6.Instagram – for Business
Our sixth offering is a Facebook owned company called Instagram. Based on the latest data it has over 400 million active users which puts it up there with the likes of Twitter and well above Google Plus. What is it? It’s a mobile image sharing service , video sharing social network that allows users to take and share pictures and videos on multiple social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.’
Here are the stats: 400 Million Monthly Active users, 75% are outside of the US, 40 Billion + Photos Shared, 3.5 Billion likes daily and 80 Million Photos per day.
So I hear you say. “I need to be a part of that, for maximum exposure, right?” Well maybe, it’s a very visual medium and done right this will generate a lot of reaches you may never have found anywhere else. The reality is that like YouTube your product and services will have a corner on Instagram somewhere, you wouldn’t believe the things people follow on there, it can leave you scratching your head sometimes.
This is good to know right? But how does my business get an impact on Instagram. Find your angle and use Hashtags to focus your posts on things related to your image, product or service. Hashtag solutions your services provide to issues people might be facing, or pictures of completed work.
Even if you’re a construction company, you can still Instagram (which shows up on your Facebook) all the boys celebrating after finishing that major tunnel you just completed or if you’re a Chef you can Instagram a picture of that perfectly plated dish your about to serve. Get creative, and keep it fun, potential customers will remember your business over that other one because you will be on their mind while they struggle to remember the competition who doesn’t take advantage of Instagram
Look at some of the success stories by companies like Holden, Qantas, Mcdonald’s and Mercedes-Benz. The best thing about this is you don’t need to have the marketing dollars of these above companies behind you to stand along side them. All you need is the imagination and the creativity to bring your brand or product to life.
The main points to remember when marketing your business on Instagram are:
- Always use hashtags. These play an important part in this social media platform, if you don’t use them well, you won’t find an audience easily.
- Build trust – Establish your brand as an expert in the field by posting relevant content.
- Collaborate – If you can collaborate with an influencer to promote your product.
- Post Regularly – it goes without saying, you want your brand in peoples mind. Post often.
- Not so squared – you are no longer limited by the old square posts as you can now share photos and videos in both portrait and landscape orientation on Instagram. This is excellent for Visual Businesses like Photographers and Marketers.
- Is it a Boomerang or a Hyperlapse – You can now download the 2 new apps. The first is Boomerang from Instagram that will allow you to record 7 second videos and the second is Hyperlapse to capture high quality time lapses and share them on instagram from your phone. This allows a lot more production value and options to fuel this visual medium.
- Not an official feature yet, but it is being currently tested on android. Multiple account log ins. This will allow you to easily switch between personal and business now, to share on the right network. Just remember to switch accounts before uploading your latte or gym pics to your business stream 🙂
7.Pinterest – for Business
Our seventh in the list is Pinterest. It’s basically a visual bookmarking social networking site that allows the user to pin and collect content to view, use or buy later. They link to products or photos they love, create their own pin boards and follow the pin boards of others. That content is then shared and picked up by other users.
Now there is currently 100 million active users on Pinterest, and of that 85% are female. That’s an interesting statistic, so if you have a product or service that is visual (like photography or clothing) and you want to aim your product at female buyers, then this is a social media you want to be involved in.
If this is a demographic you aim towards then the best advice I can give you is get a “Pin it” button for your blog.
and to sum it up
There is a good chance you are a member of a few if not all of these social networks already. Knowing how to utilize them to generate leads is a big learning curve for a lot of use, but there are some basics you can see resonate with every one of these platforms.
- Content is king – Keep a regular blog roll with social media share buttons
- Visual Content is more engaging
- Don’t use social media for a hard sell (call to actions are fine, but no hard sells)
- Targeting your audience through Ads or hashtags
- Analytics – this shows what’s working and what may not be.
Marketing on social media is best done providing customer support, product information and expanding customer relationship. You will increase trust in your brand this way, and this will result in widening your customer base. Once they go to your website or blog, then you can use a hard-sell approach at this point, or our preferred method at ionline of inbound marketing strategies to generate stronger leads and driving up sales.
See the rest in this series:
Part 1: Facebook for business
Part 2: Twitter & Google Plus for Business
Part 3: LinkedIn Company Pages & YouTube for Business
Have you found success on these or any other social media sites, or do you have any tips to help others starting out?