If you haven’t yet used Instagram to market your brand, the time may be right to start. The photo sharing platform owned by Facebook announced recently it had reached 150 million active monthly users.
To put this into perspective, this means Instagram is only 50 million users short of overtaking Facebook rival Twitter.
Twitter currently says it has 200 million active monthly users. The company shared plans for an IPO last week.
Instagram Helps Small Business Marketing
An official post on the Instagram blog announcing the 150 million user milestone, focused on documenting protests in Egypt, sharing a trip across the U.S. or taking adorable animal photos.
Certainly, some of Instagram’s users are engaging in these uses of the platform.
But there are many possible Instagram applications for marketing your business too.
You can use Instagram to share sneak previews of your products, highlight your customer service, showcase your employees and company culture or show off your restaurant or new office.
Earlier this year, Instagram video was born with the possibility of shooting 15 second videos as a marketing tool.
Instagram also offers many “filters” to change the look of your photos and videos, rendering them in either a retro style or with intensified colors.
Where is Your Audience?
When deciding whether Instagram is the right platform for your marketing message, you should first look at its audience.
While Instagram’s community is large and growing, company officials say 60 percent of it is located outside the United States.
This might mean Instagram will be more effective marketing an international product than, say, a local pizzeria.
What products or services might you consider marketing on Instagram?
Instagram Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
Instagram is an amazing marketing tool. I have tried and tested it and as long as you know how to market your brand with good pictures, then you’ll find yourself gaining more followers.
ed pierce
Really?! I never thought Instagram would become so big and I think that’s a problem. I haven’t been using them as much as I should and it looks like it’s an untapped source for customers.
Shawn,
I know it’s popular, but I didn’t realize it’s THAT popular 🙂
I was using Instagram occasionally and would like to explore more for small business marketing purposes. I’m not sure how Instagram works in term of traffic generation, but for branding, I agree it rocks.
Debra Sillanpaa
We have had tremendous success for our customers using Instagram and have started incorporating the videos for a greater connection! If you haven’t got on board yet, jump on!
Suddenly the $1 billion price tag that Zuckerberg paid for Instagram doesn’t seem so ridiculous.
Kim Rawks
Shhhh! Don’t give away that secret just yet! 🙂 I get so much more response from Instagram (and Pinterest) than Facebook and Twitter.