A Free Online Catalog: The Usefulness of Instagram to Small Businesses

Instagram is another social media platform that has been released during my lifetime in hopes of provoking the sharing of information with whomever you want. The app is an offshoot of the Facebook social media Goliath, and has become incredibly popular as a result of its association with its big brother. The two platforms are linked in the sense that posts made on Instagram are able to be posted on one’s Facebook wall with the click of a button, and that the sale of items on Instagram can be linked to a more robust page created on Facebook. The main purpose of Instagram is to provide a

platform that allows for the sharing of images and videos to provide an image of one’s self that can be view-able to the greater public. The videos and images are able to be edited and filtered through the app in order to produce images that are to the user’s liking. Now with all of this emphasis on pictures, it is kind of hard to believe that this platform would be useful for a business. It brings to mind the age old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

Companies have been taking to Instagram in hopes of reaching their customer base through as many channels as they possibly can. Everybody from Chrysler to United Airlines have created business profiles on which to place images and videos to showcase the products and services they offer. All of these companies have had to dial in to the types of posts that will get the best reaction with the crowd they were attempting to draw. This is a concept that Jason McDonald addresses in his Social Media Marketing Workbook. The concept is outlined in what I believe to be the most important section of the chapter involving Instagram. The section that mentions this principle is the “Reverse Engineering” of existing profiles for a business new to the platform. McDonald recommends that a small business should take advantage of the dos and don’ts that have been discovered by much larger companies with more resources to commit to advertising. A small boutique in Nebraska trying to branch out onto the web isn’t going to be able to commit hundreds of man hours to advertising campaigns like Patagonia or Vera Bradley. Looking at successful posts from large or corporate competitors provides a mold for a small business owner to follow in order to always get a reaction from their target audience. The author then provides steps to create profiles for a company from the basic choosing of a profile picture to the steps to creating a post. However, another important aspect of Instagram is the ability for it to serve as a product catalog for a company. Images of a company’s products are able to be posted on the page in a manner that makes them appear desirable as well as be accompanied by a caption describing the item and its pricing. Third party vendors such as “Like to buy” also allow for links to be placed within the images of this “catalog”. These links then take the Instagram user to the company’s web page so they are able to learn more about the product and possibly purchase it. There is a great deal of potential for Instagram to serve as a valuable media outlet for small business to reach their target audiences.