Instagram is Now an Essential Business Tool — Here’s Why
October 12, 2018 / Spark Magazine
What was once a simple app used for posting Valencia-filtered, kissy-faced selfies (and lots of insanely adorable puppy pics) has now evolved waaay beyond your standardized posts! If you’ve tinkered around with Instagram enough, you’ll notice entrepreneurs, educators, and professionals are slowly taking over the platform and utilizing all of it’s newest marketing and business resources. There’s a couple of valuable reasons all creators and cracker-jackers everywhere are taking advantage of Insta’s newest upgrade-the app has progressed into one of the most widely used, innovative business and marketing platforms of the generation.
For starters, it’s clear as day that literally everyone is on Instagram. Literally —as in your mom, your mom’s best friend, your mom’s mom and your mom’s great-grandmother —more likely than not-all have accounts (which isn’t all that bad, thanks for being my hype-man, mom). But seriously, with nearly 800 million people across the globe having access to endless, aimless scrolling through all kinds of accounts, getting recognized is no difficult feat.
If just simply having an account brings millions of eyes on you, imagine what enhancing your page into a business profile would do. Aside from the millions of general Insta-users, we gotta keep in mind the types of users who are constantly checking the app, repeatedly throughout the day. Per Investopedia, apparently, Instagram is infested with over 55% of active millennial users! We are a growing generation of creatives who LOVE being able to curate our accounts to represent who we are, what we do and what we enjoy. While Facebook and LinkedIn are also on-the-come-up for their digital business and marketing tools, they attract an older crowd who are more familiar with the assets those platforms both provide! Using Instagram over the latter, businesses attract a younger crowd who will be able to grow with these newly exposed and marketed companies.
Speaking of attraction, Instagram is also put on a pedestal for its visual appeal. It’s interesting to find and connect with businesses through their Facebook pages and LinkedIn accounts but Instagram truly puts faces to a name! Some companies might have a consistent aesthetic going on or a theme that really brings out the vibe they want to give off through their posts. If you’re the one curating your Insta page a specific way to be noticed by others you want to connect with, that’s your visual portfolio that showcases your name with your personal, creative platform.
Instagram has risen to stand out against other social media apps as one of the most convenient and concise ways to showcase our personalities and talents.
With all that being said, how do you use Instagram and all the benefits it reaps? Ever wonder how your favorite bloggers or influencers are able to perfectly blend an ongoing theme, color scheme or filter consistently into their accounts?
1. Firstly, think of a mood or “theme” to run throughout your feed.
2. Decide which filter or photo editing tools you want to incorporate into each photo.
3. Cultivate a balanced layout! Try not to be repetitive with the kinds of content you post in-a-row.
4. Schedule when your posts go up. Using one of these apps will really bump up your posting consistency. Finding out what time most of your followers are online will help you decide when’s a good time for your photos to go up!
Taking note from Spark’s very own Carson Blair (@carsleeblair), the blogger and photographer use apps such as TwentyFour, Lightroom, and VSCO to display and post her photos together cohesively on her Insta! Using her feed as a business and creative tool, the app has given her endless opportunities to show off her personality, collab with other photographers, create bookings, and of course, exhibit her own work.
Blair strongly holds to the idea that “if you’re being yourself and trying to represent your Instagram true to you and your own 'brand,' just do what makes you happy! Post things that you’re proud of! Everyone is unique and brings a new style to the platform." •
By: Maya Halabi
Graphics by: Izellah Wang
Maya Halabi is a Kanye West-extraordinaire and 2nd year International Relations major. She has over 60 Spotify playlists, enjoys collecting platform sneakers and goes through at least four packs of Orbit gum a day. When she needs a little something to take the edge off, Flower Child’s ‘Mother Earth’ bowl is her go-to.
Graphics by: Izellah Wang
Maya Halabi is a Kanye West-extraordinaire and 2nd year International Relations major. She has over 60 Spotify playlists, enjoys collecting platform sneakers and goes through at least four packs of Orbit gum a day. When she needs a little something to take the edge off, Flower Child’s ‘Mother Earth’ bowl is her go-to.