Instagram For Businesses?

Everyone’s talking about Instagram after the recent $1 billion Facebook acquisition.  In just 2 years the app has aquired more than 50 million users and has become a staple of high school and college kids.  With all of the great filters that allow for pictures to look so much better than they actually are, one big question remains: Is Instagram useful for businesses?

This is a topic that I know very little about.  First, I want to give my few thoughts on Instagram and business.  After those thoughts, I am providing insight and examples of other people.

Instagram is something that can be very useful.  The business success stories that I have witnessed with Instagram all involve fashion in some sort.  Why?  Fashion items are easy to take pictures of.  You can put it on a hanger, a person, a pet, or a nice backdrop, and the picture does the talking for itself.  People see what they are getting with the item, and if they like the way it looks, then generally that is enough to buy it, or at least like it.  

Coach, the famous purse company has 48 thousand Instagram followers.  They generally post about one picture a day, and leave it at that.  The consistency of their posting has made them an Instagram success.  On a smaller scale, a local start-up in the Carolinas called Good Ole Boys has done a great job of taking pictures of their gear and creating a comfort appeal around the brand.  They may not have the largest fan base, but they post consistently, interact with followers, and show their items in ways that make people interested in the product.

After doing research, I have realized that my assumptions are pretty much true.  With digital photography being a great way to show advertisements, many fashion companies use Instagram successfully.  Taking a picture of a dress or pair of shoes and attaching a link to an online shopping cart is an easy way to increase sales.  MyHauteCloset is an example of a fashion blogger who was given many items to model and ended up making a nice fashion business just through Instagram. 

The other industry that appears to have done this is sports teams.  Teams like the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Braves have succeeded on Instagram because they are sports and entertainment focused.  A lot of people enjoy looking at photos of their favorite athletes as they play the game they love or goof around in the clubhouse.  Sports teams also use it to recap and post photos of promotional events; for example the Atlanta Braves recently had a Star Wars night, and their Instagram shows some photos of fans in Star Wars apparel. 

Instagram really has become almost a hybrid of Twitter and Pinterest.  You post pictures that appeal to you and you make them look pretty through filters.  Then you can comment under them in a short text or post them at somebody.  While Instagram will never overpass a Twitter with text or a Facebook with profiles, it is a handy, mobile application that can connect people on a smaller level.  Maybe it will get much bigger.  Maybe the boom of the Instagram bomb will continue to spread outward, but for now, Instagram is not a do or die social medium for the business world.  If you are in the fashion industry, I definitely think that it would be beneficial to have it.  Otherwise, do with it as you please.  As for me, if I ever get more than 1,000 Instagram followers (@justinsthomason), I will run a 5K in a Batman suit. 

Why Should You Blog?

When I was in college, I used to think blogging was a funny idea.  I believed that it was just a way to write a bunch of crap that nobody cared about.  I was forced to start a blog for my Digital Communications class, and over this semester I learned to appreciate the art of blogging.  A degree and three semesters later, I decided that I would create my own personal blog. I try to blog about specific topics (marketing, relationships, sales, social media) that will help people and encourage them think differently, while using my creativity to add my own view to my advice.  The result: Social Spaghetti, a mixing of ideas and thoughts that help people connect in society in a blog format.

These are the reasons that I started to blog:

1) Establish Yourself as an Expert While I know that I am nowhere close to an expert in the fields of marketing, social media, and relationships, they are fields I am interested in and have some knowledge about.  Even though I am young, I still have valuable experiences and advice that I can give people.  You can learn from my mistakes, take some advice from my thoughts, and avoid some potential blunders.  The more you talk about a certain topic, the more people will listen to you.  They know what to expect if you are consistent with your topic and provide some quality advice.

2) Stand Out From The Crowd  In this economy, any way you can stand out from the crowd is a good thing.  I've thoroughly enjoyed blogging the past month because it helps me to distinguish myself from the crowd.  Every new blog post means that I have learned something new, whether this is through personal experience, observation, or reading other material.  The more I can learn, the better off I will be in the future.  The day that you stop learning is the day you stop growing.

3) Connecting with Similar People  Like I mentioned previously, if you are consistent with your content, then people that share the same interests will come and read it.  If you look at my Twitter account (@MarketingYoung), you can see that the majority of my followers are connecting with marketing, social media, blogging, and advertising.  I read a lot of their daily blogs, and hopefully, they read mine as well. Reading, commenting, or replying to these people has helped me make connections across the global marketing community.

4) To Have Fun  Will I ever be a top blogger in the field of marketing, social media, and relationships? Very doubtful.  I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't get some kind of enjoyment from it.  Whether it is analyzing how a TV show can teach you about something (Lost or Suits) or looking at the world of social media, I like the things I am talking about.  If you do not want to read about Stealth Marketing, then you can skip that blog post or not read it at all.  But if you ever lost the enjoyment of writing or thinking of creative articles, then my blog would slowly become outdated and disappear.