Instagram, the favored photo-based social media platform, is not only for celebrities and tweens. It may possibly help small businesses increase their exposure, and generate leads and sales.

Adding another social media channel on your marketing mix might sound daunting; you need to produce more unique content to offer real value for users. However, with Instagram, all you want is an iPhone or Android to start. Instagram’s 100 million users and four billion photos make it a channel worth exploring. Listed here are six content keys for creating an outstanding Instagram presence.

1. Showcase Company Culture and History

Instagram is an effective channel to showcase your company’s culture. It could be as easy as showing pictures from round the office, company celebrations, or spotlighting employees. Posting company images will provide your customers and prospects an concept of what it’s want to work in your company and do business with you.

Also, in case your business have been around for some time, it’s fun on your customers or fans to look how times have changed. To illustrate, retailer Target showcases images from what its stores gave the impression of years ago.

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Target showcases its history on Instagram with a historic photo.

2. Promote Sales, Offers, Events

Like the opposite social media channels, Instagram may also help promote sales, offers, and events. Providing users with an update on what’s occurring will keep what you are promoting top-of-mind — your branded graphic will stand out of their Instagram feeds. Whether it’s a sale with a promo code, an upcoming event, or promotion, Instagram will help spread the word.

The Children’s Place, a clothing retailer, promotes its sales through branded graphics as a reminder to followers to prevent in or shop online.

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The Children’s Place stays relevant with branded sales promotions.

3. Host a Contest

Instagram has not published official guidelines — i.e., restrictions — around sweepstakes and contests. The most popular sorts of Instagram contests is to invite users to post pictures and use a dedicated hashtag. Winners can then be selected at random by pulling all of the images with the dedicated hashtag. Contests are a snappy method to increase your followers. Make sure you promote your contest to your other social channels.

Gap, as an instance, recently ran a competition asking followers to teach its best festival look — with the hashtag #styldby — for a bet to win a VIP experience to Sasquatch Festival, a music event.

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Gap hosted an Instagram contest with the #styldby hashtag.

4. Provide Insider Access

When adding a brand new social media channel in your marketing mix, it’s important to apply unique content that folk can’t obtain elsewhere. Providing followers with insider access or sneak peeks on what’s in store in your company, products, and services is a superb approach to make Instagram a completely unique channel. Persons are used to seeing visually abstract images on Instagram, so that you don’t risk making a gift an excessive amount of.

J Crew, the clothing retailer, provides followers with images from upcoming collections, including color swatches that inspired them.

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J Crew shows off upcoming styles with Instagram.

5. Feature Your Fans and Advocates

Getting people to post relevant images of your organization can assist attract more exposure. The more you’re able to reward people for his or her efforts, the much more likely they’re to take part. Consider picking a photograph of somebody who has tagged your organization each week and post it via your Instagram account. This easy nod on your fans won’t only reward them for participating, it’s going to also showcase how people feel about working with you, that’s helpful for prospects to peer.

Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream company, frequently post photos it has received from fans enjoying their ice cream.

6. Leverage the facility of Hashtags

Instagram, like Twitter, allows users to look content, and find new profiles to follow, via hashtags, making hashtags critical for your strategy. It’s important to exploit a mixture of brand-specific hashtags that you’ve got created according to your name, products, services, and contests on the way to establish your unique branded categorization. However, generic hashtags are oftentimes much more important so one can attach your content to popular categories and capitalize at the exposure around users searching or filtering by generic hashtags. Be sure to have a mixture of both, and don’t overdo it. Too many hashtags will annoy people.

Clothing retailer Free People frequently uses a mixture of branded and generic hashtags to construct awareness.

Summary

Companies of all sizes can take pleasure in having an Instagram presence. With an iPhone or Android and a bit of time, you will be off and running. Test your content, find what resonates together with your followers, and continually add new things to the mixture.