Even if you don’t know exactly what Instagram is and what it’s for, I’m almost sure you’ve already heard someone talk about this application or social platform for visual content, especially in recent years. And is this App or network, as you prefer to call it, causing a furor among users worldwide?
It is one of the social networks with the most active users, having already exceeded 1.5 billion accounts. For this reason, I have written an article that seeks to clear up all your doubts on the subject. In addition, you will be able to discover what it is for and see some examples of accounts doing it very well. Check now
What is Instagram?
Instagram is a social network for visual content and a photo application for mobile phones. This platform was born with the idea of being a community in which to share images and short videos to interact thanks to them with people similar to your interests (followers).
Be that as it may, in my definition, I say that it is, at the same time, an App and a social network because, at first, it was created to be “simply” a photo application for iPhone mobiles.
But very soon, its use began to spread so much that it did not take long for it to become a social platform in which people of all ages and even companies began to create Instagram accounts to share their experiences, services, and products respectively.
What exactly is Instagram for?
From the previous definition, it is possible that you have already intuited what the utilities of this platform are, whether you are a private user or if you have a company and want to use it as a channel to promote your products and services.
► Instagram for individual users
In the first case, it has some particular features related to visual content. In essence, the general orientation of this social network is similar to what I explained to you when I revealed what Facebook is in previous articles.
It is therefore used to share images and videos of at most 1 minute on your profile in order to show your friends and followers your experiences, as well as all those details of your day-to-day that you find relevant and exciting that they know.
The two main differences with Facebook are that it is followers rather than so many friends and that this network is merely visual. The protagonism is almost the total of the audiovisual content that you upload to your account, the text or description of the same being relegated to a secondary level.
► Instagram for companies or Brands
Although when you open your account, it would be a personal profile by default, if you have a business of any kind, you can also convert it into a corporate account.
In this way, if you offer visual products or services in your company and want to show all their virtues to your community, this could be the ideal channel to promote them.
Here, if you have a business, you are not forced (for now) to have a company profile, yes or yes. Its utility, therefore, is very similar to what private users can give them.
But while both “personal” and “corporate” accounts can advertise on Instagram if you connect them to a Facebook Page, the former do not have access to personalized statistics of your activity within the platform.
Analytics are essential, mainly if your activity aims more toward Branding and sales objectives in your Marketing Plan.
In one way or another, you should know that although it is one of the networks in fashion and has the fastest-growing number of active users, it is still relatively young.
What things can you do on Instagram?
To fully understand all that this platform can give of itself, first, as a social network, it has an algorithm that, although it is obviously “secret,” but from it we know that for our content to be seen by the most significant number of people, we must take into account:
Timing: here, in most cases, the most recent posts are prioritized. Although in the past its creators ordered the contents by date, this is no longer the case, but it does prioritize the most recent ones in most cases.
Engagement: as with other social platforms, the more “likes” and “comments” an image or video has, the more reach it will have among users.
The history of interactions: in this case, the more interaction between two specific profiles, the more they will see each other when both open their timeline.
Even taking into account that you already know what Instagram is and what it is for, you are probably wondering what you can do about it.
Here I will list the large number of actions that this social network allows you to carry out:
1º) Upload images and videos
This is the primary function of this network, and a good part of its success is due to the prominence given to these audiovisual elements.
To share a photo or short video, all you have to do is enter the platform, where your timeline will automatically open with the latest news from your contacts, and from there, click on the “+” button, which you will see just below in the center.
In this way, and after adding a description of what your community can see in the image, you can share personal and professional moments that seem relevant to you.
In my case, I mix these two essential parts in my life, such as my passion for training and speaking at congresses and Digital Marketing and Online Business events, and, on the other hand, beautiful moments of rest with my family.
Likewise, as I have mentioned several times in this article, short videos of a maximum duration of 1 minute play a vital role on this platform since they add extra realism and engagement to any social media strategy.
2º) Add professional filters to your images
With elegant retouching and photographic filters that give a professional touch to any image, you upload to this network.
This is perhaps one of the most remarkable virtues and in addition to the favorites of her lovers since they give our images that extra bit of originality that, otherwise, we could not implement since we are not professional photographers.
3º) You can share your content on other platforms
Another notable part of its operation is that both your images and videos can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, as well as on your account on this platform.
4º) Add hashtags
Through the use of labels or « Hashtags, “as we all commonly know them, we can index content based on a keyword preceded by the hash symbol (#).
In this way, if a user searches for that keyword or phrase in their internal search engine, all the contents to which you have added that hashtag or label may appear.
An example of this that I am explaining to you is this Webescuela publication, in which, when a user is searching for WordPress courses through the hashtag “#wordpress,” a photo of one of my school’s classes may appear.
This is a strategic way to get more visibility with your content, so if they find some of your images or videos and they are liked by these users, they will probably be attracted to visit your account.
5º) Create “Instagram Stories.”
This functionality has been in force for a relatively short time but has certainly swept and continues to sweep users and brands.
These types of stories are volatile publications; that is, they disappear 24 hours after their publication, and where you can share images or videos and a carousel of this content, accompanied by stickers, emoticons, and phrases.
Also, suppose you have more than 10,000 followers. In that case, you can add a . This is especially relevant in the case of eCommerce-type companies, where they can share photos or videos of their products with their potential customers.
Through this link, they can attract highly qualified social traffic since that click will mean that the Story has already begun to convince them to purchase that product.
6º) Create advertising campaigns
It is not news that social advertising is fashionable. For this reason, I cannot finish explaining to you what you can do with it without talking about this topic.
As in other platforms, and as mentioned above, here you can also create advertisements or promote your publications.
Conclusions
If, until now, you were not aware of the number of things you can do on this social network of images and videos, I am sure that, if you have come this far, you will feel like creating your account.
