Lesya Liu says, “While Instagram is all the hype these days, a lot of small business owners are confused, or even lost, about the types of content they can publish. Thus, they miss out on a huge opportunity to find new followers and engage their existing customers. Contrary to a widespread belief, entrepreneurship and small business ownership is not so glamorous. Yes, we choose which 18 hours a day to work, but the allure ends there. Plus, inadequate budgets really limit the glamorous content production. An exhausted and overworked entrepreneur might not recognize the Instagram-worthy moments... [...]

Lesya Leu says, “Instagram is looking for more ways to monetize the platform and the astounding consumer reach it has. The photo-sharing app (hasn’t it become much more than that, though?) announced that it is experimenting with video ads within Stories with some of the biggest global advertisers. Of course, those posts will be marked with a “sponsored” sign. In an interview with Fortune, director of product marketing Jim Squires hinted at a “two or three-week test period” before making the feature fully available to all its active advertisers. Here, you might draw a comparison... [...]

Sujan Patel says, “Before I begin, I want to say, “Thank you, internet,” for spawning countless occupations that simply couldn’t exist without you: web designers, app developers, SEOs, and, of course, content marketers. Plenty of the roles suit both creatives and techies. Digital careers are relatively new and exciting, both for employees and employers. That is, aside from one small problem: How do you pinpoint the best candidate to fill a role that didn’t even exist a few years ago? We’re all familiar with the typical interview questions: – What are your weaknesses? –... [...]

Neil Patel says, “Solid content, packaged properly and promoted innovatively, is all it takes to create a blockbuster content marketing program. You know that and I know that. But what is that mysterious X-factor of a hugely viral piece of content that makes it ridiculously popular? Obviously, it’s a mix of many factors that depend on the business niche. There’s no one magic bullet. Many marketers tend to think in a rut when it comes to making standout content. Either they think that a viral piece of content is simply a stroke of good luck and cannot be intentionally generated. Or they... [...]

Monina Wagner says, “In a smartphone-centric world, everyone is a potential content creator. Yes, you need to have a good eye for composing a beautiful photo or capturing engaging video. But fortunately, mobile devices allow marketers the ability to grab moments unique to their brands with ease and at little cost. Visual content is a powerful way to attract attention in a noisy social world. And it’s no secret that Instagram is a mighty social network. With over 500 million active monthly users, Instagram provides a tremendous opportunity to share with your audience a complete view of your... [...]

Shubhomita Bose says, “Instagram has done it again. The Facebook-owned company has grown to more than 600 million users, adding its latest 100 million users in just the past six months. That’s Instagram’s fastest growth rate ever. Instagram Gains an Edge Over Snapchat What makes this milestone even more special is that it comes at a time when rival Snapchat has been growing more popular. To attract users, Snapchat has introduced a slew of new features such as Memories and groupchat. Meanwhile Instagram has rolled out updates to stay ahead of competition. Earlier this year, the company... [...]

Reuters team says, “Instagram’s user base rose to more than 600 million, the Facebook Inc. owned company said on Thursday, as new features helped it gain popularity. The photo-sharing app added 100 million users since June, when it last announced its 500 million user milestone, the company said in a blog post. Since then, the company launched Instagram Stories, its picture and video slideshow feature, identical to the signature function of rival Snap Inc.’s Snapchat. Instagram in September updated its safety tools by allowing users to control the comments posted on their pictures... [...]

Tom Brant says, “After wildly profitable but often controversial debuts on Facebook and Twitter, live video is coming to Instagram. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing app is adding the ability to broadcast live video streams as part of its Stories feature. Unlike live video posted to Facebook, though, it will disappear forever once you’re done streaming, which Instagram says is designed to make you “feel more comfortable sharing anything, anytime.” The now-defunct Meerkat live-streaming app had a similar setup; live broadcasts initially disappeared when they were... [...]

Luis Javier has released Instagram Marketing Secrets 2.0. This guide shows you how to use Instagram to pull traffic to any website, and to get it started right away. Instagram Marketing Secrets 2.0 shares strategies such as: • How to choose the best niches to promote on Instagram. • How to get highly targeted traffic from your Instagram Channel. • How to get the most subscribers to your Instagram Channel. • And a lot more. In this traffic guide, Javier shares these tips using a step-by-step process. It’s not hard; just seven steps. It’s as simple as “copy and paste.” Instagram... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Instagram may have arrived late as a traffic source for brands and publishers, but it’s already showing early signs of success, driving new visitors to their sites and even outperforming its parent company, Facebook. For years brands, publishers and other have tried to push people from the Facebook-owned photo-and-video-sharing app to their sites. Outside of ads, and excepting a recent test with some retailers, Instagram didn’t offer much help to companies looking to use it to drive traffic. So they had to find workarounds. They put links in their Instagram bios.... [...]