There are more than 400 million active users on Instagram every month, and every day 3.5 billion photos are liked. Use Instagram for business purposes in the right way, and you could have an instant viral marketing success. Use it wrong, and your efforts on the site could be a big empty fail.

You can use Instagram to tell a visual story about your brand, instantly engage with your followers wherever they are, and even get very real user-generated content through hashtag photo contests.

Setting Up Your Instagram Account

1. Create your Instagram for Business account – It’s easy to make a business account on Instagram.

2. Make a business username – Use your business name as your username. If it is taken, choose a username that is instantly recognized with your brand.

3. Complete your profile – Include a cool, branded photo, a short informative bio, and a link to your website.

4. Connect your account to Facebook – Instagram is owned by Facebook. Connect these two very powerful social media sites to boost your marketing efforts.

5. Pick a scheduling platform for your content – A personal favorite of mine is Later, which makes it super easy to upload and schedule the content I’m planning to post.