You can losehours on Instagram looking at all of the gorgeous eye candy, but did you knowit’s also a very effective marketing tool for business?
Instagram has been around since 2010. Two years after its launch, it was purchased by Facebook. It’s important to know that this image sharing platform now boasts500 million monthly active users and over 95 million posts per day. Instagram estimates more than 300 million people use the service at least once a day. This platform allows for hashtags and commentary with its video or image sharing but users cannot post a non-image or video Facebook-style update post.
To get started using it, download the app on your phone. While you can discover people, like, follow, and comment from your computer, uploading must be done on a tablet or a phone. Currently, businesses and personal accounts function in the same way. If you’re looking to understand the intricacies and how to’s of posting, this article covers it all.
Once you know how to post, here are a few ways you can use this social media image platform to increase sales and reach out to customers and potential customers.
Some marketers debate the effectiveness of hashtags in getting found on social media platforms but not on Instagram. Hashtags are huge here. On each post you can use up to30. There’s a nice autocomplete feature that makes suggestions for hashtags as you type. Instagram uses hashtags to help categorize content but also as commentary. You’ll see hashtags that convey emotion as well as subject such as #donerightand #summerlove.
When the autocomplete feature suggests a hashtag, it also presents the number of instances that hashtag has been used on the site. It’s a helpful way of figuring out how popular your hashtag is. You can use popular hashtags, like #TBT (Throwback Thursday for posting older pictures) or #nofilter to gain likes. If you use popular hashtags, a lot of people will see your content. However, they’re not all going to be your ideal client/customer. It’s better to use more targeted hashtags that appeal to your intended audience since that’s whose attention you’re trying to get. Search for users that post about what you sell or do. Look at their posts and note what hashtags they use.
A final note about hashtags, you can’t use non-numerical symbols (outside of the #) sign. So if your business name contains an &, you’re going to have to decide whether you will spell it out as “and” or leave it out. Whatever you choose, be consistent in your usage.
Maybe it’s because of the visual aspect of the platform, and not getting bogged down intext, but users tend to follow back on Instagram. Take some time and search for users, as mentioned in the previous section, and follow them. Often, they’ll return the favor. Now they’ll see your content in their streams and be more apt to interact with it.
If you’re a business where locale is important, use the geotagging/location feature on Instagram. This allows you to mark where you are. You want to do this for two reasons. It shows people where you are (in words) and marks your location on the map. Users can choose to see all the images from a given area. Now if someone selects your city, they’ll see your post.
Yes, you want business through Instagram but you don’t get that by merely posting a new image every day. Take the time to follow, connect with, and like other people’s images. This is not all about you. You would never walk into a museum and hang your own work of art next to others. Appreciate what they have to offer. If they feel like you’re interested in them, they’ll be more interested in you as well.
It’s important to learn to navigate the app, through posting and connecting with people first. Once you’ve mastered that, you can start thinking ads. Ads appear in users’ feeds. There are several kinds to select from and you can use image ads or video ads. Here’s what you need to know about paying for views on Instagram. To run ads you will need to connect your Facebook page to your Business Manager on your Instagram account. Here area few additional tips on Instagram advertising.
Like all social media marketing, you don’t want to make this account all about your business and the hard sell. Share new products and services, but also share things you love, places you visit or those that inspire you, fun behind-the-scenes images at your business, and how-to’s on using your productor service. Need some ideas for posts? Here are 26.
Have fun. Be fun. Share beautiful things. Feature your employees and your customers. Like their posts. Instagram is a brilliant way to let people see your world. But if it’s all marketing propaganda, you won’t have very many people who want to visit for long. Instead, use posts that are welcoming, intriguing, and helpful and watch your audience, and business, grow.
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Written with the help of Christina R. Green teaches small businesses, chambers, and associations how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, and Writer’s Weekly. She is a regular blogger at Frankjkenny.com and the Event Manager Blog.
She’s a bookish writer on a quest to bring great storytelling to organizations everywhere.
Capital Good Fund (“Good Fund”) is a nonprofit, U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution that helps people fix their finances, offering small loans and personalized Financial Coaching to families in Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts, and Delaware. With more than 25 passionate and dedicated employees, many of whom are bilingual (English and Spanish), they are well-positioned to meet the needs of the community.
Good Fund currently offers a variety of loan products and financial services for those with less than perfect credit or no credit at all. These loans including immigration loans, personal loans, and auto loans. In addition, for a limited-time Good Fund is offering interest-free loans to those who have relocated from Puerto Rico and the USVI after Hurricane Maria. Please visit capitalgoodfund.org for a full list of our loans and services.
Good Fund was founded in February 2009 by current CEO, Andy Posner, while he was completing his Master of Arts in Environmental Studies at Brown University. After reading Banker to the Poor by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Posner realized that legitimate financial services could help bring about true change and start the process of unraveling the cycle of poverty, which still plagues many communities.
The Osceola Resort Area Council invited their whole membership, and members of the public, to an open meeting on Tuesday, June 18 at Ramada Kissimmee Gateway. Representatives from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office were present to share tips on staying safe in the corridor and the tourism industry as part of ORAC’s second ever Tourism Safety “In the Know” Seminar.
Here’s a summary of what was learned about identifying signs of human trafficking, safeguarding against credit card fraud, and protecting your business from vulnerabilities.
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. It can also be known as modern day slavery. There are two types of trafficking:
Trafficking s a hidden crime. Sadly, we may not recognize the signs even when it’s happening right in front of us. As reported by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), there were a total of2,133 reports of human trafficking maltreatments for state fiscal year2017-2018. The top business venue for labor trafficking is agriculture and the top venue for sex trafficking is hotels and motels. (Note: these are two of Osceola County’s top industries.)
Want to help? Be aware, ask questions, and alert law enforcement. Major indicators of human trafficking can be observed in hotel lobbies, at reservations desks, at hotel check-in, by house keeping, and in restaurants and bars.
Below are potential signs of human trafficking that you and your staff should be cognizant of.
In addition to the shattered lives and trauma that result from human trafficking, businesses can be negatively affected when human trafficking is found on their premises. A loss of reputation, additional security concerns, and liability risks are all to be considered as probable side-effects of human trafficking.
Credit Card Fraud
Credit card fraud can be very tricky. It can be quite difficult to prove. Here are some precautions advised by law enforcement when accepting credit card payments for hotel reservations. Remember, businesses should be sure to get a BRC (business record identification) to authenticate any video or documents you provide to law enforcement in a fraud case:
Other suggestions from law enforcement to guard against fraud include:
Finally, here are some tips for everyday life:
Business Security Surveys
In the tourism industry, as in any industry, first impressions matter. Businesses must keep their appearances appealing to attract happy, honest customers, and to dissuade criminals.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office provides business security surveys to businesses within the County. A business security survey takes about an hour (in most cases), and provides a proprietor with both an analysis of potential security risks to their facility and operations, and recommended improvements.
Benefits of a business security survey include:
Business owners, operators, and managers must not give criminals the opportunity to commit wrongdoings. There are ways to prevent and avoid bad situations. One of these is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design(CPTED). CPTED is the proper design and effective use of the built environment to help decrease a criminal’s ability to commit a crime, or increase the chance that the crime will be seen and reported.
To schedule a business security survey contact the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Community Services Unit at 407-348-1190.
ORAC is grateful to the Sheriff’s Office and Department of Corrections for sharing their expertise with us, and to Ramada Gateway for being an excellent host. This event was sponsored by the following tourism industry partners: Experience Kissimmee, Old Town Kissimmee, Magic Development, West 192 Development Authority, Kenney Communications, Medieval Times, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, and Wild Florida.
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Amanda Hidalgo contributed to this blog post.
