Social Media Toolkit: How to Use Instagram Effectively

Social media is more than Facebook and Twitter, and social media marketing is much more than just throwing a post once or twice per week. Instagram is a fantastic resource for small businesses to get their brand in front of a large number of interested shoppers. Along with Facebook integration – since Facebook bought Instagram for a cool $1 billion in 2012 – it’s a snap to integrate accounts and have twice the bang for your social media buck.

And what a buck it is. Let’s bust out some stats.

1. Instagram’s user base is heavily weighted to the 18 to 34 age group – 60% of the user base falls into this category and is roughly split between half female and half male.

2. Instagram reaches over 800 million monthly active users, according to CNBC, and has an advertising base of around 2 million businesses.

That is a massive amount of potential leads! However, there are some tips and tricks. Learning how to use Instagram effectively hinges on just a few critical points. It’s not complicated to learn, and all you need is a mobile phone with a good camera to get started.

How to Use Instagram Effectively: Hash and Geotagging

The first thing you need to know is how to use hashtags. Instagram posts without hashtags get 12% fewer clicks than posts that do use hashtags. However, you need to have a strategy. All traffic is not relevant traffic when it comes to advertising your business. You want to attract people who are interested in your product. Think of the hashtag as a way to categorize your posts.

For instance, a real estate agent can add the following tags to a photograph of a home for sale – #condoforsale, #newcondoforsale, #mybusinessname, and #realestate. When entering a hashtag into Instagram’s search bar, the search bar will show you related hashtags in a drop-down menu. This can give you some great ideas and show you what hashtags other people in your industry are using.

The next kind of tagging to understand is geotagging. Again, this plays into bringing in local traffic. Geotagging is location information that shows up on your most recent photo. For instance, if your retail business is doing a music festival in Tampa, your location information can be collected by GPS and is accessible and shown on your Instagram posts if you have granted that permission. Likewise, you can also geotag your business locations – for instance, if you have a location in Fort Lauderdale and in Miami.

Going One Up

If it seems a little confusing, or if you think you might not have the time it takes to really maintain and Instagram and Facebook account, it may be time to call in the professionals. 4 Step Studio has more than three decades collective experience in working with social media, web design, and digital marketing. We help small businesses by becoming their in-house marketing office – without the in-house price tag. Let us help you find your way on social media to grow your business.

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About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com