Week 7 Part B: How Other Business Use Instagram

    Most of my classmates are doing similar things to me. They are asking questions to get more engagement and post things that are eye-catching to get people's attention. I have also seen some videos being posted. I have also seen people post stories, these I think can help a lot because it shows that they are active. So far, I haven't posted videos or used stories, but I want to so I can try out different things that Instagram has to offer. I also think it will help to try different things to see what works better for me and allows me to get more followers.

    I noticed that businesses that sold products were more likely to use pictures rather than videos and businesses that sold services used videos more often than the businesses that sold products. However, both of them used pictures more than videos. I think it makes sense that businesses that sold services had more videos because they would want to show their service being done in the video and show how it would be done. Businesses that sell products mostly posted pictures of their products because they want to show them and don't really need to show how they are being created.

     From looking at how other businesses use Instagram to succeed, I have noticed that a lot of businesses use videos to show more of what they want people to see. I think one of the biggest reasons is that pictures limit what you can show in your posts. Sure, you could have multiple pictures, but having a video is more attention-grabbing and has the ability to showcase more things. This could help you get more engagement on your post, it could allow your post to be seen by more people, and it can help you grow your page. I think that this is why a lot of businesses choose to also post videos as well as pictures on their Instagram.

    Another thing I noticed that I could do to help my business is replying to people who leave a comment on my posts. I have seen many businesses that don't do this, they don't reply or try to connect to the people who engage with their posts. I don't necessarily think it hurts their business, but I do think that they could be getting a lot more engagement and happy followers if they tried to help, reply, answer questions, or connect with their followers. These businesses could also learn from what their customers like or dislike from reading and asking them what they think of a certain thing or what products or services they want.

    A lot of the businesses that I saw are mostly just promoting and showcasing their products or services. I noticed that businesses that only posted promotional material didn't get as many likes or comments as others that maybe tried to make it a bit harder to tell that the post was just an ad. It could have also been that the businesses that made it harder to tell that a post is an ad made their posts a bit more interesting and would easily get more attention from people if they were to put it next to other boring posts that are clearly meant to promote something. I can use this information to help me make posts that will be more interesting and engaging.

(Only two of my group members had their Instagram link posted at the time of me writing this, so I commented on other classmates that aren't in my group as well.)

Pages I commented on:

Maximiliano Hidalgo Solano

California Rahd Patches: https://www.instagram.com/california_rad_patches/

Alexis Morgan

A Little Press and No Stress: https://www.instagram.com/alittlepressnostress/

Emmanuel Garcia

Dojo's Taco Stand: https://www.instagram.com/dojostacos/

Towa Mitzuno

Suzuken Clothing: https://www.instagram.com/suzuken04/