a great, provocative, engaging image.
- When in doubt, entrusting the work to someone in the organization that has the above!
Still not convinced Instagram is a good fit for your business? Look at this list of 20 brands that have experienced tremendous success with their Instagram marketing strategies. Why couldn’t you be on this list? Your business could bring a new flavor to one of the most popular social networking platforms in the world! All it takes is some time and creativity, and you’ll be on your way.
Guest post by Jonathon Ohayon
Jonathon is the COO of Brilliance.com and has been managing companies and motivating people since the 6th grade. As a proven business leader and gemologist, he is uniquely skilled in navigating the ever changing e-commerce landscape. When he is not answering emails into the wee hours of the night, he can be found spending time with his wife and three children
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