So once you have an Instagram account, you need to determine how to best use it to promote your business. One approach is to photograph your products or services.

If you’re a restaurant, bar, or cafe, Instagram is a terrific place to share pictures of your food and drinks. If your business deals with travel, be sure to highlight the beautiful locales or fascinating experiences you offer. And getting the right picture makes all the difference.

BSG can edit your existing photographs to make them as appealing as possible, and our professional video- and photographers can create new ones that will really make your business shine.

Use Instagram to your Advantage

You can also use Instagram to share photos (and even short videos) that represent your brand or help tell the story of your business. You can share pictures of your location, of big events, and of how you interact with customers. You should even include pictures that give a glimpse of what your business is like behind the scenes. Share pictures of your employees joking around and relaxing after a busy day. Customers will relate to you when they see candid images, and they may share their own.

To really benefit from Instagram (and any other social network, really), you need to do more than just put out your own content. It’s vitally important to interact with your customers. Encourage them to share their relevant pictures and stories, and be sure to like their photos. Ask them if you can share their photo on your account. This will not only strengthen your relationship with existing customers, it will give you the opportunity to reach the people they interact with as well.

You can also reach customers on Instagram through hashtags. Much like Twitter, Instagram relies on hashtags to help users find new and relevant information. You should use existing hashtags to interact with people, and using trending hashtags can help you gain exposure. A brand specific hashtag will allow you to see when people are talking to you. When you create one, be sure to check it regularly so that you can quickly reply to customers.

One significant benefit of using Instagram is that it can work well with other social networks. So when you create content for your Instagram account, you can include it on your other social media. Obviously it is easy to share your pictures between Instagram and Facebook, which is very convenient.

Share Instagram Posts

To share your Instagram photos on Twitter, you will need to take a more complex approach. You can use ifttt.com to link your Instagram and Twitter, and when you do so each picture you post on Instagram will automatically embed in your Twitter stream. This is certainly more work, but it will enable you to get the most out of your content. BSG’s social media managers can handle all of this, and they will make certain that your accounts work together to build your brand’s image.