I wrote about Instagram a few weeks ago and that was the turning point. I felt more involved in Instagram and while it isn’t entirely based on ROI (return of investment), I love the engagement I got from it — yes, Instagram.
By now, you should be wondering if Instagram is the right social media platform for your business. Allow me to elaborate on this.
Instagram has over 300 million active users and thousands of images are uploaded on a daily basis. People are flocking to Instagram because it turns beginners into professional photographers — not to forget all the fun taking photos and showing the world that you are having an awesome time.
Most businesses and bloggers aren’t using Instagram that much (or as much as they should) because of several reasons:
- Lack of tools to manage Instagram marketing
- Unsure of the best marketing technique to use
- Instagram doesn’t has clickable links to boost traffic (big bummer!)
I know you are nodding your head by now (right, right?) — so let me help you out with some techniques I have under my sleeves. What I am sharing are pretty simple; Instagram tools that I use on a daily basis to help me with my Instagram marketing.
5 Instagram Tools To Skyrocket Your Visual Marketing
1. Manage your Instagram account using Statigr.am
Statigr.am is really a time saver. Imagine the power (and time you save) when you are able to manage your Instagram account right under one dashboard.
Statigr.am isn’t your average Instagram management tool — it provides ton of features that will skyrocket your marketing plans on Instagram. Here are a few godly features:
- Statistic reports that display important account activities
- Ability to cross promote an image on Instagram to other social platforms
- View images of your account and others who you follow
- Engage with your followers or those who left a comment from Statigr.am itself
Use Statigr.am if you are finding for a straight-forward tool to manage your Instagram account.
2. Republish images of others using Repost
Out of ideas but need to keep your Instagram account active? Well, introducing Report — a tool (and smartphone app) that allows you to repost images of others who you follow.
But it doesn’t only allows you to republish an image, you can comment and like images directly from the Repost app.
I use Repost a few days of the day and what I love about it (the most) is that it has a small credit which is automatically generated when you are republishing an image. Here’s an example:
#Repost from @reginald.chan with @repostapp
Talking about giving credits to the original sharer, right?
Repost is an excellent tool especially when you are planning to engage with others. Everytime you reshare an image, you are tagging the original sharer and this helps to build a healthy two-way relationship.
3. Need to schedule a photo to Instagram? Use Postso
Postso is something new that I came across (by accident) recently. Pretty decent Instagram marketing tool to be honest – this tool gets the job done, perfectly every single time.
Postso allows you to do a few custom scheduling such as:
- Selecting profiles to publish
- Uploading images and writing texts
- Ability to add location if required
- Selecting the option between posting immediately or scheduling the upload at a specific time
This tool is great but it comes with several downsides. Firstly, the features are slightly limited (I was hoping for a more robust feature — call me “crazy”) and it is a paid tool.
The good side? It comes with 2 weeks free trial and the ability to schedule images to Instagram.
4. Follow (and unfollow) using Crowdfire
Crowdfire or Crowdfireapp was first created for Twitter users only and it was only recently that it integrated Instagram as one of its features. Crowdfire is a great tool for Instagram marketers … but this is a risky game.
This tool allows you to follow and unfollow large quantity of people at the same time, which you know that overdoing this will lead to instant (or permanent) ban on your Instagram account.
Putting all the negativity aside, Crowdfire is a super powerful tool for serious Instagram marketers. Trust me, I have not find another free Instagram marketing tool that provide such quality features such as:
- Friend checker
- Checking for non followers
- Managing all your followings
- Listing of your most loyal fans
- Copy followers of other influencers
- Whitelist and blacklist followers or Instagram users
And I took the liberty to try out on a test Instagram account (don’t try this at home, folks) with bulk follow and unfollowing.
Per hour, you can either follow or unfollow 100 – 150 Instagram users.
Can you image the real power that lies behind Crowdfire? If used correctly, you are able to double / triple not only your followers count but as well as engagement rate!
5. Creating powerful quotes using Word Swag
iPhone fans out there, you are in luck. Word Swag allows you to create meaningful quotes for your Instagram marketing. Multiple fonts and constantly updated quotes from fun to motivational.
You can’t go wrong with Word Swag especially when you are constantly on the move. It also allows you to add your own background images and if you don’t have great photography skills like me, Word Swag comes with a set of default background images to choose from.
Combining the background images with inbuilt filters, you are bound to create something meaningful — which will grow your audience, engagement and fans.
What you need to know about Instagram marketing (to be successful)
Marketing on Instagram isn’t dead and certainly, isn’t something new either. You can consider it as a form of visual marketing and the whole idea on Imstagram marketing is to create engagement (some call it awareness).
Images shared must be good enough to tickle your followers to like, comment and share on the post. And another powerful part about Instagram marketing is that it doesn’t has any algorithm which affects the way images are shown.
All photos shared on Instagram are based on time and freshness. In most cases, it is always recommended to share images on Instagram at least once a day.
Do you use Instagram for business? Let’s discuss further using the comment form below.
See also: 6 Tips for Writing Best Instagram Captions
