Instagram is one of the most bullish social networks on the internet today. Anytime Facebook purchases another social network then you can assume that that’s an indication that you should look into it and that there’s some value there to be tapped into for your business. If you’re not familiar with it, Instagram is a photo sharing social network where you can upload pictures and video and follow other users and see their picture and video content, as well. In today’s post I’m going to talk about how you can use Instagram for marketing and make some money out of it, as well.

Instagram For Marketing

If you have an existing business you’d like to promote with Instagramm, the method is simple enough. Just sign up for an account at Instagram. Fill out your bio/about section in full, and begin uploading photos and video of your business. You can upload short videos to Instagram, so put together a quick introduction video to your business talking about what you do. Also upload short videos anytime you have a special going on to promote to people.

Offer a contest to encourage people to follow you on Instagram just like you can use a Facebook contest to get more likes. Find the followers of other businesses in your niche and follow them like you would on Twitter to see them more likely follow you back and check you out, thus generating traffic to your site. Make sure you regularly interact with your account or you’ll lose your follower’s interest, so upload photos whenever you can (sharing them with other social networks) and like and comment on others.

A powerful benefit to be aware of with Instagram is that you can use it to humanize your business. Just being on the network, uploading content, and interacting with other people’s accounts will look good as a lot of your competitors don’t see the value in getting on Instagram.

Pay attention to big brand names like Coke and see what they’re doing on Instagram to promote their business to get some free tips on how the biggest companies in the world are using this medium to get more exposure, like mentioning their involvement in Super Bowl XLVIII and including pictures with their hashtags clearly listed.

As an affiliate marketer there’s also an effective way to make money with Instagram, as well, which involves turning your Instagram account into a kind of classified section where other businesses will pay you to put their advertisements on your account. Follow other “classified” profiles like yours, then follow their followers to get targeted and relevant followers. Again, just like with Twitter, the more people you follow, the more followers you’ll get. Pepper in offers with other free content related to your niche so that it’s not all just offers.