The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” lends itself well to Instagram, a photo- and video-sharing social network offering different types of filters and effects that allow you to play around with your picture’s lighting, tone and contrast to make it look professional. With Instagram, you don’t need to be a professional photographer to share your photos with the world, and you can also upload existing photos from your phone’s gallery.
During my internship at Flow Communications, one of my duties has been looking after the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway’s Instagram account. Although this app was new to me, it is very user-friendly and takes no longer than a day or two to understand the basics.
And the experience has taught me a few things. Here are some tips for companies to get more creative on Instagram:
- Show your product! Repeatedly. That’s why Instagram offers different effects – there’s more than one way to capture the same thing
- Actively engage with your followers
- When engaging with your followers, and also to gain more followers, “regram” – screenshot someone else’s picture and credit them by their @ name. This boosts followers and pushes brand awareness
- Show what your product can do
- Who knew a hashtag could hold so much power – host competitions, or use a specific hashtag, e.g. #tablemountain, which makes it easier for companies to track engagement
- There is no limit to being creative, so use it to your advantage
Check out the list below for a few accounts I recommend following:
Theron Humphrey – I cannot deny it ... I do like a little furry, fluffy animal cuteness. Theron manages to capture animals in the most witty and funny ways.
Nasa – even if you never get to space, you can still admire the selection of photos of stars and beautiful shots of Earth.
Payphones – one might think this is really weird, but how wonderful is it to see random payphones in places one rarely goes or even knows about?
David Guttenfelder – looking through his pictures, they speak truth and artistry.