Why your business needs to be on Instagram

Do you know what Instagram is? Have you ever thought about launching an Instagram campaign for your business but don’t know where to start?

Well if you are stuck for ideas or do not fully understand how Instagram can help your business then the following should prove very helpful.

Like all businesses, you are looking for the next big thing. You have gone and started an SEO campaign and have your website ranking on Google, you have an email newsletter that goes out weekly to clients, but just like all other Australian businesses you are looking for a new marketing platform. Instagram just happens to be the place that has absolutely gone through the roof in terms of getting their brand and message out there. It’s such a great social media platform that if your business is not actively engaging with a potentially massive new client base on Instagram, then you are really losing out on a great opportunity. Instagram allows your business to immediately connect to its customer base through the use of images. One of our clients Bali Villa Escapes uses Instagram to its full effect by publishing Bali Villa Deals and regular updates to attract clients and villa booking quickly. View their Instagram here.

All you do is sign up using your iTunes account, download the app and you are off and running. The idea is basically to start posting photos of anything your find interesting (and yes this may be hard if your industry is quite dry…lawyers, accountants, engineers etc) on your Instagram profile. If people like what they see you are going to start to get more and more people following you. In some cases, this means you could have literally thousands of followers in no time at all. Imagine being able to instantly send an image with a message to all these followers in real-time. It’s an extremely powerful marketing tool as you can imagine.

I personally have seen some businesses start with a couple of hundred followers and now after a year or so they have well over half a million people eagerly waiting for the next post. Businesses have blossomed purely based on what they post on their Instagram account. You can create your Instagram account here.

Advantages of having an Instagram account

It is such a cool little social media platform that the advantages are huge. But I thought I would keep it to the main points.

Firstly, it’s totally FREE

Anyone can sign up and start posting and you do not have to spend a cent. What a great incentive for your business – basically you have got nothing to lose and all to gain.

Most businesses I know are doing it.

This means that if you are not on board with this new technology, you will have to pay a fair amount of catch up. Remember, your competition could be posting images daily, firming up their brand and getting heaps of new customers and followers.

You get to build a real personality for your brand.

The images your post will reflect your brand and if you like you can be as quirky and individual as you like. Be outrageous, be funky, be confronting, whatever you like ….it’s all up to you and what message you are trying to convey. Cool and sexy brands can really take advantage of Instagram. Even if your business is somewhat dull and even dry you can still be creative to elevate your brand to the cool status.

You can look to capture a whole new type of audience that is very active on Instagram.

You will be very surprised with the number of people who are on it daily, even hourly.

You can bring a new product to market very quickly.

Got something you want to promote and push, tell your thousands of followers about this….Instagram is the absolute perfect medium!

Pictures tell a massive story and if you can take a good photo with your phone camera then why not share it with the world.

If people like the photo watch it go viral and watch your customer base explode in numbers. It is like Facebook in a way but the interface and ease of use are so much simpler. It’s quick easy and there is not much to do to get started – THIS IS PERFECT FOR TIME POOR BUSINESSES LOOKING FOR A NEW MARKETING MEDIUM. It’s an all-encompassing very inviting platform that really encourages participation.

Business.com in their article 12 Reasons to Use Instagram for Your Business tells us that Instagram is a great way to expand your business’s reach and engagement with your customers. Here are 12 reasons why you should make an account.

When is the best time to post on Instagram?

Instagram is all about the audience being involved. So as you can probably guess the best time is after 7 pm. If you have taken photos during the day, save them up and pop them online after dinner. Also, it really doesn’t matter which day of the week it is. It is such a popular platform that users are on it daily. Missing out can be a huge issue for some users as it can become quite addictive. Try it out and you will see what I mean.