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Whenever I open Instagram these days, it feels like I’m being watched. The minute I follow a new person or double tap a landscape or cat pic, the photo-sharing app—to which I’ve long been addicted—picks up on it and starts showing me remarkably similar images. It’s almost creepy. As it turns out, Instagram’s algorithms are indeed keeping an eye on me, busily drawing a complex map of my likes, follows, and other in-app behavior, and that of the people I follow as well. As the app learns, its Explore tab gets better at recommending photos and videos to me. I can’t help but take the bait. Next thing you know, I’m barreling down some new visual rabbit hole and following six more people. The Explore tab is essentially one giant recommendation engine. But the ever-evolving methodology Instagram uses to sort through one of the world’s largest networks of photographs, comments, and likes is far more complex than your standard, “If you like that, you’ll like this” logic. And, surprisingly, Instagram says that despite the image recognition capabilities of parent company Facebook, there’s no machine vision involved....
Instagram continues to move up the social media ladder. From a niche site for amateur photographers and a few filters to one of the top used image-sharing platforms, the advertising opportunities cannot be ignored by marketers looking to expand their audiences. And, as we continue to march toward an app-first online experience, mobile continues to outpace desktop in traffic. Mobile-first sites such as Instagram will continue to reap the benefits, meaning your ads have greater potential — and create higher ROI if you combine ads with an Instagram landing page. What is an Instagram landing page? An Instagram landing page is a standalone web page that uses persuasive elements like testimonials, benefit-oriented copy, and videos to convince its visitors to convert on an offer. And, since Instagram is primarily used as an app on mobile devices, it is important to design a mobile-friendly page. Visitors land on the page after clicking a promotional link on Instagram....
How many times a day do you check your Instagram? (If you said less than three, you’re lying. But we digress.) Want to feel a little less guilty about your IG addiction? Start following these 10 Instagram accounts to add some career-fuel to your feed between the #foodporn and puppy accounts.
If you do take Instagram seriously, it can open up a world of opportunity for your brand. Forrester has named Instagram the “king of social engagement,” citing the fact that top brands’ Instagram posts generated a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21 percent. That means Instagram delivered these brands 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.
So, you now know why your business should be on Instagram. Below, we tackle the “how,” walking you through the process of building an Instagram strategy, setting up your account, and best practices for brands. Read on for our beginner’s guide on how to use Instagram for business....
Instagram hashtags for business are SUPER important!Using the right ones will help you get more Likes, followers & customers. There's no doubt about it.But how do you find the right hashtags for your specific industry?You can start by reading this blog post! ;)...
Using the right Instagram hashtags can extend the reach of your images, and help you reach outside your current sphere of followers..
But which hashtags should you use? There are two schools of thought on this one: The first is that you should use hyper-popular hashtags that get searched for most often. The good part about using popular hashtags is that you know tons of people are searching for them. And the bad part? Tons of people are searching for them. In other words, because so many people are using them, it can be more difficult for your photo to get noticed....
How close is Instagram to Facebook when it comes to brand activity? Probably closer than you think.
Social media shop Shareablee pulled the following numbers, which illustrate that marketers—while most of them cannot run ads yet on Instagram—are highly active on the social-mobile phone app.
The intriguing stats below are for United States brand pages during the second quarter. Keep in mind that Facebook went live in 2004, and Instagram hasn't been around for four years yet.
Facebook garnered 2.5 million brand posts, a year-over-growth of 22 percent.
- Instagram had 493,000 of such posts, a 49 percent year-over-year jump.
- Facebook accrued 6 billion actions (likes, comments or shares).
- Instagram totaled 3.4 billion actions (likes, comments).
- Facebook had 2,396 actions per post.
- Instagram racked up 6,932 actions per post....
The Guide to Instagram for Business is an in-depth tutorial on how Instagram works and how brands (including yours) can integrate it in their social marketing mix to increase their online reach and attract new business.
In it, you’ll find all the basics on getting started with Instagram, as well as recommendations on advanced campaigns that provide a meaningful experience for your Instagram community....
Looking for ways to grow your Instagram followers?
There are over 200 million users on Instagram and 57% of those access it daily. The largest age group is 18 to 29 year olds, and the average Instagram user spends 257 minutes a month on the site. For more Instagram stats, see this article from Jenns Trends.
Here are five tips and tools to help you to grow your presence on Instagram....
Joining Instagram is a must for businesses. As of March 2014, Instagram had over 150 million monthly active users. Additionally, according to numerous sources, the younger generation is shifting away from Facebook and onto platforms like Instagram and SnapChat.
Mastering Instagram for a business is easier said than done. Wittiness, timing and creativity all play an integral part in a business’s Instagam account. Users are taking notice of the brands establishing themselves as the trendsetters of the popular online photo sharing application.
Who are the top 5 brands on Instagram worth following? Here are the Instagram leaders that you will not regret seeing on your Instagram feed....
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Instagram recently passed 700 million monthly active users and is currently the most popular social media platform for Generation Z with over 59% of the cohort using it. With such massive growth, this platform is hard for any brand to ignore its power. But as people and companies launch their brands on Instagram, many are struggling with getting their following established. A key tool to create your brand: Instagram If you want to achieve a massive following on Instagram, take note of Derrick Thompson (@throne) and his work building a following of over 5 million users across all of his accounts, including large some of the largest Instagram pages such as @abs. His work as a content creator has allowed him to reach massive fame and own a number of successful e-commerce businesses. After taking a moment to sit down and talk to him about his story and how he became so successful, this was his take on how to use Instagram to build a brand.
Your Instagram profile is like a first impression of your brand, so you want to make it a good one! Long gone are the days of posting in the moment to Instagram, and now the growing trend is to have a well curated and cohesive Instagram feed. To help make your feed look amazing and save you time, here are 3 steps to planning the perfect Instagram feed!
To solve the issue, Instagram recently announced that they’ll use an algorithm to show users the posts that interest them. They’ll also use your “relationship with the person and the timeliness of the post” for filling your feed.Deja vu? Yep, Instagram is following Facebook’s suitre. This means that you can’t simply rely on real-time industry updates or increase your posting frequency to get real estate in more of your follower feeds. You’ve got to focus more on your audience preferences and use innovative techniques to engage with them. I’ve put together 5 tips to help you amplify your Instagram following, increase your engagement rate with your target audience and drive sales....
If you're in the business of selling food products -- or drink products, for that matter -- then it's incredibly important to know how to take appetizing pictures. Today's consumers expect you to use visual platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to promote your products, offer recipe ideas, announce events and promotions, and show off the human side of your community and culture.
But what does a great food brand Instagram account look like? To give you a little inspiration, we've found 15 food and drink brands that are getting noticed on Instagram. Check them out for examples of how to use the visual platform to and gain fans, followers, and loyal customers....
Instagram has been slow to open up the network to advertising. It was only in March that the company allowed select brands to include links to additional content in its ads. Now, the platform is moving into the ecommerce realm with its recently announced "Shop Now" buttons, more sophisticated targeting, and an API for automated advertising.
There is still a lot of opportunity for brands that wish to bootstrap it and build an audience without a paid budget. Kissmetrics created this infographic to highlight the best times to post, the most engaging filters and colors, and how to increase your following on the platform....
For the past year, American Express has experimented with turning over its social accounts to influencers for short bursts of time to pick up followers and buzz. And it appears to be working—at least based on some results from a recent two-week Instagram campaign.
On Nov. 9, AmEx gave six Instagrammers the keys to its account as part of the #MyAmex campaign. The posts were created by graphic designer Ann Kim, chef Christina Tosi, Patrick Janelle (who won the CFDA's first-ever Fashion Instagrammer of the Year award this year), fashion designers Oleema and Kalani Miller, Team Epiphany managing partner Coltrane Curtis and designer Timo Weiland.
The group posted a series of pictures (see examples) depicting how AmEx impacts their businesses.According to AmEx, the #MyAmex posts generated 23 percent more engagement than the brand's other Instagram pictures. AmEx also doubled its average number of daily Instagram followers for two weeks. In total, the campaign generated more than 10 million impressions and 40,000 engagements....
Seen through the filter of Instagram, the world is a beautiful place: high-contrast blue skies; sepia-tinted sunsets; exquisite plates of food and raindrops sliding down windows in perfect formation. It may be a manipulated perspective on life, but 200 million people across the world now use the photo app, sharing 60m pictures a day. Yet for some users, Instagram is generating more than appreciative likes and comments as they document their lives, travels and eating habits on their smartphones.
From Nike to the Namibian tourist board, brands and organisations are turning to the most followed users in the pursuit of a broader and younger audience – and are paying handsomely for their services.
Cue the rise of the Instagram professionals, users who began using the app for fun but are now earning six-figure salaries and being flown around the world to take photos to share with their thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of followers....
If you are marketing to teens (and college-age youths), the time has come to beef up your Instagram presence, as this recent SocialTimes article demonstrates. Here are tips for using Instagram to build your fan base and generate sales revenue, based in large part on what we learned during the successful launch of our sister company, Pro Stock Hockey.
A few quick stats on the company’s Instagram results to date: - 1,972 (highly relevant) followers
- 21,740 likes
- 260 likes/photo
- 99.9 acclaim value
- (BTW, Followers for Instagram is a great Instagram management app)...
...What can a savvy content marketer like you do to get messages to break through the 12+ hours of media clutter their target audience takes in on a daily basis?
The answer is a no brainer.
Take a page from your consumers’ social media streams. Make your content marketing look and feel like the information your audience’s family and friends share on social media....
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Instagram’s Explore tab whittles billions of images down to just the ones you’ll like by tapping your behavior and metadata–not the image content itself.