Founded in October 2010, Instagram has grown tremendously fast; gaining millions of users in just 2 years. 40 million photos are uploaded every day, which generates 1,000 comments per second – despite its closed-loop nature. Unlike other social media, you cannot share other user’s posts (only to your Instagram stories). I’m sure you’ve seen all the young people with their smartphones, all they care about is Instagram and popsockets!
Nonetheless, Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia believes in the app’s potential being a consumption platform. According to him, if investors, brands and businesses are willing to pay millions to scale through magazine printouts before, why doubt Instagram’s capacity? Instagram reached a billion users in June 2018. I’ve seen YouTubers who only talk about popsockets, Snapchat and… you guessed it: Instagram. Everyone wants a piece of it.
Statistics showed how good Instagram could potentially be as a marketing tool, could it help out in recruitment too? Many companies have proven that the answer to that is yes. Many recruiters are doing just that these days – using Instagram to find their new colleagues. Many of the freelance talents that can be found through Instagram are photographers, fashion designers, stylists, producers, financial advisors, and models.
Upon hiring, how do you sustain the employee’s productivity and drive? Here’s how to use Instagram to engage with your employees:
- By providing inspiration
Following how Instagram communicates, it’s a small-format gallery, in essence, filled with tantalizing, alluring and provocative images that you could like or comment on. This way, you could post a motivating quote each morning in a community you have made with a hashtag #empoweringyourcompany or #yourcompanywarriors. Also, this could provide for a lenient channel between you (the boss) and your employees, because they could react and ‘like’ the motivating photo of the morning or leave a comment. For a localized saturation of the best delegates in the area, you could add a hashtag for the location or the state’s name. (i.e. #Texas #SiliconValley #HongKongTradeandDevelopmentCenter)
- By being proud of your team
Showcase the people behind the good company you run. Besides the fact that this could help sustain their grit and the right momentum, prospective candidates can perceive this rather valuable. It might make them happy on behalf of the current employees you have, and maybe make them want to join the company. When your employees, too, are given good feedback, they are more likely to repeat the same efficiency. It’s good to feature them to boost their capacity even more. Therefore, providing your company with great feedback overall.
- By showcasing the product, work or service
Post about what you do on a daily basis. This lets the employees know that they are valued, by the way, they carry the company’s reputation, the way they market themselves and the name of the company and how they treat, not only the customers but also the product or service. The post will serve as an instant accreditation that what they have been working on is great. Encourage them by letting them know that the content will serve as part of their portfolio too. Providing strong proof of what they contributed to the company has much more impact than just reading about it.
- Authenticity is key
Some employees sacrifice a lot when climbing the ladder of success. As an employer, you have also invested plenty of skills, both career-wise and the people. These daily practices and a gallery of experience could leave an impact on how your employees view you. It could be reflective of how you work. Or it could be fake and false. What do you think sounds better? Either way, you may establish something deeper for yourself, and others’ view of you. As it serves as proof that you are human after all, your followers cannot doubt the fact that they could end up as an employer or a leader, like you. It could be a key for them to work harder for the company.
An Instagram account in itself is a channel used to showcase what your company has. It could speak a thousand words, even if it’s just a set of uploaded images. You can be creative here, as it will represent whatever purpose you have in mind; advertisement, communication or engagement.