Instagram has been a major hit since day one. This photo sharing app and social networking service is now being used by more than 80 million users and more are discovering the beauty of using it.

Its popularity peaked when used by people on Facebook prompting the guys behind Facebook to purchase it at a whopping $1 billion in September 2012. All’s well that ends well indeed.

The latest buzz today is that a growing number of marketers are also utilizing this free online tool. In fact, the number of companies using it has gone up in recent years and more are joining the bandwagon. They have recognized the power of photos in reaching out to their target audience.

We share here some ways on how you can best take advantage of Instagram in your marketing efforts.

1. Create Your Profile. While the app is often used in smartphones (Android and iPhone), Instagram saw it fit to establish an online presence and to take advantage of this, it is strongly recommended that you create an attractive profile. You’re free to promote your products and services to people, make calls to action and share photos of your staff and the best part is you can create a collage of photos on there.

2. Create Contests. People always love joining contests and you’ll surely win the hearts of your audience. Just make the contest easy such as inviting people to follow you, voting for their favorite photos, sharing their photos and using hashtags.

3. Offer Rewards. Some companies have found a way of getting more traffic and that is by offering incentives to visitors. Some give discounts through the use of promotional codes included in posts.

4. Showcase Customers. People love to see photos of a brand’s customers for a change. You can do this by getting their testimonials and sharing their story on the platform. It’s one way of showing your appreciation to the people who buy your products or use your services.

Photo via toprankblog

Originally posted on January 29, 2013 @ 8:40 am