There is a growing movement for businesses to turn online in their bid to get in touch with their customers and build a greater and more personal connection with them. Similarly, this move to focusing on online promotion is one that could lead to an increase in understanding and identifying potential new customers. There is also the likely prospect of being able to conduct market research by moving online as there are many people all around the world who are connected to the Internet in some shape or form and who use it on a daily basis. While the Internet has been around for a long time and most businesses use it to some extent in their endeavours, it is constantly evolving and businesses need to be aware of this if they want to continue attracting new customers.

The evolution of the Internet, and how businesses and customers use it, has seen a lot of changes in the way people shop and research products online. This leads to a wealth of information and possibilities being available online, as well as a series of various trends which come and go as one service or method appears to take hold for a certain time. On the other hand, other services and approaches have appeared which stood the test of time and appear to be sticking around for the foreseeable future. These methods attract a lot of attention given their initial success while others are more sceptical. However, once it becomes clear that they aren't a fad and they will keep going for a while longer, even more numbers flock their way to get a piece of what is on offer. Easily, the most important of these online services at the moment is the social network Instagram.

Instagram is a social network where its users share images with other users. The focus is on images from users' lives and the impact they can have, with text being pushed to the side. It originally appeared in 2010 on iPhones only before being relased for Androids in 2012. It was bought by Facebook in 2012 and, ever since it has been growing at an incredible rate, with the number of active monthly users rising from one hundred million in February 2013 to one billion in June 2018. With such a large share of Internet users, it is only natural that companies who keep their eye on online trends are paying attention to what is happening with Instagram. The number of businesses with Instagram profiles is around twenty-five million and it is estimated that about 80% of all Instagram users follow at least one business. It is plain to see that using Instagram for promoting your business could be a fruitful venture as it puts your company in a shop window where hundreds of millions of people are having a look.

The allure of Instagram for businesses is the knowledge that it can bring a lot of attention a business' way has meant that a series of websites have popped up which offer the chance to pay for features that can be used on the social network. For example, it is possible to buy Insta likes or comments which you can then add to your posts or content. You can also use these websites to pay other real Instagram users to become your followers and engage with your account and its content in the same way they would with any other one. But why are businesses feeling the need to do this? What are the possible benefits that could arise from doing this?

Instagram's algorithm places a lot of emphasis on the importance of interaction and engagement with other Instagram users. This interactions refers to acts such as liking other user's content, commenting on their posts and engaging them in conversations, viewing videos or pictures that are added to Instagram and following particular accounts, whereby you will get regular access to the account's updates. The combination of all these different features is what Instagram take into account when they evaluate your level of popularity. This has important repercussions on a greater stage as the accounts which are more popular become visible to more users and this gives them the chance to develop a more natural progression. The more popular an account is, the more attention it gets and, inevitably, the more interaction it will have, therefore continuing the process of growth.

If you are a business which has opted to use Instagram for promotional or marketing reason then you also need to think up a strategy which will help you get the most out of it. The simplest approach is identifying the area you want to focus on and aiming your content and your account in that direction. This approach involves posting content that is relevant and making the most of hashtags related to the area when preparing a post. Find out what are the most relevant hashtags for your company as well as which are the most popular ones and incorporate them into your posts. Another idea is to follow companies or Instagram accounts which operate in a similar area to you as you will get an idea of your competition and will also be able to attract some of their followers your way as undoubtedly they will be looking for more ideas related to the field.