Since the dawn of the internet, marketing techniques used by business has evolved with time. We live in the era where you can buy anything from anywhere in the world with a click of the finger. So, it is fair to say that internet has changed the way of digital marketing from the conventional method of one-way communication to the consumer via TV and Radio. Since the rise of social media, we are seeing a revolution in how brands are engaging with their consumer via different social media platform to gather data on likes, preferences, age, location, popular trends etc for them to run an effective marketing campaign for their product or service. 
With monthly active users of over 700 million people on Instagram and rising and among them, there are more than 25 million business profiles. As of March 2017, 80 percent of Instagram’s users followed a business and 200 million Instagrammers visited a business profile every day in November (Statista, 2017). With astounding figures like that business needs to be up to date on latest trends to have the advantage over its competitors.

So, here are few tips on how to use Instagram effectively

• Using the right Hashtag and Trends
  Instagram’s explore page shows contents that’s trending and popular. So, as a business, exploring this page gives you information on latest hashtag which can be free traffic for your brand depending on its relevance to your post.

• Making effective use of the Bio
  One of the unique aspects of the Instagram is 150 words bio that allows you to express your brand where you can have 1 web link which can be linked to your blog, landing page, sales etc. Instead of writing a long bio, separate your text using bullet points and emoji.

• Combination of Pictures and Video
  As a marketer, you can use videos for visual storytelling which can be used to improve their online reputation and increase consumer engagement.  After all, according to Instagram, videos are 3-5x more likely to be shared than an actual picture. So, having some creative videos can gain more followers for the business by simply sharing with their audience.

• Sponsored post and Product Review
  To make a significant impact, you need to post your product picture to other lager accounts with more follower’s than yours so you can expose your brand to a larger audience. This can be done by searching them with keyword closely relating to your post. By doing so you will discover top Instagram account with those keywords and if they have an email account in the profile they are open to sponsoring for a small amount of fee.  Another method can be a review of a product where they can send their product to get reviewed by the account owners like tech companies do when they send their product to get reviewed before it’s launched.

• Consumer Engagement
  As a business trying to reach out to many consumers as possible, engaging with a consumer via comments, like, follow and direct message is key to growing your followers. This also can be done by engaging with your closest competitor’s followers by liking their picture or even leaving a comment resulting in you gaining more followers.
• Live Video Feed
  Business can use this live streaming tool which promotes and gets consumers engagement, especially with new features, which sends notification about your live feed to your followers. Due to ease of technology, this can be done from anywhere in the world by using your mobile phone. Business can use this tool while launching a new product or service to give their audience first-hand view of the products whilst building a trustworthy relationship with its consumers.

As shown in the figure, the number of business and independent advertisers on Instagram is growing at an astounding amount. So, failing to use these platforms can be disadvantageous to the business organizations.

Disadvantages

Like every other platform, Instagram has its pros and cons as well. As stated by (BURKE, 2016)With Instagram’s new algorithm, which supposedly has more advantage and benefits towards large brands and companies who can invest more money into their digital campaigning to get more seen on Instagram. This puts small and local business, who don’t post often or recently started using the platform puts them in a struggle with new integration of business accounts.

“Although this is a profitable move at a good time for the app, anyone looking to make a splash on Instagram with just talent, a good product, and a developed image will have a hard time without fully adopting paid social” (BURKE, 2016)

Bibliography

BURKE, K. (2016, August 31). Instagram for Business: Pros and Cons of Instagram’s Changing Platform. Retrieved December 25, 2017, from https://cypressnorth.com: https://cypressnorth.com/social-media-advertising/instagram-for-business/

Gerber, R. (2016, May 4). Rise Of Social Media Takes Toll On Traditional Advertising. Retrieved December 25, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/: https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/05/04/rise-of-social-media-takes-toll-on-traditional-advertising/#a11a75f6a4a8

Marketer, R. (Director). (2016). 10 Instagram Marketing Tips To Use For Business! [Motion Picture].

Osman, M. (2017, August 02). 18 Instagram Stats Every Marketer Should Know for 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2017, from https://sproutsocial.com: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/

Shopify (Director). (2014). How to use Instagram for Business: How to Build an Audience of Followers for Your Business [Motion Picture].

Statista. (2017, December 5). Brands Are Flocking to Instagram. Retrieved January 5, 2018, from https://www.statista.com: https://www.statista.com/chart/12129/business-profiles-and-advertisers-on-instagram/