Should Your Business Be On Instagram? - A PRapport special

By Julia Spence-McCoy *

Social media is a great tool when it comes to marketing online, and there are many excellent platforms out there. One of these, Instagram, is something many people consider but aren’t sure if it will work for their company. Some might not know just what the social channel is for and others might not know if it will have the same sort of positive impact like Facebook or Twitter. I am going to take a look at Instagram, if you should use it, and give a few great tips for those who decide to!
How Does Instagram Really Work?

Instagram has long been a social media channel that is popular with Millennials and younger individuals. It is a great platform to share your favorite photos from your day, whether the photos are of cats, books, selfies or a beautiful sunset. Instagram is a great place for people to share visual aspects from their lives for their friends to interact with. It is an awesome visual tool, and many businesses are starting to notice its importance. It provides a unique ability to market to a younger crowd, and can give businesses an incredible competitive edge if Instagram is used correctly. There are currently several brands that have an incredible Instagram presence, which can give you inspiration if you decide your business needs an account, as well.

Should Your Company Be On It?

Since Instagram markets to a younger crowd and is so visually driven, many people wonder just what type of companies should use it. In fact, the reason you’re reading this is to learn if your business needs it or not, right? I am going to look at a few things a business needs to consider before setting up an Instagram account.

Do You Have Visual Marketing?
One of the first things you need to look at is if you utilize or need visual marketing. Instagram gives you the chance to utilize visual marketing to your advantage, and there are multiple things you can do to maximize the impact. However, you first need to make sure that you have products that are great for visual marketing, as well as creating and sharing photos that promote engagement with your followers. You don’t want to share bland photos, as those are likely not to get engagement.

Are Your Clients on It?

This is a pretty obvious question that some tend to overlook. If your clients aren’t on Instagram, it is likely that you won’t be able to reach as many people as you’d like to. Sure, you might get a few, but you need to be where your clients are because the audience you want to reach will be there, too. If your clients aren’t on Instagram, you might want to reconsider using it or you can ask your clients if they’d be willing to join Instagram if your company sets up a page. In fact, you can hold a contest and giveaway to encourage people to get on and follow your account.

Are Your Competitors on It? 

Now, you might not have many clients on Instagram, but you need to look to see if your competitors are. You should also check to see if they have any engagement and how well it is helping them. If you see engagement on their photos, chances are you will have engagement on your photos, as well. You don’t want to be left in the dust by your competitors, and if they have a successful Instagram campaign, it is time to set one up and get to work.

How Can You Use Instagram for Your Business?

Now that you know a few questions to ask yourself, you’ll need tips on how to use Instagram for your business. I gathered a few great points to help you get started!
Utilize Hashtags on Your Photographs. Hashtags are an important aspect of social media, especially when it comes to Instagram. This will help you combine your photos with other trendy hashtags, which will give you the chance to be found by new readers and customers. Don’t shy away from using a few hashtags, either. Adding more can help broaden your reach significantly.

Fill Out Your Profile to Make it Powerful.

 Just like with any other social media channel, you need to fill out your profile to optimize it and make it powerful. This will help people know your Instagram is an official one and not spam, convincing them that your account is safe to follow. Instilling trust is an important aspect for every business.

Know Your Age Demographic. 

When you start your Instagram account and create a campaign, you need to know what your demographic is. Are they young or old? What things do they like? Are there any memes that they’ll appreciate more? All of this can help you create a great Instagram presence. In fact, knowing your age demographic is vital for any social media campaign.

Know How to Work Instagram For Business. 

Instagram is much like Facebook and Twitter in the fact that it does try to help businesses out. Before you get started with Instagram for your business, make sure you get acquainted with Instagram for Business to get the best results possible! You can also find other businesses on Instagram to gain inspiration from them and see just how they approach using the social site.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Instagram can be a powerful tool for some companies, providing more access to clients and sharing excellent photos with them. While not all companies, like small, local businesses, might benefit, there are several things people can do with social media to get the most out of it. If you are looking for a way to maximize your social media content for the best impact, contact Express Writers, today! We have excellent social media services, providing you with excellent content to share with your followers. Will you be trying Instagram for your business or have you already? What are some things you’ve learned from using it?
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*Julia Spence-McCoy is the CEO of Express Writers, an online copywriting agency that began in 2011 with thousands of web content pages written to date and more than 50 talented writers on the team. Her passion is copywriting and all that pertains, including the ever-changing game of Google algorithm updates.



http://www.sitepronews.com/2015/05/01/should-your-business-be-on-instagram/

A PRapport Special: 12 Free Social Media Management and Marketing Tools to Boost Your Social Media Presence

By Jessica Davis in Marketing Social Media Social Media Marketing

(By arrangement with SiteProNews)

Businesses simply cannot afford to ignore the power of social media in boosting brand value. Social media allows you to connect with your target audience in a way that was not possible with traditional media. However, to reap the benefits of social media marketing, audience engagement has to be consistent. You must also pay attention to what your audience is saying about you and use those insights to improve your overall business.

However, this can’t be achieved by just opening an account on Twitter or Facebook and posting content erratically without a clear strategy. There is so much more to social media marketing and that’s why you need social media tools to help you out. Here are the top 12 free social media tools to boost your social media marketing efforts.

SocialMention

SocialMention monitors the number of mentions you receive on a social media platform. This tool works with platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and a host of others. SocialMention carries out monitoring based on four metrics and they are strength, sentiment, passion and reach.

DrumUp

DrumUp curates relevant content for your social media profiles on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook using several NLP algorithms. It allows you to edit queued content and even add customized posts. Another great feature is that it prioritizes fresh content, which means you get the advantage of posting the latest content before anyone else. This gives you a shot at being the first in line to go viral.

TweetDeck

The tool is optimized for Twitter and allows you to manage and monitor every single detail of your Twitter account using a single interface. You can even use it to customize your display. For example, you can choose whether to display a particular column or not.

Twitter Showdown

This free tool actually allows you to compare your Twitter performance with other Twitter accounts. Though it might seem like an app meant purely for entertainment and fun, it can actually help you gain insights on how you are performing against your competitors. You can look at data such as number of mentions, tweet timings, follower to following ratios, and the engagement level of your tweets. The data collected can be compared with a competitor.

SumAll

SumAll is designed exclusively for small business owners. Apart from helping you measure and mange your social media profile on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it also connects you to services such as PayPal, Google Analytics and 42 others at no cost whatsoever. Updates are usually e-mailed to you.

Rapportive

Rapportive is a very unique tool that allows you to view the LinkedIn profile of the message sender/recepient on your Gmail account. It shows you details such as geographical location, job title, and name of organization from the person’s LinkedIn profile. You can even follow people’s Facebook statuses or tweets. The purpose of this tool is to help you expand your network by connecting with people who share similar interests.

Twazzup

This is the perfect tool if you happen to be an amateur at social media. Twazzup helps you monitor the top influencers on Twitter. All you have to do is enter the name and Twazzup does the rest. You can also get real time updates on them.

HowSociable

HowSociable lets you monitor your social media presence as well as your competitors’. The free-to-use tool allows you to access up to 12 platforms that include Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. It even provides you with scores for each social media account, so that you can decide which one is working better for you.

Postific

A relatively new social media management tool, Postific is perfect for beginners. It has an auto-posting function for LinkedIn and lets you operate multiple social media accounts through a single interface, which is quite rare in other tools.

Topsy

Topsy is a great social media management tool that helps you search for useful and relevant content on the Web. You can even sort the content on various parameters to identify how influential an article or blog is. It even has access to Twitter’s data stream, which means you can access data all the way back from 2006. There is also a robust analytics feature that allows you to determine how often you’ve been searched in comparison to your competitors.

CircleCount

This tool is exclusively developed for Google+. You can access continuous reports and statistics on the performance of your profile and also on the level of influence you have. You can track down high ranking profiles, pages, communities, and also identify posts that have been reshared or +1ed the most. It even allows you to see the various circles that you have been included in.

Commun.it

Commun.it allows you to create a network of influencers, supporters, and possible customers. It tracks your followers and your interaction to accumulate performance, which is then displayed on a dashboard. You can study the data on the dashboard and decide on what action is to be taken, such as responding to or thanking a customer. It also calculates the number of interactions you’ve had and identifies followers whom you interact with the most.

(Jessica Davis has a keen interest in social media and content marketing, and writes extensively about it. She represents Godot Media, a leading content marketing firm.)

http://www.sitepronews.com/2015/04/24/12-free-social-media-management-and-marketing-tools-to-boost-your-social-media-presence/