Instagram grew in popularity in 2011 and then did a bit of a downslide in 2012. Last year, it surged ahead and experienced tremendous growth. Many believe this growth is due to the increased demand for visual content. Pinterest, Vine, and other visual content tools also experienced tremendous growth.
This presents visual content marketers with a fantastic opportunity. Instagram has a huge audience and users can access it via iOS, Android, and via the web. This makes it a highly functional site for most users and an opportunity for marketers.
Tell Your Story
You’ve heard the cliché, a picture is worth a 1000 words? Well it can be a useful way to tell a story, your story. Share images that are both relevant to your business and fun. For example, a business coach might share inspirational and motivational pictures as well as fun pictures with their clients. A fitness coach could create an entire story about their business by sharing photos of their client’s progress overtime.
User Generated Content
Today most everyone has a camera on their phone. Ask them to get involved by submitting photos to you to post. You can create a contest centered on a business related theme. It’s a wonderful way to create engagement with your business and create an abundance of relevant content. You can also have people use a specific hashtag with their photos. Then the photos become searchable and optimized.
Promote
Did you just launch a new product or service? Take a photo of it and include a promotion in the description. This rewards viewers for taking the time to view your content. It also helps you track your efforts. By sending viewers to a specific link you can gather data on click throughs and sales.
Not Sure What to Photograph?
Take photos of your events. You can even include screen shots so if the majority of your events are online, that’s fine. Take photos of your products as well. It’s more difficult to photograph services. However, you can get your customers involved and take photos with them.
Retailers find that Instagram works well to promote their new products. Keep in mind that when people sign up for a service, they’re signing up to work with a particular person or brand. You can use Instagram to help communicate your unique personality and attract clients and customers.
Visual content is on the rise and Instagram is a powerful tool. Embrace the medium, include relevant and interesting descriptions with your photos, and share them on your social media sites to maximize the results.