Instagram Social Media Cheat Sheet

Getting started on Instagram for Social Media Marketing is probably the hardest part of using instagram due to Instagram account setup only being possible from your smartphone. From there, Instagram requires you to modify your way of marketing, network use and activity compaired to other social networks. Beware, once you start on instagram, it can become time consuming and often addictive but has some awesome benefits.

According to internet chatter (see links below), social media platforms like Instagram are to blame for a rise in narcissistic behaviour thanks to the #selfie (Photographs of one's self).

As a result there are a great many photographs of people doing "interesting" things while tagging friends and locations and above all images are hash (#) tagged.

Instagram hashtagging is a great way for Insta users to find photos and (15 second) videos of things they might like. Therefore using hashtags in your image(s) makes them discoverable to the entire instagram network who may be searching via hashtag. Which brings us to why we love instagram for creating user generated content for your website.

Embedding instagram in your website allows you to show photographs based on a #hashtag which users have attached to their photo, which is often used as a visual testimonial for products being sold online. For example: Online shopping cart product pages can have embedded instagram photos who've used a custom hashtag - which you've defined.

Given the narcissistic nature of Instagram and that your business can benefit from the great number of selfies - by embedded hashtagged photos in your website - it makes sense for you to be on Instagram and leverage this social media for your business.

This is just one example but a very powerful one indeed.

Instagram References:

http://glo.msn.com/relationships/signs-youre-a-social-media-narcissist-9621.gallery

http://www.ted.com/conversations/18501/are_people_really_more_narciss.html