Instagram for Small Business

So, you want to use Instagram to help promote your business? That’s a fantastic idea! Instagram is a “fast, beautiful and fun way” to share anything you want with anyone you want through pictures and video.

First, you must set up your Instagram account. As of now, Instagram is only available through the iPhone or Android device. If you have an iPhone or an Android device you will need to download the Instagram app in the App Store for the iPhone or in Google Play for your Android. Once you’ve installed the app, open Instagram, register, create your username and password and create your profile. Yes, that’s it--you have an Instagram account. Now what?

Instagram allows you to take photos and videos with your mobile device and share them with your followers. For example, a real estate professional could utilize Instagram as a way to build an online reputation and show beautiful properties. According to Instagram’s blog, there are over 130 Million active users on Instagram--some of those active users are bound to be searching for property, right? Not only can you share photos and videos with Instagram, the platform also has searchable Hashtags. 

At your fingertips you have a free, online, social tool to upload photos and videos to 130Million people. It is important to post each property, winning view, sunset from the deck, images of the neighborhood, etc. to show the true beauty of your property. People passively looking at Instagram will see your content as well as those who are actively looking for property to purchase. Those actively looking will keep track of properties you are posting, while seeing what they’re friends ate for lunch and they won’t even feel like they’re “shopping”! The prospective home-buyer will know what they are looking for when they go to the listing on your website. Make sure your profile has a link to your personal or company listings.

Now that you’re familiar with Instagram and how it can help promote your business, what’s next? Start by creating your profile then start sharing your photos and videos with specific Hashtags and watch your followers grow.

Future Implications

The Social Media Landscape is continually changing, technology is constantly evolving and the way we get our information would most likely scare my grandparents. I was on an airplane recently with a colleague; the majority of our fellow travelers were playing on their smartphone, tablet or laptop prior to takeoff.  However, there were a few passengers reading the newspaper (yes a newspaper!) These were the only folks on the plane that qualified for AARP. I leaned over to my colleague, pointed to those reading the newspaper and said, “I think when this generation moves on it’s the end of the newspaper industry”. She agreed with me.

We now have access to all the information we want--anything we want to know is only a Google search or a mobile app away. There is a mobile app available called News Republic, with the tagline “it’s my news.”  With News Republic, the user gets to build their own new channels for news that is relevant to them. The user can build a personalized home screen and choose which topics to be alerted about. With this app, I stay up to date with news across the globe all from my mobile device.  Sharing these articles is easy as well--just a quick click of the mouse will share articles the user finds interesting and relevant to their Facebook Friends and/or Twitter followers. There is now no reason to waste time at the store purchasing a bulky newspaper with limited news stories--and there is no more ink on my fingers!

With changes in human behavior and technology, why would we continue to pay for news and information? I’m reminded of the scene from Good Will Hunting when they’re at the pub near Harvard and he says to the pompous Harvard student with the pony tail, “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on education you coulda’ got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.” He’s obviously talking about education and at the time the movie came out today’s technology wasn’t available, but the concept is the same; why pay money for information that is available for free and more conveniently accessed?

Viral Marketing Initiatives

I have never created a “viral” video. In fact, most videos I’ve posted to YouTube have been for work and have either been set to “private” or were “unlisted.”  With that being said, I’ve certainly watched my share of viral media. It’s pretty easy to get lost in one after another after another and before you know it, you’ve just wasted your Saturday morning or lunch hour watching YouTube videos.

But, as a viewer and a sharer of viral videos, I know what I am looking for. Here are five things I am looking for in a viral video:

Relevance - First, your viral video needs to be relevant to what is going on in the world around you.  Some good examples of relevant viral videos are Suli Breaks, a spoken word poet whose videos about changing education have gone viral worldwide.  Or, the “Bad Lip Syncing” videos that dubbed over some film of NFL players and coaches around the time of the Super Bowl.

Entertainment - Whether it’s funny, sad, informative or just plain odd, I want to be entertained by it. This will keep a viewer watching it over and over as well as showing as many people as I can.

Simplicity - Keep it simple. Your video is a way to spread your message and if it is simple, people will share due to its value.

Uniqueness - In the same vein, people will perceive a video’s value by how unique it is. Again, if a video is perceived as valuable people will share it.

Unexpectedness (Edginess)-  “In a world where over two days of video get uploaded every minute, only that which is truly unique and unexpected can stand out the way that viral videos have,” Kevin Alloca, Trends Manager at YouTube.com. People do not want to see the same thing over and over again; they want something unexpected and edgy.  That is why Suli Breaks has success with his videos; education reform is such a hot button issue at the moment and he takes it right to the edge.

Major League Soccer is a feeder League--and that's OK.

I did not spend much time researching or writing this, just wanted to rant for a minute and hear your thoughts on Major League Soccer.

I want to be a fan of the MLS, I really do. It probably doesn’t help that I live in the Boston sports market where our MLS team, the New England Revolution is pretty bad and comes in 5^th on the priority list of the Boston media behind the Patriots, Bruins, Red Sox and Celtics.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the Revs. Not sure if it was because the league was new or because we didn’t have the access to the European leagues we have now, but somewhere along the way, I just stopped caring about Major League Soccer.

MLS is suffering from an identity crisis: they don’t know whom they are trying to appeal to—the casual American sports fan or the true soccer fan. Once MLS realizes that they will never be a top world soccer league or one of the “big” leagues in the United States, they could have real success. It’s an entertaining league that develops a lot of great players for European leagues. It attracts a lot of former greats to end their careers in the MLS—and there is nothing wrong with that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-bSVOS-HZoz

Differentiation-Fox Soccer and ESPNFC

Fox Soccer and ESPN are both present and active on Social Media--especially twitter (@foxsoccer @espnfc).  Personally, I follow both; however, I feel more engaged with Fox Soccer than I do with ESPN. Fox Soccer makes more of an effort to actually engage with their followers. There are many examples I could use, but for the sake of this blog I will focus on the Hashtags used by ESPN and Fox Soccer on twitter.

Let’s start with ESPN. ESPN does a great job on Twitter: posting articles, videos, live scores, etc. I’ve found that their only attempt at engagement with followers is during live matches with the hashtag #FCBootroom. Fans can live tweet during the match with questions using this hashtag and select few will be answered at halftime and during the post match show.

Fox Soccer is constantly engaging with their followers on twitter. It could be by asking a simple question like “who will win tonight?” or “what did you think of this video?” or other opinions, questions on current news, scores, etc. If your answer is good or you have good timing, a re-tweet or a response from Fox Soccer is usually coming. Fox Soccer Channel has a nightly show called Fox Soccer News where during each broadcast, they will ask a question on twitter with the hashtag #Banterzone. The best responses will be read on the air. In addition to the Banterzone, if you’re tweeting during a Champions League match you can use #UCLonFox to connect with Fox Soccer and other fans around the world. Fox Soccer has not only done a decent job of engaging with their followers, but has also made it easy for their followers to engage with one another.

I could take this one step further and talk about ESPN analyst twitter accounts versus Fox Soccer analyst twitter account. Or talk about how ESPN is part of your basic cable package and the Fox Soccer Channel is a paid subscription, but I won’t. Yet.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/

http://www.foxsoccer2go.com/

http://espnfc.com/?cc=5901

Don't Sweat It

Don't Sweat it, there is a solution to every problem. Everything will work out.

You will mess up and when you do, learn from it and move on. If everything was perfect, you'd never learn.

Ask questions, if you don't ask you'll never know.

D's Get Degrees

When I was in college, a number of my peers lived by the slogan “D’s get to degrees”.  Most of the time they weren’t being serious, but it’s alarming that there is truth in such a silly statement.

Just because we sat in our seat in the classroom for three hours a week, took notes and were able score higher than 65% on exams, we somehow were experts in Finance or History or Marketing, etc. Oh, and expected to be ready to enter the workforce--skilled and well prepared.

It’s time to move forward, a time for students to be evaluated on what they know, not how much time they’ve spent in a class. NY Times columnist Tom Friedman, quoting historian Walter Russell Mead, “Institutions of higher learning must move from a model of “time served” to a model of “stuff learned".”