How to Get Customers to Post Instagram Pictures

Do you want to use Instagram to add value to your brand?

Are you looking for innovative ways to get your customers (and employees) to post Instagram pictures?

Then keep reading because I’m going to show you four ways to bring your “A game” to Instagram and wow your fans.

Why Customer Instagram Pictures?

Instagram was the fastest-rising social media channel for brands in 2013.

You probably already know it’s an effective platform for branding and marketing your products and growing your community.

But what you may not know is that Instagram is a powerful tool to collect customer-created content you can reuse to your advantage.

#1: Enhance Your Online (and Offline) Store With Customer Photos

Visuals greatly impact the behavior of shoppers. Most brands just snap a photo of the product and share it across all social channels, which may work sometimes. But you can take it a step further by crowdsourcing photos on Instagram.

When customers see photos of other “regular” people using a product, they’re more likely to buy. Why? This kind of social proof is a powerful motivator. Visitors gain trust by seeing others use the products they are about to buy.

Let’s take the clothing industry, for example. The biggest mistake clothing brands make on Instagram is showing bland product photos—clothing worn by hired models, usually with a white background.

Nasty Gal’s The Click gallery powered by olapic features selfies of fans wearing the brand’s clothes.

Nasty Gal clothing company saw an opportunity and started showcasing their fans’ Instagram pictures on their website via olapic. The company has had a 5% increase in overall conversions since implementing the olapic galleries.

#2: Make Instagram Fan Photos Into Stop-Motion Videos

Vine may have made stop-motion video easy to create and easy to consume, but Instagram video is winning the popularity contest. Your fans are using Instagram to take the photos you’re using, so it makes sense to share your videos there, where they’re most likely to see them.


Lexus reached a younger, tech-savvy audience by using its fans’ Instagram images to create this video.

Lexus took advantage of fan images for their aptly titled #LexusInstaFilm (shown above) where a group of 200 Instagrammers met on a racetrack to capture the brand’s new IS F model. Lexus pooled those photos and created a short video to share on Instagram and other social channels.

#3: Create Ads With Customer Instagram Submissions

In 2012, Instagram proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow it to sell your photos to brands for advertising purposes. There was uproar from the masses and Instagram quickly changed its tune.

Based on the uproar, you’d think Instagrammers wouldn’t want their images used in advertising at all. Who in their right mind would voluntarily send his or her own photos to brands so they can use them for advertising? A lot of people.

It’s all about choice and control. People are willing to give out their photos to be used as ads if the transaction between brands and fans is clear from the start. It helps if the fan gets something in return.

Wouldn’t you love to see your name in lights and get some new followers to boot?

That’s what Ben & Jerry’s banked on with their Capture Euphoria campaign. The social-friendly ice cream company ran a simple hashtag campaign to gather earned content. Fans were invited to share their pictures using the #CaptureEuphoria hashtag, then the photos were voted on and the best won a prize.

This is where it gets interesting. What was the prize in question? Taking the winner’s Instagram photo and transforming it into a real-life ad (including print, billboards and bus-stop posters) that included the winner’s Instagram username.

#4: Recruit Employees

Attracting and retaining talent are challenging for any brand. Most companies don’t consider Instagram as a recruiting tool, but Levi’s had great success with this unique idea.

The key to a great Instagram feed that people want to follow is sharing expertly shot Instagram photos on a regular basis. Levi’s leveraged their popular feed to lead a model-scouting campaign.

Levi’s launched an Instagram campaign to seek new talent.

Levi’s used photo and video sharing as a way to gather applications. They cut out the middlemen and directly sourced candidates via Instagram selfies.

Levi’s told fans up front that anyone using #iamlevis in their pictures or captions was granting Levi’s permission to use their photos in campaigns. Applicants knowingly used the hashtag to notify the brand of their interest in the job.

To track applications, Levi’s recruiters ran hashtag searches to scan applicants.

You could easily apply this type of campaign to any brand need. For example, nonprofits could do the same to hire volunteers.

What ideas do you have?

The diverse ways to get customers and fans to create content is one of the reasons Instagram is such a rich and growing platform for social marketers. Marketers are sure to appreciate this earned media and the level of engagement with their audience.

Does your audience share what they like with you online? Then you may want to look into ways to leverage this on Instagram.

What’s even better is that most of the examples here cost little to nothing and are easily replicated by businesses of all sizes.

What about you? Have you ever worked with Instagram fans to implement a grassroots marketing campaign? We’d love to hear about your experiences and ideas. Please leave your thoughts and comments below!

Instagram Introduces Photo Tagging

Instagram is rolling out an update which allows iOS and Android users to tag their friends, themselves, celebrities or brands in their photos – a similar feature to that which helped popularise Facebook in its early days. Previously, users had to ‘@’ mention their friend’s in the comments section accompanying photos if they wanted to tag them.

When a user is tagged in a photo they will receive a notification and the photo will appear in the “Photos of You” section of their profile. Like Facebook, users can detag themselves and change the settings so that photos require approval before they appear on their profile.

Having uploaded a photo, users will be given the option to tag people or brands by tapping on them. There is also the option to tag old photos. To see who’s tagged in any photo in their feed users just have to tap the photo, otherwise the tags remain invisible. Only the user who uploaded the photo can tag it, confirmed Instagram in their announcement post:

Today, we’re excited to introduce Photos of You and bring you a new way to share and discover stories on Instagram. When you upload a photo to Instagram, you’re now able to add people as easily as you add hashtags. Only you can add people to your photos, so you have control over the images you share. And it doesn’t stop at people—you can add any account on Instagram, whether it’s your best friend, favorite coffee shop or even that adorable dog you follow.
The benefits of the new tagging feature are obvious: users will be able to collate photo albums of themselves and flick through those of their friends. More importantly, it will be easier to capture and organise special moments with friends, making the photos simpler to rediscover in the future. Brands will also greatly benefit from the photos, as the public will be creating hundreds of great images featuring their logos and products which could then be used for promotional material.

Problems could arise for brands and celebrities, however, as every single photo they are tagged in will appear on their page or, if they select the image pre-approval option, they will have to sift through dozens of images, requiring time and effort. Also, there could be people taking photos which contain negative or inappropriate themes within them. Of course, companies could use this to their advantage, using positive and negative photos for sentiment analysis.

An Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch that “a year of work went into building the new tagging and Photos Of You section”. The Photos Of You section won’t be published until May 16th, giving users enough time to get to grips with the new tagging feature, as well as to decide what tagged photos of themselves they want to be visible to the public. According to the same spokesperson, Instagram has not thought much about how to monetise the tagging feature yet. However, tagging will undoubtedly increase Instagram’s active user figures, as people will want to see photos that they are tagged in after receiving a notification.

What do you think of Instagram’s new tagging service?

Photo Sharing Networks

Facebook and Twitter may gain you exposure and help grow your list with email marketing but there are new networks worth checking out. One of the advantages of these networks is they have targeted audiences, and because they are new-comers to the scene they are gaining popularity.

Some of the big names are already engaging with these niche social media sites and communicating directly with their target audience. Pinterest - Lets you build boards and pin pictures to them. A very simple idea but one that is growing fast. These can then be liked, re-pinned and commented upon.

You can follow and be followed in a similar way to other social media networks. If your business has products, photographs can be pinned to your boards which in turn will be liked and re-pinned. Connect with your customers by responding and re-pinning content. All items pinned link back to the originating source, your website. Your personality can be expressed with a board of the things you like on the web:

• your style;
• what or who motivates you;
• your likes and ambitions.

I find it a very positive network, very refreshing! The site has 10.4 million registered users and 12 million unique visits monthly. 97% of the site's Facebook 'likes' are female as are most of the sites users. ( http://www.business2community.com for Stats )

Instagram - With around 10 million active users (Sept 2011), Instagram was launched in 2010 in Apple's app store. By August 2011 users had uploaded 150 million photos.By April 2012 they have reached 30 million users.

As the mobile market develops the ability to share, follow and comment on photographs with your iPhone, has seen Instagram become a fast growing share network.
Several of the large brands are using the site to communicate with their customers, sharing photos that represent their brand and inform followers of other aspects of their business. For example, Burberry's stream has shots from behind-the-scenes at a fashion shoot, showing customers and followers interesting aspects of their brand.

Since the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook the new version of the App took advantage of the benefits of Facebook's Open Graph. You can now post your Instagram Likes directly to your Facebook account, all in one place. And if you manage a Facebook Page - you can post to your Page without leaving the App.
Personalise your stream with photos that you like, that express your personality and branding. Communicating in this way makes your business more approachable, more human.
Other photo sharing sites Flickr and Fotolog can be used in the same way to communicate with your customers. The internet is rapidly becoming a visually colourful shared world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7537932

4 Ways to Use Instagram on Your Desktop

You don’t need an iPhone or Android device to see your friends’ Instagram photos, all you need is an Internet connection.

Several websites let you view, search and comment on photos posted to Instagram, and some let you do things like search photos nearby that you can’t do in Instagram’s mobile app.

However, if you’re looking for a way to post to Instagram from your computer, it can’t be done. This is a common question on Instagram web-viewing sites. Some sites do allow you to download Instagram photos. But a word of caution here: If you’re downloading someone else’s photo, don’t reuse it without permission.

Facebook, Instagram’s new owner, may be working on an official website for Instagram, according to rumors that surfaced last week. Currently, you can manage your account online at Instagram, but that’s about it. But if you want to do a little more, here are four sites to try.

Instagrille

The PC app recreates your Instagram on the big screen of your computer in an enticing tiled format and adds some nifty features that even Instagram doesn’t offer. In addition to viewing your feed and the most popular photos, you can see photos that were taken near your current location. And, you can download any Instagram photo by hovering over the bottom of an image and selecting download.

Instagrille is available through Pokki, a new Apple-style app store for PCs created by SweetLabs of San Diego and backed by Google and Intel. For now, it’s PC only, but the company plans to release a Mac version soon.

Webstagram

One of the original web viewers, the site is not as visually appealing as newer Instagrille, but it does the job. After logging in, you can see your Instagram feed, comment, like and search just as you do on the mobile app. Webstagram just launched a forum for Instagram users that includes editing tips.

Webstagram will ask if you’d like to follow it on Instagram, but if you do, be prepared for long streams of comments that tend to disrupt the flow of photos on your feed.

Gramfeed

The site offers integration with Google Maps, so you can enter a city, see a tiled layout of all photos taken in that area and then select pins on the corresponding map to see photos taken at precise locations. Like with Instagrille, you can download photos to your computer, but it does entail an extra step. Click “Download,” and a new tab opens with the selected photo that you’ll have to “save as” to download.

Ink361

Here you see a rolling horizontal view of your Instagram feed and can create albums based on hashtag (keywords). Hashtags have become a way of identifying types of photos unique to Instagram, such as #jumpstagram (people caught mid-air on camera) and #fromwhereistand (photos that usually include the photographer’s feet) [Tips to 'Tell' Better Stories on Facebook]<

Ink361 also offers several fun tools. You can make Facebook cover photos, Twitter backgrounds and iPad wallpaper from your Instagram feed. Ink361 plans to release a new version soon.

Facebook Meets Instagram: What It Means for Your Brand

When it comes to Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, details are still coming into focus. In a public statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Instagram will continue to grow independently — but further details about how the platforms will eventually weave together have not been provided. Nevertheless, the Instagram/Facebook combo presents new challenges to and opportunities for marketers.

Instagram is a place we go to communicate visually, to give friends a glimpse into our daily life — what we ate for lunch, which shoes we just bought, the view from the window at work. These posts not only fill our friends’ feeds with beautifully filtered photos, but also with artfully masked suggestions and influence.

As the popular photo platform gains steam, surpassing 30 million users, some companies are realizing that an artsy tilt-shift photo of the bag of chips you’re eating could be actually worth something.

Close to 1 billion members strong, Facebook has a powerful paid advertising program. And its support for brands has grown immensely in the past few months, with the rollout of Timeline for Brands and fan-based ads. Meanwhile, Instagram is emerging as a much smaller, but very powerful user-supported platform that brands are just beginning to embrace.

For brands, this acquisition is an opportunity to strengthen their digital ecosystems — by leveraging both platforms as a way to tell their stories, creating a more cohesive consumer experience and encouraging deeper engagement. Integration of Instagram into a brand’s Facebook communications has potential to create a more visual conversation via rich stories and conversations. The transparent personalities that brands have built thus far on Instagram could be fleshed out further by harnessing Facebook Timeline’s layout power to represent a brand’s lifespan of brand personification.

While Instagram doesn’t currently have an ad program, companies like Instagrid Network want to connect brands with Instagram users. By setting up programs that pay top Instagrammers to share photos of a brand’s products, inviting guest photographers to curate a brand’s feed, or promoting a certain hashtag, Instagrid is confident in its model to grow a brand’s following and establish the brand among influencers.

As branded Instagram content begins to work its way into users feeds, the big question is whether people will mind (or notice). These paid endorsements will be unobtrusive, and will look exactly the same as every other photo populating your feed. As Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says, “It doesn’t feel like advertising when you open Instagram — it feels like entertainment.”

The idea of branded entertainment on Instagram has been an extremely successful tool for brands that operate their own accounts, such as Warby Parker and Anthroplogie, and Instagrid’s programs could help their accounts grow. However, these accounts have a transparency to them that disappears with users being paid to post images on their accounts, on the behalf of brands. For brands, this “product placement” model risks driving users away from them or Instagram in general, due to a perceived drop in authenticity and artistic integrity of the community.

Both brands and users will be carefully monitoring what happens next. Facebook and Instagram need to maintain their independence and authenticity as separate platforms in order to be successful and not push users away. Marketing efforts need to be carefully designed with the end user in mind.

The prospect of Facebook using its dominant presence to barge into users’ intimately curated Instagram communities has backlash potential. However, we see an opportunity for positive social benefits than can subtly improve the Instagram user experience and make it more dynamic — such as in-app tagging, personal and community-sourced albums, or a unified desktop presence for Instagram photos.

While this partnership will undoubtedly attract many new users to join the Instagram community, for brands, it’s important to keep in mind which channel is more relevant to the brand and its consumers. This acquisition can heighten the potential for success of branded content on Instagram, without affecting the artistic integrity of the platform.

While initially it may fall on Zuck to get this right, brands bear the real responsibility for developing the new Instagram and keeping the focus on user engagement. If they can do that, it will be a pretty picture indeed.