Check Out These 7 Ways Marketers are Using Instagram

As Instagram becomes more and more popular, it is only natural that smart marketers will devise ways to use it for their uses. While we’re not sure how long this may last, as Instagram is owned by Facebook and change is inevitable, for the moment it is killing it’s social parent when it comes to engagement.

Witness the recent (2014) study by Forrester Research that shows among other things, that Instagram is beating its parent Facebook in terms of user engagement by a measly 60X! Add Facebook’s recent trimming of marketer’s sails when it comes to organic ad reach, and you can understand why everyone is actively looking to see what Instagram is capable of doing for their brand. Here are 7 ways we’ve found that companies are using Instagram to help with their social marketing.

7 Ways to market on Instagram

Get a business account on Instagram – Making sure you have a branded business account is the 1st step, together with completing your company profile and connecting it to Facebook as well as other social media channels.

Use lots of hashtags – As hashtags are the primary way people can search for you on this mobile platform, you want to be found taking full advantage of this, and especially by using your company branding. In addition ,, don’t forget to monitor your hashtags, so that you can be aware of any activity, good or bad happening with your brand.

Practice engagement – Use this platform to heavily engage your customers and followers, by Liking photos, videos, making comments, embedding when appropriate and even highlighting your customers on your feed as well.

Use Instagram’s new 15-second videos – Use these to show products, people and your brand.

Show off your products – Instagram is a great way of getting your products some wide reaching audience they may not have had.

Use Crowdsourcing to create excitement about your products – Create a contest and ask users to submit their best images of your products, showing their best uses and results.

Be sure and post often – Often may mean many things to many people, but there’s a sweet spot that’s right for you and your brand. Discover that and be consistent, and you’ll find your audience and following growing.