Instagram: Where A Picture is Worth More Than 280 Characters

With over 800 million users, Instagram is a wildly popular social media platform that is visually stunning, engaging, and perfect for social media marketers looking to take their business to the next level. 

Originating from 2010, Instagram has been an excellent alternative to text-based social media. Instagram allows users to edit photographs with filters and curate profiles filled with images of the lived experience. Instagram quickly became a great place for image-based marketing. Originally focused on images, Instagram has expanded its features throughout the years to adapt to growing trends to include video and now live stories.

One of the most successful features added to Instagram over the years has been its stories feature. Obviously, inspired by Snapchat, Instagram harnessed the power of stories in August 2016. Instagram stories have even become more popular than its predecessor, according to CNBC.com. I'm guessing Instagram success with stories is due to the fact that Snapchat stories remain relatively private, while Instagram stories are meant to be seen worldwide.

Plannthat.com released an article titled, “13 Reasons Why Instagram Stories Need to Be Part of Your Strategy.” They discuss how Instagram Stories are unique and a powerful avenue for social media marketing. Instagram stories are discoverable, which means that people who do not follow you can see your posts too. This feature, along with the ability to hashtag these stories, an social media marketer can really make an impact on their intended audience and beyond. Another great thing about Instagram stories, is that they are visible 24 hrs! That is why marketers don’t necessarily need to worry about posting at exactly the right time...An issue you have with Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.

Jenn Herman (@jenns_trends), a forefront blogger on Instagram, has continuously been rated in the top 10 Social Media Marketing Experts. She provides tips, tricks, and resources for using Instagram for all of your social media marketing needs. In a podcast from intnetworkplus.com, Jenn Herman shares some of her expert insight on successful Instagram marketing. Her biggest piece of advice is that Instagram cannot only be used as a marketing powerhouse. Jenn asserts that those who want to build a business on Instagram, must build a community, rather than becoming this cold sales-driven account. Building a community, builds loyalty. In return, your business will do exponentially better.

Building your Instagram community means establishing a dialogue between your business and your audience. Making sure everything you post on Instagram is targeted to your audience will help build this community. Loyal followers means that they share your content and your brand grows through your networked community. Jenn specifically suggests that  growing businesses should create contests and giveaways that require a follow and a comment that tags another friend’s profile. This type of expansion could be exponential. Jenn Herman is constantly providing up-to-date information for all Instagram marketers needs. She truly is an expert. You can even check out her e-book titled, “Stop Guessing: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Social Media Strategy” in 2015 that is catered to everyday people looking to profit off of social media. 

Individual experts can always help you stay up-to-date with the latest Instagram trends and it is always important to take a look at the bigger picture of Instagram marketing. Insights.com released their Instagram strategies for 2018. While this is one of the most recent articles covering Instagram marketing, the core strategies presented always come back to classic strategies: loyalty and brand awareness. As an Instagram marketer, you must build loyalty through many avenues. The business must engage in one-on-one communication with it’s targeted audience...You can do this by replying to comments and addressing issues directly. Building these alliances means that your loyal audience will organically share and champion your business.

These alliances work toward the next goal, brand awareness. The insights.com article suggests one important way to build brand awareness via Instagram is through influencers. Influencers are Instagram royalty that have already built their own personal brand and have their own following. These influencers can help shine a spotlight on the brands, products, and services that your business may offer. This relationship links you to an entirely new audience that can grow your business. No worries if you can’t afford the top influencers, insights.com states microinfluencers can provide effective brand awareness until you can afford the Kim Kardashians of the world. Until then, just remember these tips, subscribe to my blog, and together we can take over the social media machine.

--Aimee Jeanne