Have you considered using Instagram to promote your company?
Do you need inspiration for posts to make on this trending mobile social network?
Keep reading to learn how to increase your company’s Instagram presence and interact with the Instagram community.
Instagram: what is it exactly?
Instagram is a free, mobile software that allows users to share and view photos and videos with one another. It’s undergone a lot of alteration recently.
Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook in April 2012 and recently redesigned for iOS with a new “Explore” button, is reportedly working on a web presence (so users can view images online, not just on the mobile app).
HootSuite, a platform for managing social media accounts, recently announced that it would be adding Instagram to its catalogue of available applications. HootSuite customers can now do nearly everything Instagram users can do, such as searching the service, seeing posts, liking them, commenting on them, and sharing them.
Instagram is a photo-sharing app that’s on the rise and shouldn’t be disregarded. Where does it leave your brand?
We’ve compiled a list of 10 novel Instagram applications for your company.
Display Your Items
Allow your fans to conduct some window shopping from the convenience of their mobile devices. Display a variety of your products, include a snapshot of something unusual or under the radar, or take a close-up of a product and have your Instagram followers try to guess what it is.
Have a company that provides a service?
Exhibit some of the tools and materials used in the provision of your services. Personal trainers, photographers, and auto mechanics might all benefit from sharing the tools they use most by way of a showcase of their favourite pieces of equipment.
Newport, Oregon’s Rogue Ales has over 3,000 Instagram followers, and to remind them that they have something for everyone, the company just posted a photo of its extensive beer and spirit selection.
Displaying the Production Process
How It’s Made has been successful because people are interested in learning about the production process.
Share behind-the-scenes photos from the production of your fan-favorites with your audience. If it’s going to take a while to get from the idea stage to the final product being delivered to the customer, you might want to break up your post into multiple parts.
Visit the Set
Preparing a product or service for launch or promotion is a lot of effort, but it also provides plenty of possibilities to capture stunning images for Instagram. Taking pictures for an advertisement or catalogue? Setting up to shoot an ad? Putting on makeup for a press conference? Or preparing for a red carpet debut?
These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that not everyone has. Imagine Instagram as a method to provide your followers with a behind-the-scenes look at your show.
The 27K Instagram followers of trendsetting store Nordstrom were given an exclusive glimpse at the catalog’s making.
Demonstrate Your Products’ Capabilities
There are limits to what we can imagine. Increase interest in your product or service on Instagram by showing users creative ways they can put it to use.
This is also an excellent time to solicit contributions from readers. Get your customers involved by inviting them to upload images of themselves using your items in unique ways.
If your company offers a cosmetic or hairstyling service, gardening, decorating, vehicle body repair, or interior design, you may demonstrate the results to your Instagram followers by posting a “before” and “after” picture of the same subject. Your Instagram material will be more impressive with the side-by-side comparison, and it may even bring in some new clients.
Provide a Preview
Everyone enjoys being among the first to learn something new. Give your Instagram followers a sneak peek at your upcoming items or services, or give them a virtual tour of your brand new store, factory, or office. Since Instagram does not yet have a sharing or reposting option, you need also publish the post to Facebook and Twitter in order to maximise its reach.
Keen, a manufacturer of durable backpacks and shoes, recently shared an image of its soon-to-be-built headquarters to appease fans curious about the origins of their favourite products.
Display Your Workspace
Social media fans of popular companies have certainly wondered, “I wonder what it’d be like to work there?” So, prove it to them!
Share photographs that show what it’s like to work at your company, such as the break room, the company gym or field, workers at work, in meetings, receiving training, enjoying lunch or having fun outside of work.
Be sure to provide links to your open positions in the caption if you plan to recruit people.
Fans of the popular online shoe retailer Zappos get a glimpse into the office life of the company’s employees, who work in cubicles albeit very cheerful and colourful ones.
Bring Us Along
Participating in or sponsoring an industry event? Put that to good use by inviting your Instagram followers to join you.
Fans in those areas will be overjoyed to learn that you are visiting. People will associate your brand more favourably with the activities in which it participates, supports, or sponsors.
The Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer gave their fans a glimpse into the team’s off-field life, showing them waiting with their luggage at the airport.