Introduction to Instagram

Instagram is a mobile social network with over 400 million users (As of April 2016); these users encompass a wide demographic of people as well as both large and small businesses. Instagram enables its users to share images and videos on the app, both publicly and privately. Users can also add descriptive text to accompany these images and videos.

Every account on Instagram has a username and a home feed. Your username serves as a unique identifier for your account. Much like Facebook and Twitter, your home feed is a compilation of recent posts from the accounts that you are following. Accounts are either public or private.

• If an account is public, anyone can follow it and view its posts (in a way, like Twitter).
• If it is private, that user must manually accept follow requests by other users and its posts are hidden (in a way, like Facebook).

Hashtags on Instagram: Instagram encourages the use of hashtags as they serve as an easy way to find images, videos, and new, interesting accounts. Hashtags are keywords, preceded by the pound (#) symbol. When posting on Instagram, you'll want to use hashtags that are related to the image or video that you're sharing. If you are looking for new accounts to follow, it is helpful to search for a hashtag of interest to you or your business. You'll notice some accounts frequently use that hashtag, and they might be good ones to follow. If you aren't sure you want to follow those accounts, you also have the option to simply like or comment on their posts as a way to get them interested/aware of your account. As a local business, it is a good idea to follow local hashtags and accounts that are related to your community, this way you are understanding what content is interesting to prospects on a local level as well as getting your content in front of as many local users as possible.

Paid Advertising on Instagram: Many businesses use Instagram as a marketing tool. Instagram offers multiple paid ad formats for its users, allowing them to create photo ads, video ads, and carousel ads that allow users to feature multiple images in one ad. These ads help service many objectives, including clicks to websites, website conversions, reach and frequency, and video views, just to name a few. Since Instagram was purchased by Facebook in 2012, all the targeting options you have for Facebook Ads also work on Instagram Ads.

For local businesses looking to grow their reach and showcase their products, Instagram is used to share visually interesting and engaging content to both current, and potential, customers. Instagram allows businesses to stay top of mind for consumers, fostering engagement among prospects as well as building trust in their brand within the Instagram community.