Using Instagram for Business

In recent years, Instagram has demonstrated significant growth with over 400 million active users. The popular photo sharing social network has the potential to become a central visual content strategy for your brand. Instagram can be leveraged to build brand awareness and high-levels of engagement. Far exceeding the level of engagement businesses are seeing in Twitter or Facebook. Sharing quality photography is critical to success on Instagram. Here’s everything you need to know about using Instagram for business to make it part of your social media plan.

Instagram Adoption
Instagram’s 400 million monthly active users have shared 40 billion photos according to recent Instagram stats. 80 million photos are shared daily on Instagram and 3.5 billion likes are given out daily.

Who Uses Instagram
Instagram is used most by young adults. Users ages 65 and up represent the smallest percentage of the users. Here is the breakdown: 53 percent of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29. 25 percent of users are between 30 and 49 years old. 11 percent are between the ages of 50 and 64, and the remaining six percent of users are 65 years and up.

Ways Businesses Are Using Instagram
Businesses are using the platform to educate customers about their products and grow brand awareness. They are also using Instagram to stay top of mind with customers and share corporate culture. Through Instagram, brands have the opportunity to hold themed photo contests to engage customers. You can then share customer stories using the user generated content (UGC) collected through these contests. Those are a few of the ways today’s businesses are using Instagram to promote their brand. A couple additional ways include giving their audience a behind-the-scenes look and producing live coverage of events.

How-to Curate User Generated Content
Users create and share original content across Instagram. Take advantage of your opportunity to leverage this content by reposting this shared content to your brand’s account. The first step is to encourage customers to tag photos with your brand hashtags. Then, monitor brand hashtags for relevant stories. Feature customers’ photos using the Repost app and credit photo source by mentioning them @name in your photo caption.

Seven Traits Of A Good Instagram Post
Want to get those hearts and comments rolling in on your posts? Create content that tells a visual story about your brand and grabs a user’s attention. Step up your Instagram game by including these essential traits in your shared content:

1. Photos of products being used in the real world
2. Lifestyle photography
3. Posts that include a location tag
4. Behind the scenes photos
5. Selfies
6. Food photos plated in creative ways
7. Posts with hashtags

Expert Tip: Do a photo shoot specifically for Instagram