How to Use Social Media Marketing to Grow your Business

Social media marketing is an inexpensive yet very powerful tool for content marketing. It helps you build a loyal audience that grows your business. Use this guide to learn what social media marketing is and how you can use it to build a successful business.

Social media marketing is an effective method of generating website traffic through social media sites.
It’s about creating valuable content that catches people’s attention and encourages them to share it with their social connections.
Social media is not new. It has been around for decades. But, the rise of social media sites has seen a tremendous surge over the last 10 years.
Today, social media has become an indispensable part of all serious online marketing campaigns.

What is Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing involves marketing products or services using social media. Unlike traditional marketing, you do not begin with your sales pitch right away. Instead, you build rapport with people before you start selling them anything.
Effective social media marketing focuses on building a community of engaged people who love you, follow you, buy from you, spread the word about your business and ultimately grow your business.
Social media marketing takes time, energy and careful planning. It’s less like running a sprint and more like running a marathon. So before you dive in, prepare yourself for the amount of energy it needs to bring fruitful results.
Let’s have a look at what social media is.

What is Social Media

Social media is a way for people to interact online. They stay in touch with one another using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and many other social media sites.
Social media is called so because people communicate with one another in a social context using conversations, comments and other means of interactions.
For businesses, social media has turned out to be no less than a magic wand. People today are sharing more information than ever on social media sites, which is helping businesses identify their target audience better and market their products and services effectively.

Is Social Media just a Hype

Social media is not a fad. In fact, it is extremely valuable.
Over the last 10 years, the Web has seen a tremendous growth in the development and popularity of social media sites. Millions of people get online and interact with one another using social media every day!
The stats (as of October, 2014) below clearly show some social media muscles.

• A whopping 93% of shopping decisions made by people are influenced by social media
• About 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations
• 89% of 18-29 year olds are on a social network
• Facebook has over 1.32 billion monthly active users
• Over 9 billion photos are uploaded to Facebook each month
• 1 in 5 young adults (18-24) uses Twitter everyday
• Twitter has over 271 million monthly active users
• Google+ sees more than 540 million active users each month
• Every second 2 new members join LinkedIn
• A total of 67% bloggers operate more than one blog
• Women (18-29) are the power users of the Web
• Women check out a brand page more often than men
• YouTube serves more than 1 billion unique visitors every month

You cannot ignore the power of social media, especially if you are serious about running a successful business online.

Does your Company need Social Media

Yes, it does. Regardless of how small or large your company is, social media can help you grow your business because your customers are online.
They are looking for information and recommendations. They are interacting with their friends, colleagues, experts and other brands to obtain enough information to make the right choice.
Why?
Well, because they want to be smart buyers.
And you can help them become smart buyers by listening to them. Answer their questions. Provide them the information they are looking for and you can pretty much attract them to your site.

Top Social Media Platforms

People today hang out on a variety of social media platforms. Knowing the best places to promote your business is the first step towards getting remarkable results. Take a look at the top social media platform below to know what makes each platform special.
Facebook
With over 1.32 billion monthly active users, Facebook has become the world’s largest social network. If you are not on Facebook, you are missing a lot, especially if you own a business.
10 years ago when Facebook made its debut in 2004, it was a no-frills network allowing college students to connect with one another.
Today, billions of people are using Facebook to connect with friends and the world around them, and businesses are using it to build a closer relationship with their audience and customers.
Eager to take your business to Facebook, read How to Use Facebook to Grow your Business.

Twitter
Twitter is great for sharing announcements, events and promotions. With 271 million+ monthly active users and 500 million+ tweets sent per day, Twitter is a perfect platform for generating brand awareness.
Back in the year 2006, Twitter made its debut as a service that let users send short (up to 140 characters long) messages to a group of people. Its intended use was to keep friends and colleagues informed about their daily activities.
Little did everyone know that Twitter would transform into a powerful tool for online marketing one day.

For new social media marketers, we have written a guide called The Beginner’s Guide to Marketing with Twitter. Check it out.

Google+
With over 540 million monthly active users and the fact that Google favours Google+ pages in search results, it would be silly not to use Google+ to connect with your prospects and customers.
When it made its first appearance back in 2011, SEO experts were the first ones to use it. People believed that Google+ was basically a technical platform meant to be used by techies and men alone.
Today, Google+ has more than 1.6 billion total users including an impressive ratio of men and women.
To know how to start using Google+ for marketing your business, read Using Google+ for Effective Social Media Marketing.

LinkedIn
Every second two new members join LinkedIn. Google generally reports LinkedIn company pages within the top 1-2 pages of search results. Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies are on LinkedIn. The time is just right to take your business to LinkedIn.
It is a great platform for generating B2B leads.
People as colleagues use LinkedIn to stay connected with one another and businesses use it to connect with current and potential stakeholders and employees.
Learn how to market your business on LinkedIn with our guide The Beginner’s Guide to Marketing with LinkedIn.

Pinterest
Pinterest has attracted 70 million+ users in less than 4 years. Approx. 80% of these users are women. Moreover, the world’s top brands are on Pinterest. There is no reason why you should underestimate Pinterest as a powerful social media marketing tool.
The fact that one of five people on Pinterest has purchased something they have seen on the site makes Pinterest an ideal place for promoting your products or services.
If your business can benefit from image sharing and storytelling, Pinterest is for you.
Need solid marketing advice for success on Pinterest, read Using Pinterest for Effective Business Marketing.

Which Social Media Platform is Best for You

The one your customers hang out on.
Identify your main business objectives and target customer demographics and you can find the right social network for you.
Here are two examples to simplify the process.
Example 1: If your business objective is to increase sales for beauty products for women, your target customer demographics may include women between the age of 18 and 40. As you are going to focus on women alone, choosing Pinterest is the best choice as over 80% of Pinterest users are women.
Example 2: If your business objective is to deliver topic-based news or timely insights, your target customer demographics may include information-hungry people who remain online throughout most of their lives. Twitter is an ideal choice for you as it lets you respond to and engage with your followers.
Need a shortcut? Turn to Facebook. Why? With over 1.32 billion monthly active users and with an almost equal ratio of men and women as users, Facebook is ideal for just about any business.
YouTube
YouTube marketing campaigns provide remarkable results, and the success stories of Old Spice, Zappos, Dove and Lay’s prove it. Over 6 billion hours of video is watched every month on YouTube. Chances are your customers are watching YouTube videos. Amaze them today.
YouTube has become the top source of video entertainment on the Web. Users are watching and sharing YouTube videos at an unbelievable speed.

Blogging
An effective blog can drive torrents of traffic to your main website. People love to read blogs because blogs have an informal, conversational style. A blog is a powerful tool for building brand awareness and boosting sales.
The best part is that you don’t need to be a techie to start and run a blog.
There are many different blogging platforms available including WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Typepad, Quora and many more.
Not only are these blogging platforms easy to use but also contain a lot of help and support material which can turn you into an ace blogger if you devote enough time regularly.


That’s not all Folks!
The social networking sites discussed here are not the only places for people to interact and businesses to connect with consumers and prospects.
Besides these social networks, there are:

• Forums
  Perhaps the oldest form of social media, Forums are pretty effective at building communities and providing timely information. When run effectively, Forums can turn out to be a reliable source of traffic.
• Social bookmarking services
  Social bookmarks are identical to the bookmarks you have stored on your computer for your favourite sites. The only difference is that social bookmarks are publically visible. StumbleUpon, Delicious, Kaboodle and ThisNext are some popular social bookmarking services.
• Social news services
  These services allow you to build peer-based lists of recommended articles from across the Internet. Users often vote on the value of postings. Digg and Reddit are the two most popular social news services.
• Question and answer based social networks
  People often turn to question and answer based social networks when they need quick answers for their issues. This is an ideal place to connect with people and make them aware of what you do. Quora and Yahoo Answers are two such networks that are very popular.
• Picture sharing services
  These services let you tell your story through pictures and short videos. Instagram is one such service. There are more than 200 million Instagram users who contribute towards posting more than 55 million photos every day. Although it’s Facebook’s baby now but you can’t ignore its potential.

Social Media Marketing Best Practices
Social media is all about building and engaging a community. Yes, it is a perfect platform for rolling out promotional updates but that should not be the first and only thing on your agenda.
Effective social media marketing demands that you do not rush towards closing a sale.
Focus on building relationships with your audience. Keep them delighted and they will start loving your brand.

Pros and Cons of Using Social Media
Social media is simple, useful and very effective. But at the same time, it has some drawbacks that you can’t ignore.
Pros:

• Lets you quickly reach your target audience
• Makes branding simple and effective
• Helps build relationships with your audience
• Improves search engine rankings
• Generates site traffic
• Saves you money on advertising

Cons:

• Takes time, a lot of time
• May require different strategies when a network updates

Over to you…
Social media is evolving day by day. Therefore, creating a Definitive Guide to Everything You Ever Need to Know about Social Media Marketing, Ever is not possible.
We will keep updating this guide as and when something worth mentioning here comes up. Till then, use it to harness the power of social media to grow your business.
Thanks for reading. We hope you found it valuable!

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook or Twitter.[4] A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images, in contrast to the 16:9 aspect ratio now typically used by mobile device cameras.

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October 2010. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012.[5][6] Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play.[7] Support was originally available for only the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch; in April 2012, support was added for Android camera phones running 2.2 Froyo.
History

Instagram began development in San Francisco when Kevin Systrom and Brazilian Michel "Mike" Krieger chose to focus their multi-featured HTML5 check-in project Burbn on mobile photography.[8][9]

On March 5, 2010, Systrom closed a $500,000 seed funding round from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz while working on Burbn.[10] Josh Riedel joined the company as Community Manager.[11] Shayne Sweeney joined in November 2010 as an engineer and Jessica Zollman was hired as a Community Evangelist in August 2011.[12][13]

In January 2011, Instagram added hashtags to help users discover both photographs and each other.[14] Instagram encourages users to make tags both specific and relevant, rather than tagging generic words like "photo" in order to make photographs stand out and to attract like-minded Instagrammers.[15] In September, version 2.0 went live in the App Store (iOS). It included new and live filters, instant tilt shift, high resolution photographs, optional borders, one click rotation and an updated icon.[16]

On February 2, 2011, it was announced that Instagram had raised $7 million in Series A funding from a variety of investors, including Benchmark Capital, Jack Dorsey, Chris Sacca (through Capital fund), and Adam D'Angelo.[17] The deal valued Instagram at around $25 million.[18]

On April 3, 2012, Instagram for Android was released,[19] and it was downloaded more than one million times in less than one day.[20] That same week, Instagram raised $50 million from venture capitalists for a share of the company; the process valued Instagram at $500 million.[18] In the next three months Instagram was rated more than one million times on Google Play[21] and was the fifth app ever to reach one million ratings on Google Play—as of April 2013, it had been rated nearly four million times.

In its largest acquisition deal to date, Facebook made an offer to purchase Instagram (with its 13 employees) for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock in April 2012,[22] with plans to keep the service independently managed.[23] Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August 14, 2012,[24] and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the United States closed its investigation, allowing the deal to proceed.[25][26] On September 6, 2012, the deal between Instagram and Facebook officially closed.[27]

On April 12, 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.[28][29] The deal, which was made just before Facebook was scheduled to go public, cost Facebook about a quarter of the cash-on-hand they had as of the end of 2011. The deal was for a company characterized as having "lots of buzz but no business model", and the price was contrasted with the $35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005,[23] a website which has since become among the 50 most popular in the world.[30] Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook was "committed to building and growing Instagram independently", in contrast to its common practice of, as CNNMoney.com put it, buying "hot startups, kill[ing] their products, and redeploy[ing] their staff on other projects."[23] According to multiple reports, the deal netted Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom $400 million based on his ownership stake in the business.[31]

The exact purchase price was $300 million in cash and 23 million shares of stock.[32]

On December 17, 2012, Instagram updated its Terms of Service, granting itself the right to sell users' photos to third parties without notification or compensation starting on January 16, 2013.[33][34][35][36][37][38] The criticism from privacy advocates, consumers, National Geographic[39] and celebrities like Kim Kardashian[40] prompted Instagram to issue a statement retracting the controversial terms; regardless, the issue caused Instagram to lose a portion of its user-base as former users switched to other Instagram-like services. These services included Pheed, a multi-media social sharing platform launched in November, that gained more new users than any other app in the United States the week that Instagram changed their terms of service.[41] Another service that gained many new users post-announcement was Yahoo!’s Flickr[42][43][44] which Flickr released as the new mobile app for iOS with built-in vintage filters to rival with Instagram prior to the changes of terms and conditions by Instagram.[45][46][47] Instagram is currently working on developing new language to replace the disputed terms of use.[48]

In January 2013, it was confirmed that Instagram has asked for photo IDs to verify identities due to unspecified violations.[49]

In January 2013, there were no future plans to make the application available on the BlackBerry's O.S. 7 devices, although it is probable that one will be available for the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 devices.[50] (Current alternatives for BlackBerry 7 devices include InstaPhoto,[51] LensBoost,[52] and Photo Studio,[53] two of which are available with various pricing.)

Instagram has no plans to offer Windows Phone support,[54] though a release of an Instagram app for Windows Phone is rumoured for May 2013.[55]
Popularity
Users
Basic image and elaboration through Instagram

By December 2010, Instagram had 1 million registered users.[56] In June 2011 Instagram announced it had 5 million users[57] and it passed 10 million in September of the same year.[58] In April 2012, it was announced that over 30 million accounts were set up on Instagram.[59]

Instagram announced that 100 million photographs had been uploaded to its service as of July 2011. This total reached 150 million in August 2011.[60][61]

Instagram recently made headlines with its efforts to keep the Instagram universe a positive space and has prohibited any hashtags or photographs that promote self-harm.[62]

There are basic Terms of Use that Instagram users must follow, including an age requirement of 13 years or older, restrictions against posting violent, nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive photographs and responsibility for one's account and all activity conducted with it.[63]

There are also proprietary rights in content on Instagram. Instagram does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photographs, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, content) that users post on or through the Instagram Services.[63]

By May 2012[64] 58 photographs were being uploaded and a new user was being gained each second. The total number of photographs uploaded had exceeded one billion.

On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding came out with a new music video for her song "Anything Could Happen". The video only contained fan submitted Instagram photographs that used various Instagram filters to represent words or lyrics from the song[65] and over 1200 different photographs were submitted.

On February 27, 2013, Instagram announced that they had 100 million active users, only two and a half years after first launching. [66] This was an increase of roughly 10 million users in a little over a month's time.

Many celebrities have profiles on Instagram, often displaying their extravagant lifestyles. Instagram is a backstage pass into the lives of musicians, actors, photographers and more. Many celebrities were outraged after Instagram's new Terms of Service, which started on Jan. 16 2013, and allows the photo-sharing app to sell images to advertisers without compensation to users.[67]
Trends
Rich Kids of Instagram

The Rich Kids of Instagram is a blog on Tumblr that features photographs posted on Instagram displaying "various states of excess, undress and indulgence".[68] Examples of the photographs featured on this blog are receipts of over $100,000, kids in private jets or yachts, expensive shoes, watches, jewelry, etc.[68]
Weekend Hashtag Project

The "Weekend Hashtag Project" is a series featuring designated themes and hashtags chosen by Instagram's Community Team.[69] Followers receive the weekend's project every Friday, and each project encourages participants to post creative photographs according to the designated theme each weekend.[69]
Features and tools

Users can upload photographs, connect their Instagram account to other social networking sites (which will enable the option to share uploaded photos to those sites), and follow other users' feeds.[70]

In 2012, Instagram created web profiles which allows users to use their Instagram account like a social media site. This gave users a web profile featuring a selection of recently shared photographs, biographical information, and other personal details. The web feed is a simpler version of the phone app, mimicking the look and feel users are already accustomed to.[71]
Filters

    Amaro
    Mayfair
    Rise
    Valencia
    Hudson
    X-Pro II
    Sierra
    Willow
    Lo-fi
    Earlybird
    Sutro
    Toaster
    Brannan
    Inkwell
    Walden
    Hefe
    Nashville
    1977
    Kelvin

Removed Filters

    Apollo (Removed in update 2.0)
    Gotham (Removed in update 2.0)
    Lily (Removed in update 1.0.6)
    Poprocket (Removed in update 1.0.6, reinstated in update 1.0.7, and again removed in update 2.0)

Criticism and lawsuits
Terms of use

On December 17, 2012 Instagram announced a change to its terms of use that caused a widespread outcry from its user base. The controversial clause stated: "you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."

There was no apparent option to opt out of the changed terms of use.[72]

The move garnered severe criticism from privacy advocates as well as consumers. After one day, Instagram apologized saying that it would remove the controversial language from its terms of use.[73] Kevin Systrom, a co-founder of Instagram, responded to the controversy, stating,

    Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear.[48]

Related products and services

    Instamap is an app available for iPad that allows users of Instagram to find photos based on their location or a hashtag. Results can be displayed in a gallery or linked to a map.[74]
    100 Cameras in 1 is an app available for iPhone users that provides additional effects for photos uploaded to Instagram.[74]
    Carousel, for Macs, provides a live feed of Instagram on the Mac.[74]
    Statigr.am is a free app that provides personal statistics related to Instagram, including number of followers, likes, and comments, along with usage statistics.[74]
    Instagram & Printing - Instaprint offers a device which can be rented for social gatherings that allows users to print photographs on Instagram.[74] Printsgram allows a user's Instagram collection to be printed as a poster or stickers.[74]
    Printic offers one of the easiest ways to print and share Instagram pictures from an iPhone. Pictures come in a vintage 3x4 inches (7.62x10.16 cm) format, with an orange envelope and a message for the recipient.[74]
    Socialmatic - a graphic design firm in Italy created a prototype for a physical digital camera, called the Socialmatic, with the housing designed to look like the Instagram icon. The camera is designed with 16 GB of storage, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability, the ability to interface with the Instagram app, and the ability to produce color prints. The project (apparently neither related to, nor officially commissioned or approved by, Instagram) seeks crowdfunding via Indiegogo, in order to be made available as a product.[75][76]
    Gramatica - app that gives Instagram users additional photo album options, such as: pinch/zoom, hide photo, and create lists.

Awards

Instagram was the runner-up for "Best Mobile App" at the 2010 TechCrunch Crunchies in January 2011.[77] In May 2011, Fast Company listed CEO Kevin Systrom at number 66 in the "The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011".[78] In June 2011, Inc. included co-founders Systrom and Krieger in its 2011 "30 Under 30" list.[79] Instagram won "Best Locally Made App" in the SF Weekly Web Awards in September 2011.[80] 7x7Magazine's September 2011 issue featured Systrom and Krieger on the cover of their “The Hot 20 2011” issue.[81] In December 2011, Apple Inc. named Instagram "App of the Year" for 2011