4 Tips to Create a Successful Instagram Strategy

At 435 Digital, we love all things social media and are big supporters of brands incorporating social into their daily marketing efforts. At the same time, we will be the first to tell brands to be cautious when deciding which social networks are right for their business. It is important to get in front of your consumers and integrate your business into the places they spend their time, but it is just as important not to spread yourself too thin and not to force anything.

Stick with what works. There is no harm in trying a new social media platform, but make sure you have a strategy before you dive into it.

Not familiar with Instagram yet? No worries, it is still relatively new to brands and many are trying to grasp exactly what they should be doing with it. Instagram’s main draw right now is that it is completely focused on the love for visual messaging and sharing. From its early days in late 2010 with only two employees, the goal, according to co-founder Kevin Systrom, has always been to use the “power of images to connect people to what was happening in the world around them.”

Just a few years later, Instagram has been bought by Facebook and has more than 100 million monthly active users. Instagram gives brands a new and creative way to reach their consumer base. Best of all, it is easy to use no matter where you are and at any time.

So what exactly is it? Instagram is a mobile app where users share their life stories and events, using only photos with cool filters and captions. Similar to Facebook, photos are posted to a feed where followers can see what is being shared and leave comments or click on a ‘heart’ to ‘like’ the photo. Similar to Foursquare, people can tag a specific location to a photo. Similar to Twitter, users can view a feed of the most popular photos around the world from other public-sharing users or only view the photos in the feed of the people they are following.

Do you think your business should be on Instagram? Here are some things you should keep in mind.

Make sure you have a good idea of what you have to offer to people on Instagram. Give your followers something they can’t find anywhere else – something different from what you offer on Facebook and Twitter. Use Instagram to show off what you love about your business location and the surrounding community. Show your followers some behind-the-scenes shots to help them know and love your business. Show the pride you have in your brand. If you are a restaurant, feature your chef and show new specials before they are even introduced at the restaurant. If you are a workplace full of cubicles and 9-to-5ers, share your work environment, photos of your employees, and community outings.

This may seem strange, but if done right, it can work. Have you heard of Warby Parker? You might have if you are in the market for boutique eyeglasses. They are often applauded within the social media industry as being one of the most creative brands on Instagram. Why? They do a great job of showing off their merchandise in a completely non-salesy way, while capturing the unique culture of their employees and their community with every shot. They certainly found their strategy and are running with it.

Warby Parker Instagram

Hashtags — love them or hate them — are important on Instagram. Hashtags are words or phrases marked with the # symbol (ex: #hashtag) and are used to enable collecting all content with that tag in one place. With public Instagram accounts, anyone searching for a hashtag used in a photo caption will be able to see that image. This is a great way to get specific photos and brand accounts a lot more attention. Like Twitter, users need to be smart with hashtags because they can be annoying. Don’t overuse them, and only use words that are actually relevant to the photo you are tagging. Some brands overuse hastags with the goal of getting more likes and followers. This is not going to get the followers they want to have and will likely attract spammy comments.

Also, become familiar with some of the popular hashtags and use those that can naturally work with the content you are sharing. Some popular hashtags on Instagram include #tbt (throw back Thursday), #photooftheday, #food and #instafood. There are also a lot of hashtags that are popular by city. For example, in Chicago, hashtags like #Chicago, #Chitecture, and #Instagram312 are popular. Our friends at Chicago Tribune capture some great engagement from their followers by using a weekly hashtag theme encouraging Chicago area users to share their photos of anything from their breakfast to the CTA by posting their pictures with the hashtag #Trib2013. At the end of the year, we will all be able to browse through an impressive album of Chicago area images that document our 2013.

Chicago Tribune Instagram

You don’t need to post on Instagram every day. The ‘feed speed’ on Instagram is still mostly laid back. If you start posting a lot, you might over-saturate your followers’ feeds, and you don’t want to force yourself into the noise too often. Decide what you have ready to post and create a schedule to help you remember what to post when and to track what is working once you get going. If you see that your followers are starting to gravitate toward certain images, be flexible with your plan and change things to fit. Don’t forget to make engagement part of your strategy. Join the conversation, that’s what this is all about. Answer questions and thank people for being loyal.

Take notice of who is following your brand. Follow them back, ‘heart’ their pictures if it makes sense — avoid the personal pictures unless you have a personal connection with them. Encourage your followers to share your photos and your page. This is a great way to spread your reach and attract other users. Once you get a good following, feature your fans’ photos by encouraging them to use a hashtag or tag your Instagram handle when they are posting a picture. Just be sure to give them credit for the photo. This is easy using an app like InstaRepost.

You can also reward your loyal fans with contests and promo codes based on user-generated content. There are a lot of brands catching on to this concept right now. Sony does a great job encouraging their customers and followers to post pictures using specific hashtags, and then featuring their favorites on the Sony feed. Bonobos and Free People essentially use their followers as models, encouraging them to post pictures while wearing the brand’s clothing. Starbucks customers are already used to using #starbucks to share their coffee breaks from all over the world.

Sony, Bonobos, Free People, and Starbucks on Instagram

Don’t forget to take some time regularly to search Instagram and Twitter for your brand name to find customers that may have already shared images or reviews from your business. I post photos of my food all the time when I eat out, and every once in a while a restaurant will take my shot and feature it in their feed. I think that’s cool. It shows they appreciate my business and interest in them.

Think your business is ready to start using Instagram? Take some of these tips and you should be in a good place to get going. Already finding success with Instagram? Send us your shots! We would love to see them.

Carly is an Account Manager at 435 Digital and manages the day-to-day responsibilities associated with running successful SEO and social media campaigns.Previously, Carly managed media campaigns for Tribune Media Group’s New Business Development & Cross Platform Team. Those campaigns incorporated a combination of newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online advertisements.

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435 Digital helps businesses build brands on the web. Visit here for inspiration on how to stand out and grow your business.

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Blogging on the Bleeding Edge: Create Content that Gets Liked, Shared, and Talked About

This guest post is by Glen Andrews of Glen-Andrews.com.

There are two types of content…

Regurgitated content. This is content, or information, that’s been shared throughout a niche for years. It doesn’t really excite anyone anymore. It’s considered useful, but it’s “old hat.”

As an example, in the blogging niche (my niche) regurgitated content would be writing an article about hashtags, setting up a Facebook page, or discussing the importance of creating videos.

These are all worthwhile strategies to write about, especially if your blog is about social media. We all need to paint the full picture for those entering social media (our niche) for the first time. So discussing old strategies is always a smart thing to do.

However, regurgitated content won’t thrust you to the forefront of your market. Which brings me to our second type of content.

What’s happening now content. This is “bleeding edge” content that’s new to your market.

When Google rolled out its new algorithm (Panda/Penguin) the people aware of these “insider” updates were seen as the experts. Then, these so-called “insiders” created some of the first articles, posts, and videos about Google’s new algorithms.

These insiders are also the ones who receive masses of likes, shares, and tweets from their fan base. Which in turn, helps them build an even bigger fan base.

When you share breaking news, people want to be on your newsletter list, they want to read your blog, and they want to follow you on social media sites.

Here’s the good news. Anyone can become an insider, as I’m about to explain.

But first, here are four things that occur when we produce “what’s happening now” content.

We have the ability to help and inspire others.We’re viewed as experts on the “cutting edge” of our niche.Our content gets shared, liked, and talked about more often.We get an opportunity to earn an exceptional income online.

You might be saying, “Don’t most blogs get these benefits?”

No! Most blogs have good content, but not “what’s happening now” content, blogged from the bleeding edge.

Here’s how you can become an insider in your niche, and publish the best bleeding-edge content.

First, find out who the top three leaders are in your niche and follow their every move. Get their newsletters and RSS feeds sent to your email, and follow them on Twitter. This will immediately tip you off when something new is about to unfold in your niche.

When you find some killer bleeding-edge content, create an article, post, or video, and discuss the affects this news may have on your niche. Then of course, you’ll share it with your base.

So you’re probably wondering—where do I find these niche leaders?

You want to locate the people who make the rules. For example, in my niche, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are just a few of the “policy makers” I follow. These are the people who make the policies that affect everyone online.

It helps to get your information straight from the decision makers themselves. However, I could also follow Searchengineland.com for SEO. I could follow SocialMediaExaminer.com for all things social media.

You want your finger on the pulse of what’s happening next, and the only way to do that is to know the decision-makers in your market.

Have you identified the decision-makers in your market? Are you able to respond quickly when they report critical news? What are your strategies for creating great content that gets liked, shared and re-tweeted? Share your ideas in the comments.

Glen Andrews has created niche sites, ebooks, and info products that produce a steady reliable income. Glen is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create and market a blog online that makes them money.

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I Create Reality: Beyond Visualization

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Good research: Simple ways to create sensational Images of Blog

This guest post is by Jo Gifford of Cherry Sorbet creative.

Superb blogs attract the attention of the reader, it is as easy as. Your content may be surprising, but if your blog has a terrible aesthetic you are missing alongside a slice of magic to inspire people to enjoy their stay.

2011 Platforms such as Pinterest and insta.gram social media exploded in use, a trend of lifecasting of signaling in a more visual way, which applies to the blogosphere too. readers want that your pages are interesting. More they stay on your site and engage, the most beautiful these statistics look too.

This post provides some simple and easy to create and generate original and superb images for blogs, without the need to be a designer. So, let's get looking good:

She loves or hates, instagr.am is a fantastic way to create stunning images for use on a blog, all of your mobile. I use inkstagram, which uses my instagram sign to produce an easily scrollable (instagram itself is a bit limited in the access of the image). From there, I click the image and copy the URL to add to the blog note. At this stage, the SEO wisdom among you will want to make sure you that your image and text replacement title is changed to something relevant.

Screen captures of images or text may be a tool for easy mounting. If your screen is full of images, text, perhaps a mindmap of the ongoing work, examine the screen capture and it has an image editor for a living and personal illustration for your blog.

I love using Picnik, an image editor online is currently free as a bonus until April, when it is fully taken over by creating Google kit. Picnik both the new Kit Creative in Google + allows images to be resized, added effects (including saturated and lomo effects), the inclusion of the polaroids images and the addition of text too. This makes great alternatives to Photoshop and is therefore easily accessible resources free online, is.

In editing and creating your own images you can have a fabulous blog research position without worrying about Creative Commons licenses or copyright feared, and you did not need be a designer!

Polyvore is a website used primarily for the world of fashion blogs, but it has some useful features for all bloggers. Simply create an account and go to "create a game". Then you can literally drag and drop a multitude of images, including things as computers laptops, post it notes, coffee staining and splash effects, along with all kinds of images of painting. Add text to some policies too much by dragging and dropping text.

Once the game is completed, you can click on the section "published in WordPress". before you go ahead with it, simply copy and paste the code and add to your html section in your post.  Polyvore automatically includes links to products on the whole, but you can deselect the check boxes for the code without the links. That is, the original, fabulous images with a footprint on another site to start!

There are a few great apps available to help you make collages for the inclusion of positions. Currently, I use Picframe for iPhone and iPad that allows pictures of your library to add into collages. You can drag and drop, resize and edit the effects and the edges of the image and also export to instagr.am to add a filter and share your stream or on Flikr.

I also use a manufacturer of collage for larger and more complex collages desktop application, the options available and a quick search google will provide some resources free collage for you. I use an Apple App store called Collage Maker, and I think that it is really very practical and effective.

It's great to take the camera put about with you if you have a. I use a Nikon D40 far places, signs, buildings and all kinds of interest. You never know what may appear which is important for a blog that you write, and you can always in cultures, change images and shape in a collage. With the help of a digital SLR allows a dedicated resolution zoom and crop the parts of images do not so easily with iPhonography.

Creative commons images are images under licensees by the creators to be used with a link of paternity. You can search images using the Creative Commons search tool, which can produce exciting work that you have permission to include on your site. Remember to attribute when necessary even though.

iStock is a fantastic and inexpensive images that are perfect for bloggers. Images and illustrations are purchased in bulk of credits, and web friendly images can be very profitable indeed for the strange post here and there.

Then, go and make creative! Your readers love you, I promise.

OJ Gifford is Designer, editor, Blogger and founder of creative Cherry Sorbet. Working primarily in the beauty, fashion and lifestyle industries, his work spans graphic design print and web, social media management and training, writing and editorial for the and offline publications. You will find his agile blog Diva on Twitter as agile Diva and Sorbet cherry and linked to.

Create pages squeeze instant in WordPress with the plug-in squeeze

My friends at Unique Designs of Blog (they are the guys who designed this blog) has created a great new plugin WordPress which can create instantly email capture squeeze page. Using plug-in squeeze, you can create pages squeeze on a WordPress theme with a simple drag and drop and facilitated.

Squeeze page is the most effective to create a large mailing list. As you know, the largest segment of my blog income comes from my email list. This is the basis for my entire operation. In the past, I had all my squeeze pages custom. Then Unique Design's Blog introduced the theme squeeze and cutting work approximately 20 minutes. With squeeze plug-in, you can literally create a page squeeze in less than a minute!Do not believe me? watch this video and see for yourself.

Installation of squeeze plug-in is a simple download and activate the case. Creating a new page of squeeze, it's simple.Plug-in squeeze costs $ the 97 (use coupon code 9D1790206E to 15% reduction), which is less than what I used to pay to have a page squeeze plug-in créée.Le squeeze to create squeeze an unlimited number of pages on an unlimited number of blogs. If you are an internet marketing agency, you already know how much of things is.

Plug-in squeeze is covered by the single for 30 days of drawings and Blog templates no questions asked money back guarantee.Try plug-in squeeze full during 30 jours.Si is not all that you hoped, send UBD email and they will send you your remboursement.Si you want to test drive plug-in squeeze before to buy it, UBD has a program that allows. head over for full details.

Create pages squeeze instant in WordPress with the plug-in squeeze

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How to Create a Killer Video for Your Opt-in Page

How do I create money blogs: splitting in June 2010

Blog for Dollars30 comments

It is at this time of the month again where I speak a little splitting my own stream of revenue in the month précédent.Nous seek to June here and I am happy to share graphics this month because it illustrates something that I said for the last two things really well - months vary from one month to another.

In April and may, we've seen graphics look like many a month with AdSense being the # 1, followed by the subsidiary earnings, sales of electronic books and continuity programmes.Ce month we earner in view of what adsense reversed as the # 1 earner.

LoyaltePays "country" you to create your list

Heide Holtz has contacted me about LoyaltePays, a new membership site that offers to pay allows you to build your email list, I was very intrigued. It made me a test account so that I could snoop surrounding and report my findings.

LoyaltePays is pay you to build your list?

In two words: not really.LoyaltePays provides guidance and resources to help you create your liste.Vous can then use the list to promote LoyaltePays memberships and get 50% recurring commission.Perhaps LoyaltePays believes that payment to create your list, but I it would consider a relatively large stretch marketing.

If LoyaltePays you pay for actually creating your list, then what they do? in brief, LoyaltePays is a site providing its members with the two main points necessary for make money online membership: a product and a list of diffusion.outre memberships LoyaltePays that pay 50% recurring commission, LoyaltePays offers its members of the re-brandable eBooks and reports that they can sell or give free on their list of the efforts.Il building are also hundreds of articles that members can use as the content for their e-mail.

Step 7 list creation engine

LoyaltePays "country" you to create your list

Church EventsJune 30, 2010 at 9 h 39

You want to create a list? doing the hard way: good content, marketing & promotions, mouth-to and possibly a viral tool or two.

Although it takes money to make money, it does seem like a good investissement.Je would think twice also attention from others.

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5 Ways I am from Facebook to drive traffic, create brand and drive increased participation

HomeBlogForumWorkbookBookJobsMake MoneyArchivesAboutContact ProBlogger - Make Money Online Blog July TipsWritten ProBlogger 1st, 2010 at 01: 07 by Darren Rowse5 how I am Facebook's traffic, brand creation and increase Reader EngagementFeatured positions, Media39 Social comments

I have always been a doubter using Facebook to promote a blog.Je don't know step why - but despite my best efforts, I couldn't seem to make Facebook to "work" so that I have with Twitter when he came to engaging readers, driving traffic and build community.

However in the last months little has changed, Facebook became girl for me, on my photography blog.

I am quite sure that it is more about how I use Facebook any particular Facebook changes, but I started to become much more useful in a few ways, including driving traffic (see table below), increase the commitment of the drive and 13 months marque.Voici traffic facebook image creation (click to enlarge):

4 Resources for create your business blog

Comment on Blogging Pro News1

Each week, I am contacted by people producing resources training, courses, electronic books, books, etc. for people who want to make money from blogs and other online activities.

If I were to write a post on one should be almost on this blog completely then I am quite agitated about which promouvoir.Cependant lately there have been many of them from people I know and respect.

Not all will be ideal for anyone (they have a huge variation of price points and a change just for topics), but I know that some will be very valuable to different readers, here is a summary of the latest products coming on my desktop (no particular order).

1 The independent survival guide

How do I create money blogs: splitting of May 2010

Blog for Dollars12 comments

Last month, I produced a video where I walked drives through the separation of my income in the month of April to show that income flows into different percentages of my income.

In the video, I shared how separation between income streams may vary greatly from one month to another.

Video feedback was so positive that I decided to keep producing mensuelles.Je breakdowns am not interested to get in total income for different domains but want to share breakdown as a way to show the variety of ways as a blogger can earn money.

Here's the breakdown may 2010: