Are you struggling to reach a wider market? Well, here are some figures from the Instagram site called “Instagram in Statistics”: Instagram has “100 million monthly active users, 40 million photos per day, 8,500 likes per second and 1,000 comments per second.” Is that a large enough market for you to want to tap into? If you are a business struggling to get visibility in the infinite space of the internet, then Instagram is a platform that you should focus your marketing on. Here we give you 5 ways to effectively market your product through Instagram.
1. Give The Product Its Own Persona
Did you know that Angelina Jolie’s leg has its own social media profile? Not only that, it had 10,000 followers in a day’s span! Your product may not be as sexy or ostentatious as Angelina Jolie’s leg, but you can give it its own life and build from there. Come up with quirky ways to showcase your product – give it a human routine. For example, snap photos of it in the toilet taking a dump. I don’t know how you’re gonna make that happen but that ought to get people’s attention. You can post photos of it driving a car, on a date, or using an iPhone to post on Instagram – The quirkier the better, you just have to make it happen.
2. Sell The Lifestyle, Not The Product
Research shows that customers don’t make a purchase the first time a product is introduced to them. Hence, leave the aggressive marketing strategies to your website, but make use of your social media sites to build rapport with your target market. Social media is the new word of mouth, so the more you are talked about, the more interesting and credible you appear. Show your product in action. Post how helpful and indispensable your product is. My challenge, build a 365-a-day photo journal about new ways you can use the product you are selling. James Ingram asked you to find “One Hundred Ways”, but I say find 365! The goal is for your target market to build an attachment to your product to the point of purchase.
3. Be Outlandishly Creative
Because Instagram is a photo-sharing app, make sure you have the best and most interesting photos of your product. If you weren’t into photography before, now would be the awesomeness time to get photography-bitten. There are so many visual techniques you could use to present your product. Don’t be limited by the filters Instagram offers – study professional photo manipulation techniques. Get a black belt in Photoshop, or make use of these awesome apps: Lumie, PicMonkey, Pixlr. Have you seen Starbuck’s Instagram page? That’s what I call creative perseverance. Slouching in your chair won’t get you any inspiration, get out and go getcha some great pics!
4. Post Photos Of Customers Using The Product
Get your customers to really establish a relationship with your brand by posting photos of them in your Instagram. Throw in some of their comments and reviews – make them a highlight of your site. To show that you are an ambassador of goodwill and dedicated customer care, give those who give you positive reviews and recommendations a discount or coupon. Show them that mutual respect is rewarded. You can even host photo contests to amass a larger following. Business is give and take. Believe me when I say that we live in an industry of thrifty customers, and they will cling to unselfish brands. When you make your customers the center, they will reward you with your loyalty.
5. Don’t Forget Your Hashtags
Hashtags are keywords preceded by a “#” to categorize topics. Most businesses will tend to create plenty in the hopes that some will follow a topic, but it is more efficient to create a few and build on them. When you gain a following, it will be confusing for them to follow topics if you have sprayed them with an awful lot. Also, good strategy would be to implement campaigns of your product in Instagram. Partnering with events and concerts also get you good leverage by joining topics under the event’s hashtag.
Instagram is a visual force of nature in the social media marketing stage. And with mobile surfing on the rise, Instagram will become an even more powerful tool as the world shifts to mobile browsing. At any given time of the day, there are millions of users logging in to Instagram. Imagine the growth your business can make if you were able to catch the attention of even a small percentage. A caveat if you will. The reality is that you are probably not the only business that is using Instagram to market products. In the sea of users, it takes true diligence to stand out and be unique.
Author Bio: Jamaica Sanchez loves to buy lots of stuff online.
Nice little article ….. can anyone tell – whether through Instagram boost sales of building materials, for example)
nice post, will try this asap
Nice tips; Instagram does tend to go forgotten when it comes to its use for marketing, but it can in fact be very handy.
Instagram is like a Facebook for photo enthusiasts. If marketing in Facebook mainly uses text, in Instagram, a single picture can worth a thousand words :)
This article shows the credibility of all the social media sites thanks for the post of establishing instagram.
I knew Instagram was popular, but I didn’t realize all of the ways it could be leveraged to promote businesses and products. Thanks for these useful tips!
This article is useful for me, and this time i will use Instagram to increase my internet marketing. thanks
Yes, hashtags matter a lot! I use to use lots of hashtags and I immediately get Likes. Hashtags play a dominant role in Instagram and Twitter.