Instagram. It’s a platform many of you have heard of and may be personally using, but how many of you use it to market your business?

With 80 million users and counting, this social media platform is nothing to brush off. The power of this free mobile photo-sharing app even caught the eye of Facebook, who acquired the company in April of this year. Additionally, Instagram has been redesigned for iOS and has been added to the Hootsuite platform. This photo-sharing gem is here to stay.

Now that we’ve established the impact of Instagram in the world of social media, let us allow SocialMedia Examiner to walk us through 10 creative ways to use Instagram to market your business:

1. Show Your Products: Think of Instagram like old-fashioned window shopping upgraded for the digital world. People love to browse products online. Take photos of your lesser known products or something new on the market. Zoom in on your well-known products to see if your followers can guess which product it is. Own a services-oriented business? Show off your favorite piece of equipment. Rogue Ales is a great example of a company who shows off their products.
2. Show How It’s Made: Everyone wants to know how their favorite products are made. Show the public what they want to know! Snap pictures throughout the manufacturing process. If you have a long process, turn your photos into an Instagram series. It will keep your consumers coming back for more. Even better, you can follow in the footsteps of Oliver Winery who used an outside app to create a collage of photos to show how they bottle their wine. 
3. Go Behind the Scenes: Are you in the process of launching a new product? Are you attending media interviews? Are you shooting promotional campaigns or commercials? Share your photos of those experiences on Instagram. Nordstrom recently shared a snapshot of the production of their latest catalog to 27K followers.
4. Show What Your Products Can Do: “Use Instagram to create demand by helping consumers imagine new or novel uses for what you offer.” You know what your products can do, but what can your consumer do with your products? Ask for user-generated content, pick your favorite or favorites and then post them on Instagram. If you own a services business, your business will benefit from the use of before and after photos. Sephora recently implemented this idea with a product that many women don’t have in their makeup bags.
5. Give a Sneak Peak: Everyone loves to know what the new “it” thing is. Give your Instagram followers the inside track on your new products and services or provide tours of your new facilities. Keen recently shared a photo of the progress being made on their new headquarters.
6. Show Your Office: Many consumers would love to work at their favorite brands. Give them a taste of what the atmosphere is like. Share appropriate content from around the office, whether it be your employees, your corporate perks or your brainstorming sessions. Zappos recently shared a cubicle shot that is quite colorful.
7. Take Us With You: Is your company sponsoring an event? Are you sending representatives to a trade show? Take your audience with you and show them where you’ve been and what you support. The MLS’ Seattle Sounders shared a shot of the team hanging out with their luggage at the airport.
8. Introduce Your Employees: Add the human element to your brand by spotlighting your employees. Your employees will be happy to be recognized and your followers will get a glimpse behind the scenes at the people who bring them their favorite projects. Make sure you include a punchy caption too for a little added fun. Keen just shared an awesome shot of their spreadsheet queen.
9. Share Celebrity Sightings: Everyone loves to hear about where and when celebrities have been sighted. If you see them at an event you’re sponsoring, wearing your product or touring your facilities, share this sighting with your consumers. People will be talking about these photos for days. Sony Electronics recently shared a shot of Maroon 5 signing autographs at their event.
10. Share the Cuteness: There is a reason that cat videos have gone viral and Cute Overload has a huge number of page views. Share any animal event, whether it is a pet visiting the office, an animal being used in your promotional materials or an animal wearing your product. These photos are pure gold. Just ask The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. They shared a photo of a dog wearing one of their t-shirts.

If you don’t have an Instagram account, the MyKozmo team recommends getting one soon. If you already have one, start using it to your full potential. You never know which photo can help take your brand to the next level.