Don’t Be a Vulgar Tree on a Cold Hill

There’s a story often repeated by Zen monks. I adore this story and feel terrible because I’m probably about to butcher it. Even so, I have to do my best, because it contains a powerful moral worth sharing.

Ignore the lesson in this story at your peril. It describes one of the greatest dangers with meditation – one that, if you meditate long enough, have a good chance of blindly stumbling into.

And once you make this mistake, it’s difficult to reverse.

The story is this:

Many monks live off the charity of others. They have no money – they left all that behind when joining the monastery. And it’s not like they can hold down part-time jobs or sell information products online.

Their food and often their clothing come from the generosity of others.

An old woman had been donating food to a particular monk for decades. She would give him food and he would calmly accept it.

And when I say calmly, you can imagine what I mean. This is a monk, after all. It would have been like giving food to a statue. Maybe he bowed in gratitude or something, I don’t know.

Anyway, one day the old woman finds a young, beautiful girl. She gets the girl to hug the monk, then asked him how he felt about that.

He replied something monklike, such as, “I am a barren tree on a cold hill, as if the seasons were always in the depths of winter.”

The old woman was furious. “I can’t believe I’ve wasted food on such a vulgar fellow for so long,” she said, before burning down his monastery.

Now I’ll admit I’m missing some key cultural context here.

Still, I love this story.

The minor moral is that Zen Buddhism is cooler than you think. Admit it – that’s a wild story. A random old woman burns down a monastery… and she isn’t the villain.

Is she the hero? Maybe?

The deeper moral is this:

Meditate long enough and you can become cut off from the world and yourself. Some sects even encourage this. Most use this story as a warning. When diving deep inside your mind, you have a choice.

You can enrich your connection with the world and everything beyond. You can use it to find the bliss of nirvana and become complete.

Or, you can become a hollow void where a human used to be. Dead but still breathing.

Secret Social Media Hacks You Want To Try Now – It’s Easy If You Do It Smart

There are always new and exciting updates on social media sites. And here you will get to know about secret social media hacks you want to try now.

There are a number of secret social media hacks but here we will discuss some of them for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Instagram

Share Instagram Images Elsewhere After Uploading.

• Share the image to Twitter or Facebook once uploading it to Instagram.

• As we know that you can share the image instantly once you upload it to the Instagram, but you can also go back to any of your images and share an Instagram image.

• First of all, decide which Instagram photo in your gallery you want to share. Go to down in the right corner and click on the ellipsis button and select “Share”.

• The images and caption appear where you can edit what you originally posted on Instagram, so you can do any modification to what has been written before you share it. Then select what social media site you want it to post on and then share it. Yes, it’s Done!

Take Better Photos without Posting Them

Set your phone to Airplane mode and start taking snaps. It will be saved to your phone but it will not get posted instantly to Instagram. It helps you to pick up the best image to be posted on the Instagram.

Best Time To Post on Instagram

• Have you ever thought what will be the best time to share that tricked out Instagram images?

• Well, Iconosquare analyzes your post history and interaction on Instagram and tell you the best time to post Instagram photos.

• Moreover, you can also view your most engaged followers, most liked, your new follower and a lot more.

Facebook

• Just customize What You Share on Facebook and with whom.

• Don’t want your father to see that photo? Or some post your boss could see? It’s quite easy with this simple hack:

• Click on the tab to the left of your post and choose “More Options” and Facebook will pop up another page for you. Just enter the name of people you don’t want to share your post or images.

Download Your Facebook Pictures

Pick&Zip app will let you download all your photos and also collect photos you are tagged in. You can also download pictures from Instagram.

Hide from Your Annoying Friends?

You must have that friend who always started chatting once he/she caught you online. Yes, there is a hack for them. Go offline for a specific list of people you don’t want to chat often.

Pinterest

How to Pin Something from Facebook

• Just Click on the Facebook picture you want to pin.

• Right-click the image (or control + click on a Mac) and choose “Open Image in new tab” in the drop down menu.

• Then you will be able to pin that picture from that particular page.

Highlight Text Before Clicking “Pin It

When you highlight any text on a page that you want to be pinned and click “Pin it”, the text that you highlighted automatically get added to the description box.

Twitter

Download Your Tweet History

• Do you know you can download the tweet history?

• Twitter let you request your archive.

• Twitter gives you the ability to request your archive. You need to go in Twitter Account Setting for your profile; you will get a little option at the bottom of your page, just click on that.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn gives you the option to view other’s profile without being known as you had viewed his/her profile.

You just need to follow these steps:

• Just go to “Privacy & Settings” of your profile when you hover over your LinkedIn profile image in the upper right of the page.

• Go to the tab “Privacy Controls”, and click on the option for “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” as the option

• And select the totally anonymous option, you lose a bit of history, but, it’s up to you and why you’d want to surf LinkedIn anonymously.

These secret social media hacks will definitely help you do better.

The Evolution of Influencer Marketing

Almost every one of us has already known Influencer Marketing, it has done a remarkable impact on today’s marketing. Consumers now trust influencer marketing than any other marketing method, why? Because of its authentic message to everyone. The old or traditional marketing does still work but we can not deny the fact that most of the consumers were captivated already by influencer marketing, influencer marketing was controlled and run by “Influencers” we see throughout the social media, they outstand from any niche they are expert on. Now, in this article, let us talk about the evolution of influencer marketing.

The year 2007, Facebook and Twitter are the best places to showcase your products, even today, it is still efficient. Before, if you have a high-profile and you got huge followings from those platforms, most companies do engage with these profiles online, most product placements you were able to see were organic and were not paid.

Then, Instagram stole the crown in 2010, scanning and posting your photographs has become famous, you can easily take a photo, do a little edit and post it on your Instagram, then notice the engagement you were able to get. There’s a lot of advertising that is happening on Instagram, every day, up until now. If you wanted to know? There’s a lot of guides and pieces of training to help you with social media advertising.

2013 when Facebook reigned again in the marketing world, this platform was one of the marketer’s best tool to achieve their goals and objectives for their business.You can advertise and boost your websites and Facebook pages through Facebook, that is one way of driving traffic and sales to your business. Still, Instagram has more benefit for you to showcase your product, Facebook is more on written advertising while Instagram is more on photographies and videos, you can show your niched and passion by the photos you were able to share.

And in 2016, the viral contents had scattered across the social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Those people who were not much famous unlike the celebrities were able to get thousands and even millions of followers by creating an engaging content, these people are what we call “Influencers”, they were able to get famous across the social media just because of their content that went viral. But it’s not just a content, it has genuine features, that is why people keep engaging with it. For that year, Influencer marketing has developed and has become more and more efficient up until now.

Lastly, 2017, this year. Influencer Marketing has been more genuine in all aspects of its process, from the contents to the influencers, to the brands, and to the audience, even the relationship between brands, influencers and audience are genuine and needs to be genuine. People are now relying on recommendations that is why Influencer Marketing keeps blooming. It is no surprise for the small influencers become gradually popular and has been trusted because of their authentic contents and their authenticity themselves.

Instagram: A Great Small Business Marketing Tool

Create An Advantage

Small businesses can always use any edge they can get, especially when it comes to marketing. It is not always easy fighting the competition, and for that reason creativity can sometimes be the best solution. If your small business has been doing well on social media up to this point, you may want to consider one of the relatively new kids on the block, Instagram.

In essence, Instagram has become a widely popular social media platform that focuses on visual content. Given the nature of this, it can be a fantastic way to spread the message about your company or brand and captivate a new audience. It is essential to make sure this platform is right for your business so you don’t end up talking to an metaphorical internet wall.

Got Something To Show?

So how do you know if it is right for you business? A good first test would be to ask yourself, do I have something that I would like to actually show my market?

This is a great way to begin since it forces you as a marketer to immediately try to come up with an idea for some content. Using a service such as Instagram will be a lot more seamless if the content or images presents itself for you and there is no need to really hunt for it.

Your audience will be much more obliged to follow your business as long as it’s not struggling to find and create content.

Simply put, if captivating images of what your brand takes part in or represents are easy to come across, then Instagram is likely for you. Because if you’re having trouble now finding the right picture, then you’ll likely still be having trouble 4 months down the road.

Have The Right Audience

Does your target market, or even broader potential markets, fall into the demographics that use Instagram? This is another one of those questions that avoids you the pain of talking to a wall online.

It is essential that your customers, past, present, and future, are people who are using the service. If they are not, you will do yourself a great favor by allocating your time and resources to where they are present elsewhere online.

Instagram’s users are all those who have been raised in the age of technology. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are already second nature to them, hence the extensive use of hashtags with this platform. Users range in ages from young teenagers all the way through adults in there 30’s and even 40’s, given that they are technologically savvy at that age.

Given these demographics, Instagram is used by a large number of individuals. Not just in the United States, but on an international scale since it has an Android app too. The total downloads is well over 40 million as of the new year.

Leverage Its Visual Nature

Businesses can leverage using Instagram in a variety of ways. Regardless of which you choose, it’s important to note that it should be a complementary extension of an established social media or digital marketing strategy as a whole.

For a company or brand with a lot of visual content to show its audience, it can be hard sometimes to other common platforms without overloading them. Use Instagram as the best source to show a constant stream of visual content and suggest your followers from other social media sites follow you here.

Provide them with exactly what the platform was made to do, showing visually interesting pictures. This direct visual marketing is direct in the sense that it is solely visual, but indirect because you do not want your Instagram to be a full on advertisement for your brand.

Make It Personal

Think beyond straight promotion and more about the experience your company’s products or services create for the user. Take pictures of things you make, places you go, people you meet, new products, happy customers, the benefits and uses of your product or service, community outreach, the list goes on.

Keep your hashtags related to your company as well as those that are popular or trending at the time for maximum exposure. If your followers enjoy seeing what you have to offer they will undoubtedly share it.

Get Promotional

An alternative way to use Instagram is through the use of promotions. This works especially well for consumer goods brands or if you are offering a valued service to your followers. It allows for much more engagement with your audience and helps unite them as a community.

Require your followers to take pictures related to your business or promotion and use a common hashtag to be entered ingot he contest. This way they must engage in order to win and have an incentive to take a great picture emphasizing your company in it or through the hashtag. It is also a great way to build your audience on Instagram.

By promoting the contest on Facebook and Twitter as well, more people become aware that you are present in this space and will seek you out. If you also take part in more traditional forms of advertising, don’t hesitate to emphasize your presence on Instagram there as well.

See Results And Connect

Once you have things in motion, it’s important to monitor your progress. This will let you know if it’s worth your small time commitment. Likewise, if it is leading to more potential customers or followers on other social platforms, then it is having a great secondary influence. This is still a great benefit of using the service and should not be overlooked.

Continue to connect with customers on there and keep them informed of everything going on with your business down the road, they will key to your ongoing growth online.

InstaWhite – Teeth Whitening Review

If you’re tired of looking at your dull and yellow teeth, then you should try InstaWhite. InstaWhite is a professional strength at-home teeth whitening treatment that is formulated to whiten your teeth and give you a beautiful smile in just minutes per day.

My problem has been that I’ve long been a smoker and continue to drink a few cups of coffee each day. Without question these habits have had a negative effect on my teeth. Over the years I have noticed that my teeth have become yellow, so after researching online for a few teeth whitening products I’ve decided to write an InstaWhite review.

When I ordered the product it took just a few days for it to arrive. The packaging was attractive and it contained product information, a supply of pro-strength whitening gel, custom comfort-tech mouth trays, a convenient tray container case, and instructions. After reading the brochure, I followed the instructions and put InstaWhite to the test.

To use Insta White, you need to apply the gel to the mouth trays. Then you insert an upper and lower tray into your mouth and bite down on them and wait just a few minutes. After the first couple of uses, I did notice an improvement in the color of my teeth. They appeared brighter and whiter, so I continued using it. After about three and a half weeks, the smoking and coffee stains on my teeth seemed to have almost but disappeared.

The product information for InstaWhite suggested that you can whiten your teeth up to 8 shades. While I didn’t notice an 8 shade improvement, I can honestly say that I had achieved a 4-5 shade improvement after just three weeks, which was a great improvement for me.

What I liked best about Insta White, was that it removed surface stains, it whiten by deep cleaning, and it penetrated everyday stain build-up from my teeth. It was like having a professional dentist whiten my teeth without the several hundred dollars in costs. Best of all, the product didn’t contain glycerine, which is found in some of the more common teeth whiteners. Glycerine has been known to cause tooth sensitivity and irritation to the gums. Furthermore, you can rest easy knowing that there’s an ingredient in the formula that helps with cavity prevention which is a big plus also.

As you know, having discoloured yellow teeth can sometimes be an embarrassment, especially when you’re with your friends and family. Whiter teeth can produce a healthier smile which translates into more confidence.

So, if you’re serious about getting a professional whiter smile at-home without the expensive cost of a dentist, then you should consider the InstaWhite teeth whitening system. This has been my Insta White review.

Instagram Marketing Tips for Your Business

Millions of people globally are now using Instagram. Instagram has made it easier to take pictures and share them with friends and many people enjoy doing this. Apart from networking, you can use Instagram in a more efficient way for marketing. Instagram is a great promotional tool you can use to promote your business online.

Tell the story using photos and videos

Photos are worth a thousand words and Instagram is all about pictures. If you are into Instagram for marketing purposes, then you ought to understand that random photos do not work. You need to post pictures of your product constantly. Posting pictures of your products is one of the best ways of increasing your brand awareness and boost sales of your products. The pictures do not necessarily need to be very professional. The key thing is having the pictures highlight the main features and functions of the goods you are promoting. The pictures should appeal vast audience on Instagram.

Videos too are important in Instagram marketing. You can create and share a video with your employees to promote the product at hand. You can also opt to do a live product review video and share it on Instagram. Pictures and videos are more appealing to many people than text files. Media files stand higher chances of going viral as people share them. They are also more memorable than text files. Create photos and videos that show your brand story and values. So images and videos are important if you want to improve your brand and sales.

Use quality media

To improve your visibility, you need to make and share high-quality photos and videos in your feeds. Where necessary, seek professional assistance or advice from a photographer. However, you can use a great camera to take sharp pictures. Try to get your images at best angles. Edit your photos for better results. Nowadays mobile phones are equipped with photo editing tools for this purpose. Instagram too has several photo editing tools. Apply this tools for your Instagram marketing purpose.

Connect with our followers

Maintaining contact with your customers is vital, particularly for developing business with a small market share. You can start by showing your clients that you are concerned about their feedback. You can achieve this by replying to their questions and comments. This will improve user-generated content and credibility as well as promote the visibility of your products and business. Your Instagram followers can significantly influence the success of your enterprise, and you should never underestimate them.

Use hashtags

Hashtags are relevant in Instagram marketing. You need to use them because Instagram users interact using hashtags. Hashtags allow users to make your contents searchable and are important if you want to increase your followers. Has tags like media can create a viral effect which is beneficial to your business. You can also take advantage of trending hashtags especially if the hashtags are related to your product. This is important because Instagram users can use hashtags to search for posts.

Use branded hashtag

You should include your business name in you hashtags. Use unique hashtags for a particular promotional campaign you run. Not only does this promote your campaign, but it also provides a unique hashtag for your clients to connect and share with other participants.

Have a friendly attitude to everyone

While carrying out your Instagram marketing, you need to understand that Instagram is a community composed of people with varied ideas, emotions, and background. Always be friendly to everyone and appreciate their time to connect with you on your page. Always ensure you listen to your clients.

Be active

Post at least once daily to keep things up to date and ensure your followers updated with the current happenings. You can experiment posting at varying times of the day to see which time your posts do best.

Consistency

Consistency is crucial in Instagram marketing. Be consistent in your postings and develop a theme that is prominent in your posts. Let your followers know what to expect from you.

Link your Instagram and Facebook accounts

Connect your Instagram and Facebook accounts to improve your marketing power. Nowadays, you can have an Instagram tab on your Facebook page. This allows you to share your Instagram posts to your Facebook followers if you have a fan page.

You can network with friends and the world via Instagram. Instagram can be used for marketing purposes. Instagram marketing can improve your brand’s visibility, increase sales, and consequently revenues. Consider the above mentioned Instagram marketing tips to achieve success.

5 Ways To Use Instagram To Drive Traffic

Instagram is another one of those social media platforms with its own special twists that you need to master if you intend to use it to generate leads for your business and drive traffic to your blog. It now has more users than Twitter does and it grew by 50% in the last 6 months of 2014. Do you think your clients and/or customers could be here? It is definitely worth doing further investigation.

Here are a few ways to drive traffic to your offers from Instagram:

1. Be strategic about the link

You get one and only ONE link on Instagram, use it wisely. What do you really want your people to do? Think that through and place a link accordingly. You can change it every day if you need to but be very strategic about it.

2. Hashtags

Without hashtags, nothing gets noticed. Pop over to the accounts of leaders in your niche and see what hashtags they use. Try out new ones and see the response you get. Do not put anything out in the Instagram world without a hashtag unless you expect it not to be seen.

3. Videos

Instagram allows you to use fifteen second videos to tell a story. It is incredible what you can fit in 15 seconds so use it as frequently as you want to, in order to inspire, entertain or educate them on your product or service. Remember to use hashtags again to get it seen.

4. Pictures

Instagram, of course, is completely based on pictures so use visually stimulating images to get the attention of prospects. Go to places like pixabay to obtain free images or you can use shutterstock or dollar photo club for a broader range at a higher price point. Put quotes on pictures and of course, you can use your own images taken as part of your regular life. Let your pictures tell more of the story of what you and your business stand for.

5. Connect with the movers and shakers

Go see what the gurus in your industry are up to and connect with them. Also, connect with some of their followers but please do not be cringe-worthy when you do this. Follow people you feel would be interested in what you have to offer. Go onto their profile and check things out rather than doing a blanket follow.

Give meaningful responses – There are more than enough spammers on the platform (and you will discover this when you get started), be deliberate about how you communicate with people. Always keep in mind that these are PEOPLE, not simply money in your bank account.

Why Instagram Is So Powerful for Your Business and Personal Brand

Do you know how powerful Instagram is?

Most people by now have heard about the little app called Instagram; that has taken the world by storm. It doesn’t matter if you are a technology expert, that knows about the latest and greatest apps, or you can barely check your email. We can all agree that someone we know is always on Instagram. If you look around nowadays it’s a rare sight if you don’t see someone glued to their phone, completely unaware of what’s going on around them. It’s really interesting how much people use their phone while in the middle of a conversation, sometimes more focused on the phone than the conversation they are having with the person right in front of them. Has this ever happened to you, or maybe you even done this yourself?

It’s a different world we are living in now; as opposed to 10 – 20 years ago. Back then smartphones weren’t that smart, apps we not as prevalent, and people where not totally mesmerized by their phones, and more importantly, the apps they use on them. Nowadays you can use applications like Instagram to chat with friends whether by tagging them in something you saw, sending them a video message, replying to a story they posted, or even based on seeing something that reminded you of them. You can also get caught up exploring different cities, watching your favorite actor every day life, or your favorite comedian doing a live steam or some sport highlights from last nights game. None of this existed 15 years ago, back then people would turn to maybe the TV for entertainment but now people are spending more time one their phones than ever before and Instagram is where they are spending most of their time. Whether you own a business or want to build your personal brand… Instagram is definitely one of the platforms you need to utilized, here is why.

Did you know on Instagram you get access to over 800 million users every month. Instagram is quickly rising to the top of all social media platforms, and with a whopping 800 million users it has become one of the best platforms with which to reach your targeted audience. While Twitter has remained at 350 million users for a few years, Instagram has blown past that and will reach 1 billion users within the next year or two. As the old saying goes, “Meet your customers and people where they are.” And right now, they are on Instagram, and Instagram, is on their phone making it even more powerful. Take a look around, you can always find someone staring at their phone, and more importantly using Instagram.

Instagram makes Networking easier for you. The networking capabilities and extensive reach that Instagram has given us, on a global scale is unmatched. Smart people like yourself know they must take advantage of every opportunity to grow and expand their network. Instagram allows you to connect with people based on their interests, location, hash tags and mutual friends and contacts. The best part is you can build your network all around the world from your smartphone. Now this actually gives you a good reason for all the time you spend on Instagram.

Instagram maximizes your reach and engagement. Instagram has 58 times more reach and follower engagement than Facebook, and an astonishing 120 times more reach than Twitter. So building your Instagram audience is vital to your success now and even more so in the coming future. If your not building your targeted audience (people who are interested in your business or personal brand) it’s almost like not having a cell phone or email for people to contact you. It’s like a fisher men not having a fishing pole or net to catch fish, a barber not having clippers to cut hair, we’re sure you get the point by now. Start building your audience today so you can start gaining momentum and exposure fast setting you up for the future with a solid foundation to build on.

Instagram is fun and easy to use. For those who are familiar with Instagram, you already know how fun and easy it is to use. Whether you currently have a personal or a business account you probably already understand how powerful Instagram can be. People are able to explore different cities, countries, and continents right from their phone and also see and do live videos for their audience. You can join someone on a live video, interview style. and the possibilities are endless with new feature being added often. Instagram allows you to basically have your on TV network with out the TV network cost. Even better you are able to get live feed back from your audience with comments and engagement right as you are talking to them, that is more powerful than TV.

People love pictures now and always have and always will. For those who have never used Instagram before, it can be an amazing way to connect with people and build a targeted audience that is highly focused. You can build an audience that is local, nationwide, or international depending on your preference; brand, professions, or passion. There is an old saying, ” A picture is worth a thousand words.” Start using Instagram today, and let your pictures say thousands of words for you. People have always loved pictures for generations so you know Instagram is going to be here for the long haul.

Using Instagram you can create meaningful connections. Most people know by now that Instagram has been growing by leaps and bounds. Especially in the last several years, now the timing is perfect for you. Everyone knows someone that’s always on their phone checking their Instagram, and more importantly Instagram holds people’s attention. It has become one of the most powerful platforms that people and businesses can utilize to connect with others. Can you imagine connecting with new people and potential customers everyday simply from using Instagram. What if you were able to develop a rich, meaningful, connection with your audience. At the same time create and develop your own brand and presence in the minds of people all over the world. Not to mention also to stay up to date with friends and family, Instagram truly allows you to do it all and more.

How To Get More People To Attend Your Facebook and Instagram Live Videos

Are you going live on Facebook and Instagram but not getting the support that you want? This is a common problem for bloggers and online business entrepreneurs who are trying out the power of live social media for extra publicity and engagement but just not quite achieving what they want.

Here are some great ways to get more people to click on your live videos and attend the live feed that you’re putting all the effort into.

1. Announce It Beforehand

If you go live whenever you want, it might suit you but think about the timetables and schedules of your audience. You should announce that you’re going live before you actually do it, especially if you are going live with something important or exciting that you really want people to engage with.

Rather than letting people know 10 minutes before that you’re about to go live, let them know the day before (or even the week before depending on the importance of your video content). This gives people who are interested in the video enough time to make plans and rearrange anything which might get in the way of missing your live video.

2. Pick A Good Time

Don’t choose a time when most people are likely to be busy or unable to watch you.. If your target audience consists of people who work day jobs from 9-5, you shouldn’t go live at 10 o’clock in the morning and expect it to be a success.

You should go live either between 8am-9am when people are likely commuting to work, during lunch time when people are relaxing and browsing social media, or after work hours when people are more likely to be available to watch your video.

3. Give Your Audience A Reason To Join In

Are you asking your audience for their opinions and live updates during your live video? Are you entering each person into a prize draw? Do you have something to announce that your audience would be excited to discover and join in with?

If you are not giving people a good reason to join your live video stream and watch the content that you are creating, then don’t be surprised if your audience isn’t very large. You should announce the general content of your live video when you tell your followers you’ll be going live, but don’t give too much away or nobody will watch!

How To Grow Your Small Business Using Instagram

Small Business marketing using Instagram

Instagram is an online mobile application that is used for sharing photos and videos. Instagram is following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and has fast become a very popular social media tool. Instagram was originally developed so that people could apply different filters to photographs that they had taken on their mobile phones and would allow them to easily upload and share these photos with friends (or account followers) using the Instagram application. More recently video was introduced to Instagram it can now be uploaded, but Instagram video clips are limited to between 3 to 15 seconds long.

Why are businesses turning to Instagram?

  • There are more than 300 million Instagram users worldwide.
  • Approximately 70 million photos are uploaded per day.
  • The account is ‘free’ to set up so there are low barriers to entry.
  • It is a medium that allows for easy sharing of content 24 hours a day.
  • What sort of success have businesses achieved using Instagram?
  • Businesses such as Levis, L’oreal and hundreds of others have been able to use the tool to:
  • To increase awareness of their products and services.
  • To increase brand recognition.
  • To showcase their community and pro bono work to inspire and attract prospective customers to engage with their product, service or brand.
  • Run successful promotions, competitions and giveaways.

Small Business marketing success with Instagram

Instagram appears to be particularly popular with product based businesses due to its visual nature. Many businesses that are product based such as clothing, jewellery, make up or even food based business have achieved success using Instagram. This is because the application allows for photos to be posted and shared of people either wearing or using these products. For instance, a food manufacturer might post photos of someone cooking with, sharing a meal, or entertaining friends using their food products. This success is not exclusive to big brands as many small businesses have been able to leverage the power of Instagram to engage their clients. For instance, Melbourne based café The Kettle Black had over 45,800 followers in March 2016 they have achieved this through the use of attractive photographs of their food and images of cafe meals that Instagram users would be attracted to, as well as using hashtags that foodies, food bloggers and other Instagram users would be interested in or search for.

Influencer marketing

Bloggers, social media stars and media personalities have amassed a loyal following online with hundreds and sometimes thousands of people following their Instagram accounts. This ‘influencer’ group means that there are several eyeballs there ready to see your product or service. The audience has already been built for you. The engagement has already been formed and tapping into this by getting your product uploaded onto their Instagram feed or featured by a blogger or popular Instagram account holder will help you to grow your audience more quickly. Therefore taking the time to identify key ‘influencers’ in your industry and how you can tap into this is important.

Hashtags – What are they?

How can they be used to increase business exposure?

I suggest that if you are interested in getting onto Instagram you spend some time up front doing your Hashtag research. Hashtags are tags that you can add in a caption of a photo that you upload. To create a hashtag you need to use the # symbol at the front of the tag and then add a keyword or several keywords without spaces after the hash symbol. For example, you might post a product image of pair of jeans. Your hashtags could be: #fashion #style #jeans #lovethatstyle. You may already be familiar with hashtags as they are also popular on Twitter but if you are not take a look online to see some examples of how they are being used. The purpose of the hashtag is to tag your photo to a subject or topic category that is ‘searchable’ or ‘popular’ on Instagram.

Remember:

  • No spaces in your hashtags
  • No special characters can be used in your hashtags E.g.!@$&

Instagram includes a powerful search feature so if posts are set to ‘public’ you can use hashtags to tag your photos and videos so that the content becomes easier to search and becomes more accessible to the public. That means when someone runs a search and is exploring that ‘search term’ your content may be discovered which leads to more people finding out about your business or brand.

Some hashtags are very popular so it’s important to identify the ones that are most relevant to your industry. The aim of the game is really to get people talking, liking, following and sharing your content. Hashtags help to get the word out if used effectively so take some time to find out how to use these to get the best out of your content.

Freelance Web Designer | Web Design | WordPress | Hong Kong