Instagram Can Grow Brands

Published on 4 Jun 2014 at 10:29 pm.
Filed under Marketing,Mobile,Search Engine Optimization,Social Media.

Instagram is more than just a social network. It’s a way you can grow your brand and improve local SEO.

Instagram for Social Connections

An Instagram photo of Android resting on Firefox OS in front of Windows.

An Instagram photo of Android resting on Firefox OS in front of Windows.

Instagram is a social network built around the mobile user. 97% of users are coming from a mobile device. That makes it one of the most intimate social networks around. This intimacy has helped fuel its growth. Instagram saw its numbers grow by 10% to 28% of all social users according to Social Media Examiner’s 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

The study found that full-time social media marketers are 46% more likely to invest in Instagram over part-time marketers. B2C communication has driven that growth. This tells you that Instagram is a useful tool for growing your brand’s personal connection with consumers.

The heavy growth in B2C over B2B makes sense. B2B needs meaty content that can back-up their claims. B2C doesn’t. B2C just needs to tell an entertaining story. An Instagram post tells its story with a single photo. That photo creates a personality. A business with a fun personality will attract far more costumers over one with no personality. Think back to when you were a kid. Who got more attention: the friendly outgoing kids or the ones that sat off to the side away from everyone? Same thing here. Show your personality and you’ll see growth for your brand.

Instagram for Local SEO

I know it sounds weird to of Instagram as a tool for improving SEO, but every bit helps. It won’t help much for national exposure, but it’s useful for local SEO. By assigning a location connected to your business to the photo you build up a Photo Map. This lets you associate these fun images with your location. Someone viewing your profile and browsing to your Photo Map will see what your brand has to offer locally.

At this time Instagram does not let you browse by location. This means that you can’t see what others have posted at your business unless you search. I know this hurts its usefulness as a local SEO tool, but I don’t think that will last forever. A “browse nearby” feature makes too much sense. To do that they need to combine data. Wouldn’t you rather be the company that has a wealth of photos for your business on day one and not the company caught empty-handed? I know I would. So get out there and start taking fun photos at your company and tag the location. It will help.

Thank you and keep building your brand.

This post was originally published as Instagram Can Grow Brands for Brand Builder Websites.

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