It's a Snap! 5 Easy Ways to Click With Customers on Instagram

Everyone knows the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” But these days, when it comes to promoting your company, a picture can be worth a thousand likes (and purchases), too.

Instagram, the free photo-sharing app, is proving to be a huge moneymaker for brands ranging from the notoriously social-savvy Starbucks to local mom-and-pop eateries. This fast-growing phenomenon has amassed a staggering 80 million-plus users, making it an opportune vehicle for businesses of all sizes and in all markets to bring new eyes their products.

While social media as a source of self-promotion is certainly nothing new, Instagram does put a new spin on it with its streamlined interface that’s comprised solely of photos, captions and comments. By jumping into the Instagram fray, you can introduce your products to new audiences via an ongoing dialog of digital images.

With that in mind, here are five winning ways to make Instagram work for your brand:

1. Promote with pizzazz.

When it comes to getting your brand out there, creativity is what clicks.

Instagram – with its toolbox of retro-hipster filters – is a fun, funky platform by its very nature, so go for quirky, out-of-the-box snapshots that will set your products apart and reflect the unique personality of your brand. In the absence of copy and marketing frills to convince customers to buy, strategically snap artsy and interesting images, and use this app to attract customers that will respond to your rare whimsy.

Starbucks (@starbucks) is a perfect example of this strategy, posting fun photos with flair, from close ups of their coffees shot from artistic angles to downright hilarious moments captured of actual baristas mugging (pun intended) for the cameras as they make espresso magic.

2. Add incentive.

One of the best ways to grow your brand’s following on Instagram is hold contests where you reward participants who share photos of your products with prizes in the form of free merchandise.

Chobani (@chobani), a Greek yogurt brand, is just one example of how this contest strategy can be highly successful. They gained a loyal fanbase of over 9,000 “Chobaniacs” in a matter of mere weeks by offering a free customized case of yogurt to the winners of their weekly Instagram photo submission contests, catapulting the brand from a little-known to a must-have in the process.

3. Elevate your followers.

Whether it’s through a photo-of-the-day feature or simply by offering an open forum for all to freely share their product-related images, by shining a spotlight on your followers, you’ll make your customers feel like an integral part of your brand family.

One brand that has excelled at this strategy is Free People (@freepeople). By encouraging their customers to post and tag photos of themselves in their favorite Free People outfits, the company has seen a huge boost in both website traffic and sales.

4. Get hashtag happy.

Hashtags, when deployed judiciously, can be an powerful tool for effective Instagram marketing.

By posting photos captioned with specific discounts or special offers, Instagram hashtags can be used in a manner similar to Twitter as a way to capture search traffic and to track which of your promotions (and their coinciding images) are generating the hottest buzz.

Asics America (@asics) is just one company that's harnessing the hashtag hype on Instagram, from encouraging fans to tag photos from their runs with #ASICS to promoting the brand-sponsored LA Marathon event to plugging contests like their Asics-inspired Ford Mustang giveaway.

5. Foster familiarity.

Cheers – the long-running sitcom about a bar where everyone knows your name –captures an essential truth: people want to have a sense of camaraderie with those they do business with, and Instagram is the ideal platform to cultivate that community vibe between your brand and its fans.

For a great example of this approach, look to Whole Foods Market (@wholefoodsmarket). Whole Foods gives their Instagram followers a backstage pass, pulling back the curtain and posting more intimate images with a personable feel. Whether it’s snippets from a staff birthday party, an annual Christmas card-style photo complete with ugly sweaters, or a silly snap of a customer service clerk cracking up with her customers, Whole Foods certainly knows how to build relationships with its followers through the magical medium that is Instagram.

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Fame Foundry Sound Off: AT&T's Seth the Blogger Guy

As the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., AT&T has found itself in the midst of a PR nightmare of its own making. Most customers have a love/hate relationship with the company, and even worse for AT&T, these customers are very vocal about their issues. As fervently as they sing the praises of their iPhones, they also profess their contempt for the network's unreliable service and vent their resentment of the carrier's stranglehold on the device. In an attempt to tip the scales of public opinion back in favor of love, AT&T has once again rolled out “Seth the Blogger Guy,” who made his debut on the company's YouTube channel earlier this year to hype the launch of the iPhone 3GS: In response, Fame Foundry's agents address AT&T, Seth and yet another misguided effort by a faceless corporation to work magic through social media.

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• The Architect

  I have no idea who "Seth the Blogger Guy" is. He's obviously not a "blogger guy"; he's an AT&T spokesman. It immediately comes off as insulting that AT&T would assume I would know this guy and buy what he says from that point on because he's "just one of us." 

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• The Craftsman

  Why is a "blogger guy" delivering this message? He does not come across as an AT&T authority that can in any way influence the reliability of their network. It's almost as if they found a guy in a cubicle and asked him to be in a video. I also don't appreciate the Schoolhouse Rock approach to explaining what happens when a call is made. First of all, don't insult my intelligence. Secondly, I don't really care. I just want it to work.

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• The Developer

  This just goes to show that not only does AT&T not understand the people they are talking to, neither does the ad agency that made this lame video. It is a blatant PR attempt to position themselves as a leader instead of being honest and apologizing. Today's consumers want honesty, and obviously neither AT&T or the company that produced this video understands this simple fact. Suck it up, AT&T, and give us a sincere apology and a credit for the crappy service so we know you're serious.

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• The Engineer

  Where was the investment before now? Before the iPhone there were smartphones, and we were yelling then, too. You didn't hear us five years ago and get "on it." You're apologizing for your lack of investment in infrastructure with the money you got from charging people an arm and a leg to send cheap text messages. People don't forget, AT&T. Heaven help you when another carrier gets its hands on the iPhone.

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• The Author

  Even if we were to accept "Seth the Blogger Guy" as a credible voice of authority (note to AT&T: we don't), the video is still highly flawed. I will give AT&T credit for recognizing the conversation happening around them in the social media sphere and attempting to address customer concerns through the channels where they are talking. However, that's where their smart new-media thinking ends and they fall back on comfortable and familiar old marketing conventions. Rather than taking advantage of the opportunities offered by social media networks to engage in candid and genuine dialog, they simply broadcast a message that is obviously 100 percent scripted and delivered by a spokesperson with no real personality. There is no sense that this represents a heartfelt communication from a company that values its relationships with its customers. Instead, the tone of the video ranges from condescending ("Frankly, that's a very time-consuming process.") to patronizing ("The airwaves are kind of like a highway.") to exasperated ("We've heard you. We're on it."). As we've said before and will say again many times, people follow people, not companies. Until AT&T is willing to invest the time and resources necessary to cultivate real, meaningful and ongoing relationships with the public, their social media efforts will continue to falter, and they will be haunted by their reputation as the subpar network that's holding the iPhone hostage.

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• The Communicator

  AT&T's video violates one of the cardinal rules of social media: transparency. A simple Google search reveals that "Seth the Blogger Guy with AT&T" (as he identifies himself in the video) is neither an average joe blogger or a rank-and-file AT&T employee as his name, appearance and demeanor are all deliberately calibrated to portray. He is, in fact, not a blogger at all. He is Seth Bloom, senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard, AT&T's PR agency. As soon as this is revealed, all credibility is lost, and the video comes across as nothing but an empty, manipulative and self-serving PR tactic. If AT&T truly cared about repairing its reputation and earning the loyalty of its customers, it would not hide behind a fictional persona but rather would put a legitimate company heavyweight on the front lines of its social media efforts. Instead, despite the controversy sparked by their questionable choice of spokesperson, the company has said that it plans to continue using Seth in future online videos.

A final word of advice for AT&T: There is no division between the "real world" and the world of social media. These days they are one in the same. You do yourselves no favors by posting what you believe to be a positive, reassuring, "we're in this together" video on YouTube and then telling every media outlet that will listen that your customers and their bandwidth-hogging iPhones are the problem. If you want to use social media to your advantage, you must be willing to represent your company in a truly personal manner - flaws and all - in order to earn and keep your customers' trust. Consumers are much more forgiving of companies with whom they have built relationships on a foundation of trust; they have little sympathy for faceless corporations. Or, in this case, a faceless corporation masquerading as a "blogger guy."

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