Instagram began with two software developers from San Francisco working day and night to develop the product that was launched in October 2010. Both co-founders were missing the baseball action going on in nearby Giants Stadium because they were working on the product during the evening game. They decided to use Instagram to view the action that they and a few thousand Instagram users were not able to see. The two co-founders learned about the power of the images Instagram was sending around the world. The social media platform connected people with events that they could not attend. Small business owners now have that same power to share Instagram images around the world to promote business products and services.
Small business owners are able to load an Instagram photo to a website to share with visitors interested in receiving a visual learning aid about products and services. Adding a caption to the photo asking questions about the image increases the possibilities for engagement with existing and potential customers.
Using hashtags is one way to organize uploaded photos. Hashtags help Instagram users find photos on topics of interest. Company employees are able to use these tools to find potential customers interested in discussing or sharing photos related to business operations. Small business owners can use Instagram to search for followers based on customer leads from other social media networks. This opens the door to more communication about business offerings by regularly engaging the followers with comments and likes on photos to encourage them to return for more information.
Instagram is an excellent visual tool for business marketing and promotion. Some suggestions include hosting a photo contest, documenting project expertise and posting photos of people using the business product offering to establish a customer base. Instagram also has the capability to help small business owners improve upon the product or service offering to customers. One way to accomplish this is to ask customers to post their own photos of the business product or service and display these images on the company website. Instagram photos showing the daily business operations performed by employees, product development and other business activities may also be posted.
Business owners require a way to measure future marketing goals and plans to continue building an effective customer base. This is accomplished by free Instagram Analytics reports on Simply Measured. These reports will provide valuable business decision information regarding sales and increased brand awareness. Nitrogram shows engagement rates, number of photos shared, and hashtag information.
Small businesses that provide services instead of products have many other ways of portraying business culture to the public through posted photos. Job applicants and customers benefit from viewing pictures of company employees and the office environment. These photographs encourage more applicants to apply for position openings, and potential customers will be interested in contacting the company to find out about the services offered to them.
Another creative way that small businesses can use Instagram to advertise business offerings is through the Instagram Feed on the Web. This new feature facilitates browsing through the latest uploaded photos of business followers, provides like photo functionality and permits conversations with inline commenting around each photo. Instagram Feed on the web makes it possible to access Instagram on many different convenient devices.
Posting photos on Instagram offers small businesses numerous opportunities to add value to the marketing plan. Instagram photos are excellent visual tools that may be used to attract existing and potential customers to the website. Business owners have the option of developing many creative ways to incorporate the photos into an attractively designed professional business display. The interest level of customers and other website visitors will be elevated and will keep them coming back for additional visual aids regarding product offerings and services. Instagram offers many ways to monitor the activity level and interest of website visitors. Small business owners will receive feedback about the products and services that offer the most value to current and future customers.
