Instagram – 5 Ways To Use it for Business
You may have heard that Facebook just bought Instagram for $1 billion! In case you don’t know, Instagram allows users to edit and post digital photographs to social media sites with just a couple of clicks.
It’s a growing trend having gained 10 million users in the last few weeks. Chances are that some of your loyal customers are likely already using the app to sharing photos and follow others. That’s reason enough for small businesses to consider signing up for an account. Instagram may continue to grow, and provide an effective way to create community and engage with your customers.
Instagram allows you to easily share photos to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or by using plugins that allow it to feed directly into networks and websites.
Saturday I started using Instagram. It’s incredibly intuitive. I was able to post a photo taken using Instagram to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr within minutes. One catch – it’s a mobile app only, which means you have to download the app and use it on your phone, iPod or iPad.
Here are some helpful tips on how small to medium-sized businesses in Westchester County can use this popular tool.
Customer Photos – Ask people to take pictures of themselves in the process of using your product.
Event Marketing – ask people who are at an event you are hosting to capture the moments with Instagram. As they share and tag the message about your business and the event will be shared.
Showcase your product- take images of your products and apply one of Instagram’s “filters” or frames, and then post to your Facebook timeline.
Find Your Fans – Instagram will let you know who is using your product and what they are doing with it.
Follow People – Just like Twitter and other social media platforms, you can follow people on Instgram. Build your reach and learn from the most active mobile photo-sharers.
Big names that are using Instagram: ABC news, NPR, Jamie Oliver, and Starbucks.
Give it a try. I think you will find that it’s fun and super easy to use.
If you’re already using Instagram, let us know how.
A “Tiny” Business Makes News on LinkedIn
Many of our blogs have focused on social media topics for small and medium size businesses. This time we’re taking a look at a story featured on LinkedIn’s News section about a “tiny” business consisting of Drew Cox, a six-year old boy who raised $10,000 in one day to help pay for his Dad’s cancer treatments.
Drew’s story is truly a case of making “lemonade out of lemons” and he did it the old-fashioned way: came up with a plan, acknowledged that it would be hard, worked on the weekend and thanked the community for coming together. Take a look at how it all unfolded.
Still Hopping Around the Social Media Trail?
Spring is in full swing and another Holiday weekend is on the horizon: do you know where your small business’ social media marketing plan is? Have you made a plan or did you resolve to make one at the beginning of the year and you’re still not sure where to start – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest? Or maybe, your small business has a plan in place but you’re not sure where it falls in the current social media cycle.
By now, anyone in business knows that social media is here to stay with new trends and channels popping up all the time – in real time. It may be time to take another look at your small business’ social media marketing plan. To get started, a recent Small Business Trends article offers an excellent look at 4 social media practices for business that can boost your results.
Becoming Facebook Friends with Energy
A new Facebook app that lets people track their electricity use, compare it to their friends’ electricity use and compete with friends to improve home energy efficiency was announced by Opower on April 3rd.
Opower, a customer engagement platform for the utility industry, helps people use energy more efficiently and ultimately save money on their energy bills. According to Opower CEO Dan Yates, utilities increasingly need to work with social media channels, such as Facebook, to interact with customers, as consumers demand more information and better tools to manage home energy.
For the more on this friendly competition, take a look at how Facebook friends compete to lower energy use.
It’s Time for Facebook’s Timeline
A few blogs ago we looked at the changes coming to Facebook in the form of a new design for business pages. It seemed the March 30th deadline for mandatory use of the new design was way, way in the offing but guess what? It’s here.
We hope that you had a chance to test and tweak the new design to see how it will work for your company’s page whether you’re a small business planning your social media marketing strategy or you currently have a Facebook business page.
If not, here are 3 Tips For Last Minute Timeline Upgrades On Facebook which focus on the Milestones, Thumbnail Images and Cover Photos features of the new design.
Also, we invite you to take a look at our newly designed page on Facebook.com/GibbonsDigital.
Let Your Tweets Spring Forth
Spring is here and the birds will be tweeting in full force. And maybe, like them, you want to tweet but not from a tree branch. You want to tweet about your business but you’re feeling stuck. It could be that you’re over thinking Twitter and what content to tweet.
Your small business likely has a mission or vision statement. You can start with revisiting that – think about why you started your business and ways to tell your clients how your products or services can help them. Start small. Think of the original definition of “tweet” as a “weak chirp.” We know that with about 360 million users Twitter is anything but weak yet one small tweet is all you need to get started. Look for news in your industry or happenings in Westchester and tweet about that.
To help you get started, take a look at this great article from Social Media Today on 42 Things To Do On Twitter Besides Tweet Spam & Coupons.
Also, Gibbons Digital invites you to follow us on Twitter and take a look at our tweets for ideas.
Sign in to Twitter and follow @GibbonsDigital
A Little Luck for a Like on Facebook
On the heels of our Valentine’s Day giveaway, we’re spreading a little luck for St. Patrick’s Day with our $200 Amazon Gift Card giveaway on Facebook. If you’re looking for a trinket for someone special or you want a gift for yourself, Amazon.com can help with the Earth’s Biggest Selection. And, Amazon.com Gift Cards are redeemable storewide and never expire.
If you’re interested in this St. Patrick’s Day giveaway, please visit Gibbons Digital on Facebook, “Like” our page and complete the form to enter. And please hurry: Sweepstakes ends March 17, 2012 @ 11:59 pm (EDT).
You can find complete details on our Facebook page.
So, spread a little luck this St. Patrick’s Day. Tell your friends to “Like” our page too for their chance to win!
The Winds of March Bring Change at Facebook
With the winds of March comes change at Facebook; it’s a new design for Facebook business pages. Although mandatory use of the new design does not start until March 30, 2012, now is the time to test and tweak it to see how it will work for your company’s page whether you’re a small business planning your social media marketing strategy or you currently have a Facebook business page.
For more details, take a look at Hubspot’s recent article: The-Complete-Guide-to-Setting-Up-the-New-Facebook-Page-Design
Gibbons Digital has already implemented the new design. Check us out at Facebook.com/GibbonsDigital
In the News: Gibbons Digital on Social Media
Demand for social media support has ballooned over the past year, [Bridget] Gibbons said.
Bridget Gibbons, CEO of Gibbons Digital, shared insights on how social media has given more power to the consumer in a recent article on westfair Online, which provides up-to-date news to the business marketplace in Westchester, Fairfield and the Hudson Valley. In the article, which also ran in the Westchester County Business Journal, experts comment on the role social media played in the recent controversy between the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Bridget Gibbons was one of the experts, commenting on the rise in demand for social media over the past year and the importance of small- and medium-sized businesses’ having a social media plan in place. Get the whole scoop in Social media acumen helps Planned Parenthood garner $3 million in three days.
What a great thing to make news with the topic of social media!
The KISS of Social Media Contests
You spread the “Like” to us and now we want to send it back by thanking everyone who participated in our Valentine’s Delight Sweepstakes on Facebook. The Sweepstakes started on January 29th and ended on February 10th. And in that 12-day timeframe, Gibbons Digital added a total of of 2,233 new “Likes.” Specifically, we went from 897 to 3,130 Likes in under two weeks!
Online contests are a great way to build a fan base and to communicate directly with existing and potential clients. As our numbers show, it can be done quickly and easily. So in the in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we’ll share with you our version of KISS when it comes to social media: Keep it simple, sweetheart!
According to Wikipedia, the KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complex, therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. This same theory should be applied to your small business’ social media contests. And to help you get started or to re-think your social media strategy, here is a great article from Mashable on four things to keep in mind as you plan your campaign.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
