New to Instagram? Thinking about starting an account for your practice or shop? Now's the perfect time to start, as Instagram is used by more than 400 million people worldwide. Many optical retailers have already jumped on the Instagram train, with great results.
Here, we get you started with an easy beginner's tutorial.

• Step One: Sign up for a free account and start “following” companies or people that interest you and your business. Obvious targets would be your favorite suppliers, optical organizations and events, and other local businesses.

• Step Two: Next, you need to attract followers (your customers or patients) to your Instagram account. Some easy ways to build your followers include e-mailing your customer base offering a 15-percent-off coupon to the first 100 people who follow your Instagram, or running a photo-sharing contest in which your customers post a photo of themselves in their new eyewear.
(Free graphic design websites, such as Canva, offer ready-made ads and promotional materials that are simple to tailor and upload to Instagram or other social media.)

• Step Three: Start posting content that speaks to your brand identity, also sharing info on events, sales, contests, and clients in their new eyewear.

• Step Four: What about #hashtags? Hashtags organize photos posted on Instagram into easily searchable groups, such as #visionexpoeast or #funphotos. Experts say when you post a photo, you should mark it with no more than three hastags, but that rule is often ignored. The most popular hashtags include #picoftheday, #happy, #follow, and #me.