How to Build Your Brand with Instagram

Instagram is easily at the top of the social media mountain right now. That age old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" has never been more true in today's social media landscape. Forbes has recently updated that saying stating, "These days your picture can be worth thousands of dollars." While Instagram is great for following friends and celebrities and discovering your next getaway, most importantly, Instagram is great for driving brand awareness. Here are 5 tips on how to build your brand with Instagram:

1. Promote Your Social Media Presence. Great, you have an Instagram account. Now what? Let people know! Post a Facebook status, tweet and even blog about your Instagram account. Add "follow" buttons on your website and even in your email signature.

2. Gain Followers. "The more followers your account has, the more credible, popular, and irresistible your brand appears to be, leading to the questions: Why does this account have so many followers? What do they offer that’s so appealing?" How can you obtain these followers? It may seem strange, but you can buy them. On websites such as iDigic.net, you can spend $10 and get about 1,000 followers. It may seem odd, but it will certainly make your account look credible.

3. Post Various Types Multimedia. Mix up your account with images, videos, and gifs of behind the scenes snapshots, office happenings and employees hard at work or play. This humanizes your brand. Show your followers who you are.

4. Optimize Your Post. There are a few aspects that go into this tip. Make your account public so anyone can view it. try adding locations to your images so people can see where you are, especially during events. Be clever with your captions and use popular hashtags. Most importantly, use high quality pictures. This attracts attention, but also promotes a steady brand identity with an enhanced view of your product. These three apps with help edit your images to perfection: FaceTune, Afterlight, and Snapseed.

5. Know Your Target Audience. "Study your audience and determine what it is they want to see, when they want to see it, and how they want to see it." As for when they want to see it, many people have already done this research for you. According to one study, people want to see Instagram posts anytime Monday through Thursday, except from 3:00-4:00 PM.

For the full article, check out LinkedIn.