Instagram: An Awesome Social Media Tool

by Jeanine Vecchiarelli                              return to JayVee Media Link LLC 

Instagram may have started out as a fun and easy way to share photos from our smart phones.  But it has rapidly become an indispensible tool for social media marketers.  There is no easier way to upload pictures to our companies’ social profiles or to capture imaginative photos for posting to our blogs.

Instagram’s main appeal for marketers is its ability to expedite the building and engaging of our brands’ followers via the visual medium.  Our smart phone cameras, which give all but the most professional grade photographic equipment a run for their money these days, are always available for capturing appropriate photos to suit our marketing needs.  With a click of the “share” button, the mobile app eliminates the intermediate steps of downloading our pictures from a traditional digital camera’s memory sticks to our computers, and then uploading them to our desired sites. The process is quick and easy. The app also has some neat filter options for photo enhancements. And now our pictures are viewable on a web based profile, too!

Thanks to Instagram we can seamlessly post and share pictures of:

–our products or services in action;

–satisfied clients using our products/services;

–events or objects that are associated with our businesses;

–events or subjects that humanize our brands.

Enterprising marketers can even run photo contests for their fans/followers by having them upload hashtagged pictures via the Instagram app!

**BONUS INFO**  Instagram has a couple of “cousin apps” that add versatility to its functionality.  One is called Photo Grid.  As the name suggests, it enables the creation of collages, which can then be shared via Instagram.  The other is Textgram.  This app allows text to be added to our pictures.  Working with these three apps expands the horizon of possibilities for the pictures we upload to our business sites.

We go nowhere without our mobile phones these days.  That means we have cameras with us everywhere we go.  Whether spontaneously clicking on an impromptu scene that gives our clients and followers a glimpse into the human side of our brands or staging a shot to enhance our blog posts, our Instagram enhanced smart phones are at the ready for our easy use.

How do YOU use Instagram to benefit YOUR business?  Please share your ideas in the comments section below!