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How Shopatrend Used Instagram to Attract New Customers

The online clothing boutique leveraged their keen visual sense to market their company at little cost with Instagram.

By Samuel Greengard •

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Like the cost-conscious young women they seek to outfit, the owners of online clothing boutique Shopatrend have plenty of style but little money to spend, especially on business functions such as marketing. So sisters Jennifer, Elizabeth and Victoria Acosta, who started Shopatrend in September 2011, are leveraging their keen visual sense to market their company at little cost through social photo service Instagram.

"It is an extremely powerful marketing tool," Jennifer Acosta says. "What makes Instagram so valuable is that it provides immediate feedback about what people like and what they don't."

Los Angeles-based Shopatrend has more than 20,000 followers on Instagram, with about 1,000 new followers signing on to see the company's snaps each week. Subscribers view a steady stream of images on their smartphones or at Followgram, a web-based Instagram photo viewer. "It creates a unique relationship with our customers," Acosta says.

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Marketing Online Marketing Retail Businesses Social Media Marketing Photography Instagram

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