Lauren Orsini says, “Nine short months after the image-sharing site hit the 200 million user milestone, Instagram reports it now has 300 million users. “Over the past four years, what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community that shares more than 70 million photos and videos each day,” the social network’s blog post said. The latest numbers have prompted TechCrunch blogger Josh Constine to note that Instagram has now surpassed Twitter by user count, though keep in mind that Twitter has 284 million active users, while Instagram did not say which percentage of... [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “As Facebook continues to ease the way businesses pay-to-play on its network, its other social network Instagram has notoriously kept marketers at a much further arm’s length. Things are starting to change though. If you’re a Facebook user you will have been updated this week on its new terms and conditions. These relate mainly to privacy and giving its users more control over ads. Part of this control includes the introduction of a cross-device ‘opt-out’ button, which allows users to better manage the ads they see on mobile and desktop and location based targeting.... [...]

Jason Abbruzzese says, “If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a 15-second video has to be worth quite a bit more. Instagram has launched its first video ads, adding another entry into the lucrative but increasingly crowded market. Disney, Activision and Banana Republic are among the first companies to have autoplay videos featured on the Facebook-owned platform, according to Adweek. Brands have already been producing videos on Instagram that are seen only by those who follow their corporate accounts. Now, Instagram is pushing ads into feeds”. Your Instagram feed will now be filled with... [...]

Matt Close & Maureen Blandford say, “Sales and marketing alignment means different things to different people. The obvious goal is to get marketing and sales teams to agree on what constitutes qualified leads and form a relatively friction-free relationship in which everyone speaks the same language; however, the unfortunate reality is that intricacies specific to each effort require dedicated attention, and expected contention between the two divisions can prevent or delay progress. What often occurs is that the sales team complains that the marketing team isn’t generating enough... [...]

Ryan Stewart says, “Fast-growing Instagram has exploded to over 200 million monthly active users in just three years. And although millions of businesses have joined Instagram, few have successfully figured out how to harness the popularity of the image-based social platform. With not many advertising options available for marketers who’d like to use Instagram, a growing trend is the use of influencers—Instagrammers with a large following—to help with marketing efforts. Influencer marketing is not a new concept. You’ve probably seen it before on blogs, Facebook Pages, Twitter,... [...]

Kelly Shepsco says, “Instagram. Everyone loves it. It’s one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, because it focuses on visual content. In fact, 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual—and visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text. It’s no wonder why there are more than 75 million active daily users on the platform. You can share your thoughts and ideas through photography and video, and with the use of filters and other photo-editing capabilities, you can transform your photos into little pieces of artwork for the world to see“. 5... [...]

Edwyn Raine says, “I have found it virtually impossible to find credibleInstagram accounts around marketing and digital topics, why is this? For someone who works in social media, I was restrained to get involved with the Instagram hype. Having been a Twitter user since near launch, I regarded them as fairly similar products and didn’t really want to condemn myself to even more social network hours a day. However, my love of food got the better of me and now, as an avid Instagrammer, I do not look back”. Three Instagram accounts every marketer and designer should follow ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

Janette Speyer says, “Are you using Instagram for your company? If not, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. Not only will your business enjoy showcasing your products, but you will also be able to use it as a tool for media outreach. Instagram continues to be one of the hottest social media tools and it’s growing daily. The platform now has over 200 million users according to an article published on its corporate blog. Companies are finally using its virtual communities to get to the right people“. Maximizing Instagram For PR Outreach Business2Community.com  [...]

Martin Beck says, “The marriage between social media and e-commerce still isn’t official, but it seems like every week they take a least a few steps closer to the altar. And while the major social networks in the space — Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest — continue treading cautiously, one company has created a solution that works today on Instagram. It’s not quite seamless — customers still have to maneuver through a few hoops to buy products from their Instagram feeds — but Curalate’s Like2Buy is pretty slick”. Curalate Brings E-Commerce To Instagram; Nordstrom... [...]

Allison Howen says, “Instagram is finally getting down to business, as the social network has announced that it is beginning to roll out a suite of business tools for advertisers. According to the company, the business tools will enable advertisers to better understand the performance of both their paid and organic content. It is important to note, however, that Instagram initially launched ads for a handful of brands back in October and the functionality has still been not released to the public. That said, the company notes that these new business tools will be released to more brands... [...]