Ten years ago, social networks were limited to a fraction of what we have today. Basically, there were Facebook and LinkedIn, and even on those, social media marketing had hardly started. Fast forward a decade, and there are dozens of social networks out there, people spend their lives staring at smart phones, and social media marketing has become one of the best small business marketing tools out there.

Instagram is one of the better known networks, and it can be a great tool, but let’s take a closer look at how and why you might want to consider using it for home contractor promotion.

Why Is Instagram a Good Marketing Tool?

Research has shown, time and again, that social media marketing that makes use of images and video is more likely to generate user interaction. This is true on Facebook and Twitter as well as other platforms, and it certainly does make the case for Instagram.

Social media is a visual form of marketing, and platforms like Instagram, being image-based, are perfectly positioned to take advantage of that.

How Does Instagram Work?

If you’ve used another social network, then the basics of Instagram should be easy to master. The site is free to join, and users create a user name, add a profile and an image. Businesses generally use their logo as their profile image.

Once you have an account, other Instagram users can find you based on your name, interests or location, and they can follow your account. When they do, they will see your images in their news feed. It’s a typical social network format, and anyone who has spent time on any other sites should master the mechanics without too much trouble. All you need is a smart phone to take pictures and upload them!

How Can Instagram Work for Contractors?

The big question many contractors have about Instagram is how they can use it to market their services. Since building is very much about esthetics, the answer is quite a lot. Here are some of the ways you can use Instagram to promote your services:

• Post snapshots of your crews looking professional in their safety gear.
• Take pictures of happy customers when you hand over their keys.
• Post project lifecycle pictures of major contracts you have undertaken.
• When you come across shoddy workmanship (on other sites of course) post them with an explanation of what you would have done differently.

Any visual evidence you can provide of your company’s competence and experience will help to build your brand, and if you can inject a little bit of fun into your pictures, you’re well on your way to a winning Instagram marketing strategy.

Instagram is perfect for industries like construction, where customers want social proof of what you can deliver. What better way to convince them than through social media marketing that literally shows them pictures of your abilities?

If you haven’t explored Instagram or social media marketing yet, then this may well be a great place to start building your online reputation, gaining followers, and bringing internet users into your online sales funnel.