A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

            We all know that old saying, meaning it doesn’t matter what you say sometimes it’s all about the picture. In this time period, it can’t be more true. We don’t want to take time and read about what our friends are doing, we just want to glance at a picture for 5 seconds and know. This is why Instagram is so popular. Would you rather read a paragraph about your friend cooking chicken pesto pasta, or see a beautifully filtered image with #yum. Our generation has become lazy, we can only spare as much time as it take to scroll past a picture.

            So, how do we use this to our advantage as social media marketers? We know what they like and why they like it, so we just have to use it. Many brands already have Instagram accounts, but they probably aren’t using it to its fullest potential. Here are just a few ideas to get more involved on Instagram and why it’s a good idea.

1.    So people can tag your brand. The most important reason to have an Instagram account is so that your followers can tag your brand. If it’s a clothing boutique, they could buy a dress and then post it to Instagram and tag your store. This puts your store’s name out there and people can easily click on your name and find your profile which can eventually link them back up to the store.

2.    Contests. A very big trend right now is for people to take screen shots of a contest and then reInstagram it and tag the store in hopes of winning money or prizes. While this would work, it could also be a little annoying if all of our Instagram friends were doing it. Nobody wants to see the same picture ten times in a row. My suggestion would be to have a contest where they simply tag your account name. Again, if it’s a clothing store, you could have an OOTD (Outfit of the Day) contest (a very popular Instagram hashtag) where customers could post themselves wearing the brand in some way and then a winner could be selected from those who tagged the store. This way it would still get the name out, but it would also be showing off the clothes.

3.    Behind the Scenes. As people, we live for the extra stuff. We want to see those secrets and surprises. Instagram is a great place to post entertaining pictures. In turn, these pictures will increase brand awareness and will make them feel more emotionally attached. If a brand is shooting a new commercial, showing backstage pictures is fun. If it’s a store and the employees are up late stocking shelves, it’s cute to see all the hard work they put into it. If it’s someone’s birthday and they get a cake and a party, seeing that makes us like the brand more. We feel like we’re part of the team.

             These are just a few reasons to get an Instagram. It just breaks down to the fact that people in this day and age love pictures. If a company wants to reach their audience, this is the new place to do it. Just remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Kristen Williams