Three Ways Your Business can Benefit from Instagram

January 15th 2015 | By Sarah McInerney

Instagram is seeing a massive surge in popularity and is fast becoming a viable contender for the current social media giants. In fact in some cases, it is considered fifty times more engaging than other social platforms.

As a business owner or marketer, you could be forgiven for shunting Instagram aside as a platform that’s for social use. However, there are actually a few very good ways you can put it to use as part of your online strategy. Here are three of them.

An Exclusive Look Behind the Scenes

People are naturally inquisitive and love to know what goes on in real life. Instagram can offer your customers an exclusive back stage pass that makes them feel very privileged. Say you are running a photo shoot for your new website or brochure, or getting ready for a stint on the podium talking at an event. Maybe you are setting up an exhibition stand or preparing for an awards ceremony. Renovating your workspace or installing some new machinery. A little bit of insight into how you are gearing up and before and after shots are a fantastic way to engage with your audience.

How it’s Made

We are all curious people and the popularity of TV shows like How It’s Made and How Do They Do It prove it. We love to know how manufactured products come about. So if this is your business, why not share the intrigue with your customers? Get some shots of the various stages of the manufacturing process and share away. If it’s a particularly long process, release the pictures in instalments so you keep followers waiting for more. They’ll really enjoy seeing how what they buy starts out, how it becomes the product they know, how it is packaged, despatched and delivered into the stores they buy from.

Educate & Inspire

Thought of a creative way to use your product? Share it and inspire customers’ imaginations! Or maybe your customers can share there’s! Inviting involvement is a great way of engaging with your customers. Invite followers to submit their own photos of your product in use. It will make them feel special and at the same time inspire ideas in others, hopefully gaining you new customers. User-generated content is a massive boon for any marketing campaign. Brand-issued propaganda is all well and good, but when you see other people actually using products, it resonates in a much more appealing way. You see this quite a lot with cosmetic and hair care brands, and clothing lines too. But really, with a splash of imagination, it can work in any industry.

Instagram is one social platform of many, but we believe it’s one you can’t afford to ignore. It really can bring your business to life and help you engage with customers in ways other platforms don’t. Need some help setting up and managing Instagram? Get in touch!