Image based social media networks such as Pinterest and Instagram can be a great asset to your business' marketing strategy, especially when they are effectively integrated into your current social media efforts. Since Pinterest and Instagram are two of the fastest growing social media networks today, and it's been proven that image posts create significantly more traction than posts without images, why wouldn't your business be taking advantage of this huge opportunity?

Just like other social media networks, Pinterest and Instagram are about creating, collecting, and sharing content that appeals to your business' target market in order to increase your reach, and hopefully, your sales. If your business doesn't sell a physical product, it may be hard for you to see the benefit of marketing with images. However, services or B2B companies can benefit still benefit from image marketing by sharing posts containing info-graphics, videos, or other kinds of content that creatively depict or relate to your business.

Check out these useful tips on effectively utilizing Pinterest and Instagram to market your business:

• Pinterest recently released Pinterest for Business, so companies can now make pages to connect with consumers in an easier and more direct way on Pinterest.

• Make your usernames easily searchable, such as by using your business' name, so online users can find you without difficulty.

• Similar to other SEO practices, add keywords to your Pinterest page's "About" section, in order to increase the visibility and "searchability" of your page. It also helps to completely fill out your Instagram profile, as well as providing links to your business' other social media pages so users can follow you on other social networks as well.

• Add a "Pin it" button to your website to encourage users to pin pages from your site directly onto their Pinterest boards. You can also add a "follow" button, so consumers on your website can easily follow your Pinterest boards in one step!

• Engage with other users! Follow and tag other users, check in to other business pages, re-pin posts from other users, and interact with people who are commenting on or tagging your business in their posts.

• Organize and re-order your boards so that the most important ones are first, and more likely to be seen by users. Also, choose a compelling image to be featured on the cover of each board!

• Post or share consistently in order to engage your followers, try to aim for 2-3 posts per day.

• Find and connect with users who are already using and/or talking about your business by searching through relevant hash tags (on Instagram) or board categories (on Pinterest).

The use of these image-focused social media networks can be a great addition to your inbound and content marketing strategies. You can also add onto your current social media strategy easily with these two networks, since you can share directly from Pinterest and Instagram to Facebook, Twitter, and even email. Don't let your business miss out on the benefits of these fast growing social media networks! Follow these tips and start marketing your business with images today.

Author Bio
John Boudreau, COO and Co-Founder of Astonish, has been in the insurance marketing and technology business for nearly 10 years. He works closely with local insurance agencies across the country to increase their share of the digital landscape through online marketing. John can be found on twitter @johnhboudreau.