Answer: It Depends. 

As many of you know, I won’t encourage you to jump on a social media site unless I believe there’s a business reason to do so. Just because it’s the cat’s meow for the year, DOESN’T mean you need to invest precious time and resources.

Data has proven that Instagram has staying power and is competing heavily against the other major social networks.

Take a look at the graphic below – You’ll see the two photo sharing sites (Instagram and Pinterest) had the largest gain among adults. Pinterest is dominated by females, but Instagram is spread evenly among males and females:

This next graphic illustrates some demographic data for those using Instagram. This will give you some idea if your target audience is, in fact, on Instagram:

Of course, another way to gauge if it’s worth your time is to ask your customers if they are using Instagram. If you get some favorable responses, it might be worth putting a strategy together to engage them there.

If you’re still reading, that might mean you’re interested in Instagram, so here are a few things to know about the social media site:

1. It’s owned by Facebook. Facebook kept it as a separate site because it has its own unique following and they did not want to upset Instagram’s tribe. They did make it very easy to share the photos you post on Instagram to Facebook (and other social media sites).

2. You can also share short videos on Instagram.

3. People use hashtags to describe their photos so others can see them. For example, I spoke at the KTM Motorcycle conference last week and took some cool photos of their bikes. I used #KTM and #KTMConference so other KTM fans and attendees could easily see and share the photos.

4. http://web.stagram.com/ – This is a cool resource to monitor keywords on Instagram. So if you did a search for #KTM, you’d see some of my photos.

5. In the world of Instagram, getting your audience to post pictures with your hashtags is the ultimate goal. During my talk at KTM, I suggested having RIDE parties and telling riders to post pics to Instagram with the hashtag MyKTMRIDE.

Your first step is to determine whether or not Instagram might be a place for your business to plant its flag. If the answer is yes, you want plan some strategy meetings to determine exactly HOW to use the site to maximize your results.

 

Video of the Week

Check out this really cool video by Lexus on how they involved their fans in a groundbreaking commercial. This is the true power of Instagram!

 Lexus Video

Upcoming Events

I’m coming to South Florida!

Join the South Florida Business Journal for an informative morning seminar – Crash Course in Social Media – designed to empower you with the information you need to take your social marketing to the next level. Hear from top experts as they share insights on the newest trends in social media and how to capitalize today!

Thursday, July 24 | 8:00-11:30am

  

This weekend, I’ll be on the radio in the following cities discussing Social Media Overload!

  • 8:00am Saturday morning – on my home station 94.3 FM The Talker. Go to www.businessbuildersglobal.com to listen live. You can listen on your mobile device on the Bold Gold Media app RADIO Bold.
  • 8:00am Saturday and 11:00pm Sunday – on WETR-AM in Knoxville – www.talkradio.com
  • Tuesday nights 10:00pm Central time – on KLFD-AM in Minneapolis.