Taking The Confusion Out of Instagram For Digital Marketing
Many businesses and brands have yet to embrace Instagram. Many professionals do not even know what Instagram even is. While this platform is not the right fit for every brand and every industry, it has become a social force to be reckoned with. With less advertising and simpler formats, Instagram allows users to be more organic.
Instagram has limitations, and for users that are used to being social on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it can seem almost TOO simplistic. Instagram is mobile-friendly, but not very computer-friendly. The functionalities on a mobile device far outweigh what you can do with Instagram from your computer screen. The main ways to interact on Instagram are also limited with liking, commenting, tagging, and hashtagging. However, to do much more than that, you have to use outside apps and sometimes what you want to do is just not possible. When you are used to having business pages, groups, online reviews, albums, cover photos, and all of the bells and whistles that Facebook has, you may find Instagram a little dull.
These limitations are actually part of the brilliance of Instagram. Instagram is simple: you post, you follow, you comment, and you get inspired. The simple nature of Instagram allows users to focus on the content that is being put out there and to be inspired to go create beautiful content and pictures as well. Instagram is a place to share organic snippets in a casual, yet fun environment.
So, let’s say you just don’t understand Instagram. Perhaps you’ve been on a few times, but just don’t understand it. We’re giving you a breakdown of the basic so that you can understand what to do with the great features and the great communities on Instagram.
Profile Picture
As with any social media platform, your profile picture needs to be a reflection of you, your brand, and your personality. Since Instagram is so personal and a little casual, you can have some fun with this picture. Just remember – this profile picture is one that will stick around when people see your account, so make it a good one. And, we think this is a given, but don’t leave it as the avatar! Big no no!
Profile Description
This is a great opportunity to say a little bit about who you are. When people are deciding if they are going to follow you, they check out this area to see who you are. Then, they go check out your pics to see if your pics match your Instagram description.
This profile description is also your only chance to put a clickable link in your profile, so make sure you put your web link in there! You can easily edit this section on your profile, and you can edit the web link you put in there as you have new promotions, blog articles, or other relevant links to chat about.
Photos
Instagram is visual. You can’t post to Instagram without a picture, and so naturally it draws a different crowd. The people on Instagram want to see beautiful, interesting pictures. As opposed to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and more where you can post a simple line of text alone, Instagram forces you to be visual. This is a great opportunity for brands to engage with their audience on a visual level.
Hashtags
Instagram is one of the social media platforms out there that engages heavily with hashtags. You can label your posts with hashtags of your choice. Instagram users are often searching for new ideas based on certain interests. As opposed to other social media platforms, they will go search for topics to find new people to follow for inspiration. For example, as someone who lives in a log cabin, I’ve searched for, and followed people that use the #logcabin hashtag. Utilizing hashtags is a great strategy to build your following over the long-term and to find new people to interact with.
Engaging
Instagram users want inspiration. They want to engage and to be engaging. Part of any social media strategy needs to be engaging back. You can’t just put amazing content out on Instagram. Finding others to follow and to “like” and comment on their posts is a huge piece to the Instagram world that you need to spend time investing in. When you interact, people are more likely to go and reciprocate.
Following
Instagram is a great place to find others who are passionate about the same things you are. By searching hashtags and looking at who others are following, you can find some pretty neat people. And, because they are often posting very organic viewpoints from their life, you feel like you really KNOW them.
Instagram may not be right for you, or perhaps its the best thing that you’re not already doing for your brand. Ultimately, though, you need to at least consider how it fits into your digital marketing strategy. It may be a piece of your strategy, or it may be a BIG piece of your marketing strategy and it will take some strategic planning to decide how you utilize it.
Tintero Creative provides consulting to businesses making decisions about their social media marketing strategies and how that fits in with their content marketing and digital marketing strategies. If you, or a business you know, needs an expert opinion on planning your brand’s digital footprint, please contact our team.