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The word is out: Instagram is one of the most important marketing tools out there. With more than 500 million users, this social network is best geared towards small businesses who want to build their brand and engage new and existing customers.

It's important to have an arsenal of tools at your side so you can begin to unlock the unique marketing opportunities that social media platforms like Instagram can provide. You'll have to incorporate it into your existing workflow, but it's definitely worth the effort.

It's an exciting way to give your audience a visual idea about who you are. Using Instagram, you can share photos and videos with hashtags, allowing you to connect directly with your customers. The more you use it, the more you will learn how to create compelling content that will engage viewers and spark conversation online. Word of mouth is still the top way for people to learn about your brand, and this is one way to start a conversation by sharing your content across all platforms.

When it comes to marketing successfully, the only way to do it, is with a plan. Having a customized strategic game plan for your business means that you are utilizing your resources to their maximum capacity. And sometimes that means getting help externally, but usually some expert wisdom, advice and insight is all it takes to get your marketing plan to the next step: successful!

It's all about learning where to focus your time and to get the highest ROI from your marketing efforts. If you try to do that blind, without a plan in place then potential benefits or advantages that you might have in your market might get overlooked, since you might not know how to use the analytics you have or the expensive inbound marketing tool you've paid for. What good are they if you don't have a way to analyze and implement changes?

You need a customized plan that is well-suited for your specific business if you want to gain a better understanding of what needs to be done, how and why.

That's why it's smart to find a collaborative partner to help you gain a better understanding of what needs to happen to execute your marketing plan successfully, and that's when an experienced and savvy digital marketing agency can come in handy. 

Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at InsightSquared tells us (through the adjacent quote) to make the customers feel smart. And it makes perfect sense.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality tells us that the human psyche is structured into three parts—id, ego, and superego. How we think, feel, and behave are all a by-product of these three forces working together.

Since our everyday lives are impacted by the inner-workings of this complicated ensemble, it only makes sense that really great marketing and advertising taps into this powerful trio. Appealing to customers' egos and ultimately making them feel good about themselves continues as a solid marketing strategy.

So let’s take a look at some examples of how companies succeeded by listening to Joe and Freud:

Want to stay up-to-date about the latest news, updates and happenings in the world of online marketing? Subscribe to our mailing list for weekly updates. This week, we've compiled a list of the latest Facebook updates for the week ending March 4, 2017:

1) 5 Tips To Creating An Unbeatable Facebook Ad Campaign:

Are you trying to nurture leads through Facebook ad campaigns? This Kissmetrics blog post describes the tweaks that you should implement while running your ad campaigns. Follow these tips to improve your ad campaigns.

 2) How To Refine Your Facebook Audience For Better Ad Targeting:

Another great post related to Facebook ads is published by Social Media Examiner. This article explains how three Facebook custom audience segments can be built and analyzed.

Clamoring for new ideas to apply to your content marketing strategy? Get helpful content marketing insights from February's top five infographics:

Hyperfine Media reports that video ads increase purchase intent by 97% and increase brand association by 139%. With those numbers, it’s no wonder they also report video ad spending reaching $5.4 Billion by the end of 2016.

But, if you’re a marketer, you don’t need these stats to know that you need to incorporate video into your overall marketing strategy. You’re already doing it on some level. Whether you’re seeing the results you want may be a different story.

Flair Interactive’s Julie Lyons offered up a helpful checklist on making the most of your marketing videos in her April 2014 #TBT Blog, How to Enjoy Successful Video Marketing. Since video is truly in constant motion, I’ve assembled a few more pointers that can take your camera work to new levels.

Pinterest is being used by around 150 million people every month. If you're not using it for your business yet, it's worth a closer look. Here are the top five Pinterest news stories for the last week.

Instagram is a hot platform for businesses these days. With the evolution of this social media network, digital marketing has taken a new form. It is not just designed to share pictures, though. Instagram can be leveraged to turn your prospects into successful leads if it is used smartly.

More and more, little screens are stealing previous seconds of our attention, when we should be doing things like listening to a child, spouse or friend, working or even driving. Every day, the temptation to look at our mobile devices gets more addictive as people become more dependent on instant information and become masters of multitasking.

When you have so many distractions coming in from social media updates, live video, and non-stop streams of tempting click-bait digital content, it becomes harder and harder to market to your audience since you know their attention, just like yours is split up into many different areas. Not only will you have to catch their attention, you'll have to keep it as long as you can, and that's not very long.

Recently, it's been estimated that the average person is so distracted by their screens that they check their phone more than 1,500 times a week. So, if our attention spans as social beings have shrunk, it's no major shock. It's only last 8 seconds so you have to accomplish a lot in a little bit of time.

Keeping someone's attention and maintaining their concentration, to have them focused on your message is a massive deal. So, when it comes to marketing, capturing the attention of your audience is essential to developing a scheme that not only delivers your message but makes sure it's noticed and remembered.

 No matter where you land on the marketing spectrum, these helpful infographics will give you some bold new ideas for your 2017 projects and plans: