THINK BIG: Instagram for Small Businesses: Useful Tips

I am a marketing chick and a social media enthusiast. I am also a strong believer that a picture is worth a thousand words, being constantly fascinated by creatives around me and inspired by their talent. So, I jumped on the Instagram bandwagon in order to be part of a global creative community, as well as to get my hands on a very powerful digital marketing tool.

I am telling you, it’s primetime to become paparazzi of your own business and share your products, as well as your brand’s happenings with the world. All you need is access, a steady hand and a strategy!

                                         Let's share the love! - Follow me @thinkpinkthinkbig

A Few Tips from Me to You:

Choose Quality over Quantity

It's your virtual product portfolio on display and you want to present it in the best possible way. Patience people! Take multiple shots and share on Instagram your best quality, visually attractive pictures. Sometimes you even need to get painstakingly planned shots to make every image look as sleek as a fashion editorial.

Tell a Story

Use your pictures to tell a story that reflects your brand’s aesthetic. Showcase not only your product, but also its story behind it, like its making of, behind the scenes going-on at your store/office, street-style pictures, trends and materials, as the best inspiration comes from a mix of influencers. Make it interesting!

Craft Descriptions

Take your time to craft tempting and thoughtful image descriptions to make your feeds more searchable. In this case, hashtags are your best friends! Find out the popular ones (For example #love, #fun, #happy, #tbt, #summer) and apply them relevantly. I have made a list of them in Evernote, which I find it really useful for quick reference. Be careful though not to overdo it with hashtags, as it can come across that you are desperate for an audience and spammy, which can be damaging for your brand image.

Engage

Keep in mind that Instagram users love the sense of community the application brings. So , make sure that are nice and you share the love by replying to your followers’/potential customers’ comments, say thank you and “like” other photos.  You can also create your own hashtag and encourage your followers to use it. For example, my own hashtag, relevant to my blog is : #thinkpinkthinkbigmoments

Identify, acknowledge and encourage street-style figures, like bloggers, social media enthusiasts and other influencers to get engaged by posting about your product, which will enhance the story behind your brand. Then, re-purpose the images that were submitted to you by happy customers by sharing them to your other social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. For example, the Greek shoe manufacturer Pargiana features my Instagram pictures enjoying their shoes via Fecebook.

Snap Happy!