Instagram has gone from an app that shares puppy photos with vintage-themed filters, to a marketing tool that savvy businesses are taking advantage of. The photo-sharing giant has a billion monthly active users, making it an ideal online marketplace.

Many business owners believe they should be promoting their organization in as many places as possible. Realistically, however, updating social media statuses without proper planning and strategy could do more harm than good. Read on to understand how timing is everything in social media marketing.

There are no one-size-fits-all options when it comes to the right social media platform for your small- or medium-sized business. Facebook might be the biggest name in social media networks, but there are trendier platforms like Instagram and Twitter that millennial customers usually prefer.

More teenagers are leaving Facebook for other online platforms that feature images or videos and give them more control over who can be their friends. Based on a new Pew Research Center survey, only 51% of US teens are using Facebook. By contrast, 69% of US teens were reported to be using Snapchat, 72% Instagram, and 85% YouTube.

Regardless of your company's size, social media marketing is a fickle tool you can't afford to ignore, especially if your business targets Generation Z customers. Read on to discover five ways to get the most out of your social media.
#1. Choose the right platform
Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to choose from, you may be tempted to sign up for more social media accounts than you’re ready to manage.

Big-name social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are more interactive and responsive than ever. However, these platforms now have a plan to move another step forward in 2018. Here are the top 5 trends you should watch out for this year.

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of social media is Facebook and for good reason. Not only does it boast the most users, but it also has the biggest reach and cultural impact. Since there is no one-size-fits-all social media platform, it’s imperative for small- and medium-sized businesses to examine their options before making an investment.

Behind the application is the business, and behind the business is the need to drive revenue. With Stories, Instagram aims to capitalize on their platform and the enormous consumer reach it has -- an impressive following of over 600 million monthly active users.

From being an emerging app that allows sharing photos of puppies in vintage-themed filters, Instagram has transformed into a marketing tool that savvy businesses ought to have. The photo-sharing giant now has more than 500 million users, making it an ideal online marketplace.

“Double-tapping” is a phrase used to describe the liking of photos on Instagram, as a business you’d want to get as many double-taps as you can, but how? Should you invest in buying followers or start an excavation project in search of the genie lamp your parents buried in the backyard? Before breaking out the shovels, try these recently-announced tools to help make your company’s presence on Instagram a valuable one:
Business profile pages
Previously, it was hard for Instagram users to distinguish an account belonging to a business from one that is dedicated to cats, but with the Business Profile feature, that’s a problem of the past.