Instagram for Business? Absolutely!

While Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest seem to dominate social media news – as well they should with the billions of users they service! – there are other growing sites out there that are making waves of their own. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook,  is one.

Instagram for business is a smart move for a large variety of small businesses out there, especially for product-based, consumer-centric or artsy-fun brands.  

One of the latest features on Instagram  allows you to upload video clips of up to 15 seconds long (and we already know that micro-videos are hot for 2014). This is a rather long amount of time that you can highlight your company and what you do, plus you are always able to share images with your clients and followers as well. All of this means that Instagram is not just for kids, as you can utilize it and share it with individuals as well, in order to spread your company name.

(Here is an Instagram micro-video of my kids doing some rock climbing. Cool huh?)

With the attention span of the average Internet user under 10 seconds (it is actually at seven seconds), you need to grab and hold onto the attention of the visitor.  With the video, there is a good chance the viewer is going to watch the entire 15 seconds you have for them to see. This is more than enough time to highlight your products and services, what you can do and how it can make the users’s life better.

Getting Started with Instagram

To get your business started with Instagram, you’re going to need to set up a business account, all you need is a mobile device, a user name and a profile image to get going.

Once you have set up your account there are a few things you’ll want to do right away:

• Completely fill in your information using relevant keywords and links. Use similar wording to your other social accounts for across-the-board branding.
• Decide what you’re going to post- a mixture of behind-the-scenes, product and customer images is a great place to start.
• Follow relevant people and brands, you can use the @ symbol and # hashtag in the search field.
• Follow back your followers.
• Connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
• Play around with Filters! Lo-Fi and X-Pro II are the most popular, but no filter, Mayfair and Willow have the highest engagement rates.

Highlighting Products with Instagram

Products never looked so good as they do on Instagram! Snap quick pics and add a filter, then get your products into the cyber world. Add #hashtags to increase awareness. After you have posted your product you can embed it onto your website.

Embed Instagram images and videos onto your website for instant content. – Tweet This

Highlighting Lifestyle with Instagram

The top brands on Instagram do a great job of highlighting the lifestyle of their customers through images. Tiffany’s documents snapshots of love stories, Starbuck’s features product shots in every possible way as well as great behind-the-scenes footage, Chobani mixes product shots with life lessons.

On Instagram post images around a lifestyle. – Tweet This

Engagement with Instagram

Social media is all about engagement, right? With Instagram, you can easily engage your customers and bring them back so they comment on your pictures or even upload their own images in a response, you can do that by creating a #hashtag around your brand and encourage followers to use it in their posts. Another way to increase engagement with Instagram is with contests.

Engage customers on Instagram with contests and hashtags. –Tweet This

Are you on Instagram? Please share below how your company is engaging customers there.