Instagram today announced it has more than 400 million users of the social media platform.
And, ironically enough, Happy Creative might have been it’s milestone user as we joined the millions using it yesterday!
If content is king on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter then the picture-sharing site has to claim the title for creativity and imagination where businesses can thrive.
Last year the Facebook-owned site generated 70 million photos a day and as a business tool it is one which is being embraced more and more. While big brands are huge advocates of the service, small businesses have been slow on the uptake with many not understanding how a photo can lead to bigger things.
As a creative tool, there is nothing better to show off a product on a social media platform which is free, simple and, most importantly, effective. Yes, you can fiddle around with the filters to show off a photo in greater light, change its shading and add borders but the subject remains the same. Away from the troubles Adobe Photoshop can cause, Instagram is a one-stop-quick-fire solution to getting a photo out on to the web and shared within minutes. While using a filter might be tempting many social media “experts” advise not to use one.
Be cool with it though as no-one wants to see a dull photo of say, a washing machine. Jazz your product or service up but do not detract from its USP. If possible use faces in the picture too as stats have shown that you’ll get 35 per cent more likes if a face can be spotted in the image.
As an engagement tool, Instagram is also big on hashtags and the more the better. It’s reliance on them can see a business create larger audiences and be able to target specific markets through a hashtag. Millions of them are created and used every day and the more you use them the greater chance you have of having your picture seen. But stop at 30 (if it’s possible to find 30) as Instagram won’t allow you to add any more (not that you’d want to). All those hashtags might seem a pain at first but in doing so Instagram has trumped rival Twitter in the engagement stats with three per cent more people liking on the platform rather than sharing from the micro-blogging site.
Images are the most popular form of engaging with your audience and while the old saying might be the “pen is mightier than the sword” it seems in the case of Instagram, “a picture really can paint a thousand words.”
Nick Hyde is PR & Marketing Manager at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
