You’ve probably heard a lot of hype about Instagram and how it can help your business. You’ve probably heard that Instagram is the new hot thing – a platform you have to be on. Sharpie is there. Audi is there. You should be there, too.
But how do you make it work for you? It can seem confusing and potentially difficult to connect. Plus, who has the time?
You do. You have the time. Instagram works because it’s a quick, fun way to engage. It is the social media platform that takes the least amount of time, that easily integrates with other platforms and elicits the most emotional response from users. People love to look at pretty things, it makes them feel good. It’s worth it to take a few moments to make your customers feel good about your product.
There are a few ways you can use Instagram to pump up your followers interest.
- Post product pictures Do you sell a product? Awesome. Post photos of new products, products that have just sold, products that are perfect for the season or upcoming holidays. These photos can remind everyone how fantastic your products are – and create an emotional reaction to them as well. What better way is there to create demand?
- Happy employees make you look good Have a day where your staff is having a great time and enjoying themselves? Take a picture and share it on Instagram. As long as “having a great time” doesn’t equate to “totally inebriated and inappropriate”, you’re likely to get a great response from your fans. People like to work with people who are happy. So whether your staff is just you or you have multiple people working with you – when you’re having a great day at work, share those smiles with the world.
- Happy customers make you look great Perhaps most importantly, be sure to share photos of your customers with your products. Their happy faces are a testimonial that needs few words. Plus, taking these photos gives you an opportunity to let your customers know you’re on Instagram and they can follow you there. They can also show the photos to their friend and spread the word about how much they love shopping with you. If you don’t have a brick and mortar store, you can still ask customers to share pictures with you – so that you can feature their smiling faces on Instagram.
A word of caution though: do not flood people’s Instagram stream. A few photos a day is fine. Five photos in seven minutes will not position you as favorably as if you only posted the best photo of the 5 on its own. So feel free to take as many shots as you want. Just be careful to only share the best ones to Instagram.
Are you using Instagram for your business? Do you have any additional tips to share?
Love it and want to do it for Shands, but how can I have my own IG account and the Shands account on my phone?
To m knowledge, you can’t manage two instagram accounts from the same mobile account at this time.
As a writer, I find it difficult to use Instagram to promote my work. People are tired of hearing about my book. They don’t want to interact with me because it’s the same thing over and over again, but there’s only much I can share doing something so solitary.