Have you tried Instagram for your brand? Creative visual content is another great marketing tool!

Friday: Collaborate and Innovate FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Social media marketing is one of the most important tactics if you want to grow your brand’s online presence. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc. can do awesome wonders for your business. Each of these social media has features that are useful in expanding your brand’s reach and customer base all around the world. Read more to learn how this social media platform can help you and your brand boost your online presence. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Have you tried Instagram for your brand? Creative visual content is another great marketing tool! It’s the digital age! Gone are the days when businesses only relied on TV or newspaper ads to reach a wider audience. Social media platforms have proven to be effective in helping small businesses thrive and gain a loyal following. How do you know which platform can make a big impact on your business? Surprisingly, this social media app is one of them! INSTAGRAM (IG) Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social network owned by Facebook. Worldwide, more than 1 billion accounts are active on this platform every single month. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized with tags and location information. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse through other users’ content by tags and locations and view trending content. Users can like photos and follow other users. Users can add content to their own feed. Types of content that can be seen on Instagram are: Travel diaries Fashion statements (OOTD) Stories of the day Vlogs Photography portfolios Videography portfolios … and a lot more! Not just that… Instagram is also used by other users for their brands or businesses through an Instagram Business Account. According to the stats provided in the app: More than 25 million companies are using Instagram for business More than 200 million users visit at least one business profile every day Instagram is “the new home for brands,” where engagement is high, followers are brand-loyal, and real business goals can be achieved. That’s why it’s considered as one of the best ways for your target audience to find you online! If you already have a personal account but want to convert it to a business account, follow these steps: Log into your existing personal Instagram account on the app Tap on the profile icon to go to your profile Tap on the three lines icon at the top right of the screen, then tap on Settings Tap Switch to Business Profile, then tap Continue (Optional) If you want to connect your Instagram business account to your Facebook business page, follow the steps to do so Add contact information: Your Instagram for business account must include an email address, a phone number, or a physical address (or all of these) Tap on Done Pretty easy, right? Keep going—setting up the account is just the beginning. Aside from setting your business goals and defining your target audience, you also need to CREATE A WINNING INSTAGRAM STRATEGY. Focus on the right performance metrics. Your business goals should align with the four stages of your target market’s online journey: Awareness: Monitoring metrics like brand awareness, follower growth rate, and post reach Engagement: Monitoring metrics like the engagement rate (based on likes) and amplification rate (based on shares) Conversion: Monitoring metrics like the click-through rate and bounce rate. If you’re using paid ads, conversion metrics also include cost per click (CPC) and cost per mille (CPM) Customer (aka Follower): Monitoring metrics based on the actions followers make like providing testimonials and reviews Tell great stories with Instagram Stories More than 400 million people use Instagram stories every day. 39% of them claimed they became more interested in a product or brand because the brand’s content was catchy and engaging. More Followers = More Story Viewers Compelling captions help your brand tell meaningful stories and messages. It can make your followers think, laugh, and feel a connection to your brand. An example is Lush’s Instagram stories: This approach is great for making viewers feel personally involved. Followers who see this are more likely to engage with their content and take note of any product recommendations. Instagram stories effectively obtain more followers and customers for your brand—giving you a higher chance to generate more sales for your business. Grow and engage with your audience. Communities and groups relevant to your brand already exist on Instagram. You just have to find them. You can make your brand’s presence known to a huge group of people who are likely to be interested in your content. Use the right hashtags Hashtags help make your Instagram content easier to find and discover. When someone clicks on or searches for a hashtag, they see all the associated content. It’s a great way to get your content in front of people who are not currently following your brand. You can also consider creating your own hashtag. A branded hashtag that represents your brand or product encourages followers to share photos that fit that image. It can be a great source of user-generated content and encourages your followers to build a community based on your brand. Using hashtags can make your content easier to discover, encourage audience interactions, and clue you in on industry trends. Instagram has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to expand their presence and the visibility of their products or services. For example, one of the most followed brands on Instagram is NIKE. Nike’s content strategy centers around famous people in sports wearing Nike apparel as an inspiration to go out there and JUST DO IT . The brand has been at the top of its game where hashtags and marketing campaigns are concerned. These two campaigns gave the brand a boost in engagement and numbers of followers: #Breaking2 (2017) that centered around athletes who embarked on running a marathon under 2 hours. This campaign represents three runners—Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese, and Lelisa Desisa—who sought to beat a two-hour marathon pace. #markersofthegame (2018) that was created to pay tribute to athlete, Kobe Bryant, who revolutionized sports and culture. This campaign represents a collection of shoes featuring partnerships with athletes and collaborators on various sneaker silhouettes that celebrate basketball heritage. Nike also uses a highly visual platform to create buzz around their new product launches through teasers and videos. Just do it. Nike did just do it—create a community through their IG posts and stories, that is. The brand’s Instagram account recorded 84 million more followers just in the last 5 years, a staggering 2,858% growth in followers with an average of 43,000 followers added per day! See how Instagram can help you attain your brand’s business and marketing goals? Instagram played a great part in a lot of companies’ and brands’ online marketing. It helped obtain more customers and generate revenue. You can promote businesses, big or small, by having the right content strategy and being creative in what you post or publish. Try creating your brand’s business account on Instagram. It’s FREE! Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn.     Stay tuned for next Friday’s Collaborate and Innovate! Learn more about Gary Vaynerchuk's Marketing Tip: How to use hashtags correctly on next week’s Collaborate and Innovate!