Industry Best Practices How do you use Instagram to build your business?

“I love using Instagram to connect with editors and freelance writers. I tend to find more press opportunities on Twitter and Facebook, but Instagram is where I go to focus on cultivating media relationships. I find that Instagram shows more of a human side to our respective companies, so the connection is more authentic.”- Meghan Ely, OFD Consulting,Richmond, Va.“We started using Instagram four months ago and already have more than 4,000 followers! We are surprised at how brides, and girls who are going to celebrate their Sweet XV (in South America we celebrate 15, not 16), follow us on Instagram and comment on every picture—be it a party, a ceremony, or an event detail.”- Barbara Diez, MWP™, Barbara Diez Event Planners, Buenos Aires, Argentina “Instagram creates awareness and a visual identity for #brookshireweddings. We post pictures that highlight our favorite moments, facility updates, and new blog posts. Consistently using local hashtags as well as our own hashtag has helped build followers who are potential clients.”- Jennifer Patterson, Brookshire, Delaware, Ohio“Here in NYC, I officiate destination weddings for #brides visiting The Big Apple. Many tourists only have Wi-Fi signals in their hotel rooms, and #WeddingPlannerTeam #WeddingDay Instagram posts help friends and family overseas instantly enjoy #JustMarried and #Elopement pics!- Rev. Annie Lawrence, @RevAnnieNYC,New York, N.Y.“In one year, we have grown our followers to almost 3,000. We also book parties directly from our activity on Instagram. In addition, customers use our site to choose designs and cookies they like for their event. Our strategy is to use Instagram to post pictures of parties and events we have done. We also use it to connect on a more personal level with our followers by posting pictures of [us] as we go about our busy day.”- Davii Mandel, Mi Chicas Catering & Events, Spring Valley, N.Y.“We have listed our ‘Insta’ account on everything and are working to build that. Usually, we try to keep it to showing new product and imprinted product that we create. Slowly but surely, we will add more of our couples and events to increase interest. I try to follow as many professionals in the area as well and get followed by pros and prospective clients alike.”- Denise Buzy-Pucheu, The Persnickety Bride, Sandy Hook, Conn.“Instagram has become an essential tool. We use it to keep our followers informed of our current events and to increase our presence with viewers by using hashtags from the venue. The hashtags allow prospective brides, checking out a venue, to see our product in the space. This is visual confirmation that we are the company for them.”- Lisa Anhaiser, LBL Events Design & Rentals, Stafford, Texas“Instagram is an easy and popular way for brides and grooms to share photos and information about their wedding, so it’s important for wedding businesses to be strategic in marketing. I suggest establishing hashtag(s) for any photos you post (in our case, we always include #njwedding and #njweddings for consistency). That way, your photos will be aggregated and viewed in a newsfeed when someone clicks on any of those hashtags. Post often, share interesting content, be creative with your hashtags, and you will get new followers to grow your business!”- Erik Kent, NJWedding.com, Belle Mead, N.J.“Instagram is a great tool that helps grow my business. I not only use it to showcase weddings that I have planned, but I also use it as a way to share ideas and trends. A piece of advice: Always double check spelling before posting!”- Gina Castillo-Alvarez, Cartegena Team Bride, Cartagena, Colombia“At Enchanted Weddings By Design, we love interacting with our current clients, future clients, and followers through Instagram. Instagram is a great visual tool, which allows us to tell a visual story of the planning process. We highlight venue walk-throughs, food tastings, and design sessions. We also utilize posts to share ideas that may help our followers in the planning of their big day!”- Yolanda Holliday, Pwp™, EnchantedWeddings by Design, Charlotte, N.C.“[We] encourage clients to create a personalized hashtag for their wedding. We create signage to place around at the wedding, to encourage guests to post pictures from the wedding. At the end of the night, the couple has a library of pictures of their wedding on Instagram that they can view and share with friends and family.”- Dalia Atisha, The Event Planner, Inc., Royal Oak, Mich.“Couples and potential clients like to know the full person, not just the ‘wedding business face’ . . .So, I post a mixture of images on Instagram—details from weddings (my future couples say they love using this for ideas of their own), fun things I’m up to in my downtime, travel, and inspirational images. And I think of useful, searchable hashtags to add.”- Bethel Nathan, Ceremonies by Bethel and Elevate by Bethel, San Diego, Calif.“We use Instagram to inspire, motivate, and educate! Using unique and zany hashtags has definitely become a best practice for us when building our business with Instagram. Using hashtags such as #ManCrushMonday to showcase our grooms or #TalkAboutItTuesday to pose a question and engage with our followers has been a huge component of our success and a way to gain clients that found us on Instagram and then decided to check us out further. Now that’s definitely a #WinningWednesday!”- Jon’ll Boyd, MBA, Completely Yours Events, Alexandria, Va.“We use Instagram to post images of our events. We get more likes and comments there than we do on Facebook, so it has been an excellent source of PR! We choose shots that are beautiful and help us tell the story about what made each event special. We have made some great vendor and client contacts via Instagram. It is by far our favorite social media tool right now.”- Merryl Brown, CWP™, Merryl Brown Events, Montecito, Calif.“Brides and grooms regularly come to us after finding a #flowersbycina design through an Instagram hashtag. Pushing our posts into the correct Instagram hashtag searches and categories allows engaged couples to search via keywords for what they imagine their dream wedding to be - and up comes Flowers by Cina!”- Melissa Mcgowan, Flowers By Cina, Garden Grove/Costa Mesa, Calif.