Can Instagram take your business to the next level?

Instagram is primarily a photography app. Launched on the 6th October 2010, the app gained its first 1,000,000 users in just 67 days, which made it the fastest app ever to reach one million downloads. Since then, 30 billion photos have been uploaded, 3.5 billion photos are liked everyday and there are over 400 million monthly active users. In 2012, Facebook brought Instagram for one billion dollars and the app has continued it’s sharp rise since then.

Visual expression-

Instagram, being a photography app will benefit some businesses more than others. If you know you can show off your business visually, then you are missing out by not being on Instagram. When you upload a photo to Instagram it can be seen by millions using hashtags, which is something I will explain later. If a user see’s your Instagram post which shows off your venue, they may like it and want to come and visit you. Simple! You are pulling in business simply by uploading a photo of your venue. The venue is doing the work for you, you are simply uploading a photo to a social network.

Office based business? No worry-

If your business is based in an office, you can still make the most out of your business with the app. I have learnt this first hand, we are based in an office. Visually pleasing? No. Is Instagram still benefiting ZC Social Media? Yes. There are many things you can still upload to Instagram without leaving your office. For example, every Monday we post a Social Media tip of the week. Other than that, we aim for variety to keep our audience engaged. There are so many fun things you can do with Instagram from within an office and it’s still worth looking in to at least.

 

Location, location location-

If you’re out and about, why not take a photo and upload it to Instagram? Personal updates about your business are a big plus to your business as people will see your personal side and are more likely to engage with you. Whether you’re attending an event or are attending a meeting, why not share a photo at some point during your journey there/back or even whilst you are there. #selfie is the 14th most used hashtag on Instagram, having been used over 185 million times, a selfie is also a fun photo that is easy for engagement with other users. It’s also worth using Instagram’s ‘Add location’ feature, adding a location increases the chance of engagement by 79%. If you’ve uploaded a photo with a location, tap on the location when you see your post on your feed and all the other photos that have been uploaded with that location are visible to you.

Hashtag heaven-

Hashtags are a huge part of Instagram, in fact 83% of posts on Instagram contain hashtags. Hashtags are certainly something worth using, but make sure they are relative to your business. There is no point using irrelevant hashtags. It may get you more likes but one thing it will not get you is more business. Click here for a list of the 25 most used hashtags but I will tell you the top three: #love (used over 696 million times), #instagood (over 314 million times) and #me (over 297 million times). These hashtags will all get you likes and potentially followers but there is no guarantee that they will be relative to your business. You can use a maximum of 30 hashtags per Instagram post so use them wisely. A  little trick I do with the ZC Social Media account is to remove the hashtags out of the caption of each image a few days after it’s been uploaded so the whole look of the page is a lot neater if someone is scrolling through photos. It also looks like we have got 40/50 likes without using any hashtags!

Age isn’t just a number-

Not all businesses can fully benefit from Instagram. 90% of users on Instagram are under the age of 35 so if your business is targeted at people of an older age, say 50+, Instagram is highly unlikely to benefit your business. It’s about being realistic, if you feel that it can help your business, then go for it!

I hope this article has helped you decide whether Instagram can benefit your business. If you have any questions regarding the social network feel free to tweet me – @samzcsocial. Being someone who loves photography, Instagram is my favourite social network I would love to engage in a conversation with you about it.

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