How to Use Instagram to Help your Business Grow
Are you a small business owner looking for new ways to nurture growth and expand to other areas? Instead of hiring an expensive ad agency, you can try something much more low-budget and highly effective: Instagram. The image-based social networking site made a big splash in 2012, and is now very widespread. Read on to learn more about how to use Instagram to help build your business.
Use it to Promote Your Products
First and foremost, you can use Instagram to promote your products. Take a few nice shots of your newest wares and post them, using artsy filters to make them look trendy. Because so many people use Instagram, this is like sending a catalog to the entire world, but for free. That way, everyone will be able to see all of your products and will be more likely to buy them.
Engage with Other Users
Furthermore, because Instagram is a form of social media, the key component is to be social. Therefore, you should make an effort to engage with your followers and attract other users. You can follow different users, like their photos, and leave comments. They don’t have to be industry-related, just things that you find interesting that you can use to build your brand.
Play with Hashtags
Once you start to attract a following, you can also keep things interesting by using hashtags, which other users can search for and then find your pictures, as well as those of other users who used the same hashtag. You can also be clever and use different hashtags, such as tagging a photo of a computer with #workinglate, so you can show off that you work hard to give your clients the best. Alternatively, you can simply post pictures of things you like in hopes of gaining followers with similar interests.
If you can include it in the budget, you can also create hashtag contests where users tag their photos with a given hashtag, and then you choose the best one. You can offer a cash prize, a free giveaway, or just the chance to share the winning photo. This is a great way to engage with fans and let them see that you are thinking of them aside from the great products and services you provide.
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