Social media marketing allows small businesses to instantly connect with almost all of their loyal customers. Independent companies can use the digital platform to update clients about new merchandise, special sales and promotional giveaways. While there’s a wide range of networks that entrepreneurs can use to advertise their organizations, few are as effective as Instagram.
The website originally started as a mobile app that allowed users to take pictures with filters and then share the images on Facebook and Twitter. The service was then bought by Facebook and has become a social network unto itself.
Instagram claims to have at least 130 million monthly users as of June 2013. Many of these subscribers follow tech savvy small businesses that joined the network for marketing purposes.
Instagram may be the easiest social network to use to advertise giveaways. Entrepreneurs can take pictures of the promotional items they’re going to hand out during the events so that followers will see what great gifts are available. Additionally, small business owners can post pictures of the giveaways in real time and allow fans to see how much fun everyone is having.