What is Instagram?

In case you’re been living without internet or cable for the past six and a half years, Instagram is a photo and video sharing application. In addition to its original image-sharing feature, Instagram has added additional features like temporary video “stories”, an algorithm-based newsfeed, and albums (among other things) in order to compete with its competitors. Businesses can create a profile with a username, photo, small “About Me” section, and link. The website address you put here is especially important since it’s the only clickable link you’ll be able to showcase.

Many businesses have been able to successfully manage Instagram as an extension of their marketing efforts. In addition to allowing businesses to connect with new and existing customers on a more intimate level, Instagram also helps them to organically generate leads and push traffic to their websites, all without paying a cent.

Profile

The profile section of a business’ account is important because it defines the authenticity of their page.

• Profile Picture: Green Group Studio suggests using your logo for your profile picture so that your Instagram page is easily recognizable from the search and newsfeed pages.
• Username: Fortunately, usernames need to be unique so that users searching for a particular account can find exactly what they’re looking for. Unfortunately, this means that your business’ name might already be claimed. If your business name is already taken, we recommend adding the word “official” to the username.
• Bio: Your “Bio” section should be a one to two sentence summary describing who your brand is, although it can be slightly more informal due to the platform. You can also include a callout for specific hashtags utilized by your business.
• Website Link: As mentioned above, the most important part of your profile is the website link as it’s the only clickable item you’ll be able to put up. One trick a lot of companies utilize on Instagram is to update their link based on certain events. For instance, if you’re promoting a sale, you can add a link that takes users directly to the page and add comments like “Link in the Bio” to your posts.

Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the primary tools businesses can use for people to find them. In order to add a hashtag to the description of a photo or video, simply use the “#” symbol directly followed by a word or phrase with no spaces or punctuation. Your photo will then show up every time a user searches that hashtag. When adding a plethora of hashtags, we suggest the new technique of adding them to a separate comment instead of in the original post description.

Hashtags are a fun way to catalog images related to your company and connect with customers. When you’re first starting out on Instagram, it’s a best practice to use a large number of general hashtags related to your industry, like #makeup, #beauty, and #lipstick. Instagram has made it even easier to pick top-performing hashtags because as soon as you start typing one out it gives you suggestions with the number of photos attached to that hashtag next to it!

Location Services

Just like with hashtags, location services can help businesses gain followers because every time a user searches that location, your photo will show up. Also like hashtags, typing a location into the location search bar causes the most popular locations with the most photos to automatically pop up. Businesses should take advantage of using the most popular hashtags and locations because not only are those the most widely used terms, but they are also the most commonly searched terms.

Valuable Content

What really makes businesses and their pages stand out from their competitors is the content they post. In addition to images and videos, Instagram allows you to post up to 2,200 characters in a description box under each post. That’s a lot of room to add valuable content to your followers’ feeds and can really enhance your posts!

Following and Followers

Another easy way to attract followers is to find them yourself. Use the search tool to search your industry hashtags. Once you pick a hashtag, the top nine performing photos connected to it will automatically appear at the top of the results page. The posters of these images are considered influencers. An influencer is someone who has a large following of (typically) like-minded individuals. You can reach out to these influencers to request some sort of partnership or even to use their followers list in order to find individuals who are more likely to follow you back once they see your content.

Instagram is a great marketing tool that can help your business connect with current and potential customers all over the world. By following these simple tricks, your business will be gaining followers and sales in no time! However, most business owners find that they simply don’t have the time to effectively manage all of their presences online. At Green Group Studio, our team of experts allow us to provide a comprehensive suite of design and marketing services, including content and social media management. Call today to speak with one of our marketing specialists at 561-594-7336.

The post How to Use Instagram for Marketing Your Business appeared first on Green Group Studio.

This past May, Instagram did the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the shocking—they updated their software to version 8.0. Gone is our beloved retro brown camera logo, replaced instead with a gradient rainbow that looks suspiciously similar to an old Microsoft background (see stage left). Like saying goodbye to an old friend whose presence is comforting and familiar, Instagram users now find themselves overwhelmed with emotion as they frantically search for the app among the hundreds of other brightly-colored icons crowding their phone screens.

While many others covered the change immediately after its initial inception, we here at Green Group Studio needed a moment to get out of our feelings—and let the internet’s uproar settle down into a gentle purr of resignation—before we decided to address them.

Instagram’s New Logo

While compared to a majority of other apps that updated their logos back in 2013 (spurred by Apple’s release of IOS7), Instagram’s 8.0 update made them the latest app to jump onto the proverbial bandwagon and embrace a flat design logo. Instagram’s head designer cited the change as a “reflection of the apps evolution.”

Instagram’s designers’ major struggle though (like most companies attempting to rebrand) was in keeping the recognizable and nostalgic elements of the original logo, while creating a new logo that embraced the colorful community that inspires them. The iconic rainbow is now visible in the gradient background of the icon, while the camera is inferred with simplistic shapes. Designing a new logo that successfully encompasses the passion and viewpoint of an established brand is an art that requires a deep understanding of the company’s culture, as well as where they want to position themselves in the future. To learn more about logo design, CLICK HERE.

Instagram’s New User Interface

Instagram’s changes didn’t just stop with their logo, the inside of the app received something of a major makeover as well. Instead of a blue bar spanning the top, the app is now extremely minimalistic with its black and white layout, void of any ornament that could potentially detract from users’ posts. This change is said to be caused by a desire to put more focus on user-uploaded images and videos, allowing them to take center stage.

Although the appearance has changed, the functionality has remained the same—allowing users to navigate the app as they always have. To learn more about App Development Services, call today at 561-594-7336.

The Final Stage: Acceptance

After watching the initial rocky introduction of the 8.0 Instagram update, and then the sudden cooling down, we picked up on something rather interesting about the company’s approach. In addition to shocking us with a new logo and UI, Instagram announced its decision to implement a feed based on an algorithm (similar to Facebook).

While some users were privy to the update back in May, the rest of us had to wait until the end of June (anxiously hoping that the next update wouldn’t make us this features latest victim). This upgrade would create a non-chronological feed that would show users the most popular posts on their feed, or what Instagram thinks you will be the most interested in, before the newest posts.

We suspect that even the thought of an impending update to their feed was enough to distract most people from Instagram’s rebranding efforts, allowing for an unintended acceptance of the company’s changes. Touché Instagram, touché!
In the end, Instagram users will get used to the new logo, user interface, and feed—just as they’ve done with every update before it. Instagram’s rebranding is a message of hope to all companies interested in an evolution of their own, it is possible to successfully rebrand your company! To learn more about Green Group Studio’s Rebranding Services, CLICK HERE or give us a call at 561-594-7336!

The post Instagram Rebrands Itself in 2016 – And the Internet Went Crazy appeared first on Green Group Studio.