I love Instagram. Not only can I keep up with my niece and three nephews, but Instagram requires very little reading—it’s like a digital picture book I never get tired of flipping through. One other thing I love about Instagram that not many people realize is that it’s also a great place to find coupons and deals.
Read on to learn how to ferret out coupons, deals, sales and freebies using Instagram!
4 Ways to save with Instagram
Each of these savings tools can be used alone—or combined to maximize results (for instance, by searching a particular brand or person's Instagram for specific hashtags).
1. Follow your favorite brands and stores.
Instagram is wildly popular—as such, brands and stores are working hard to build a presence there to share recipes, coupons, discounts and more. But what makes Instagram a bit harder to use is that you can't just look at the pictures to find the deals.
Here’s how to find deals on Instagram:
- First, navigate to the brand (look for the magnifying glass symbol, click there, then type in the brand name and click on the link from the list that will pop up).
- Next, click on the three horizontal lines to navigate to the picture-by-picture view.
- Below each picture you will see a description—this is where you can find deals and instructions for redeeming those deals.
- You may see discounts, coupon codes, sales alerts, clearance alerts and other deals here.
10 Great brands to follow:
- Whole Foods: http://instagram.com/wholefoodsmarket/
- Dunkin Donuts: http://instagram.com/dunkindonuts/
- Foodzie: http://instagram.com/foodzie
- Starbucks: http://instagram.com/starbucks
- Toms: http://instagram.com/toms/
- Warby Parker: http://instagram.com/warbyparker
- Kmart: http://instagram.com/kmart
- Costco: http://instagram.com/costco
- TJ Maxx: http://instagram.com/tjmaxx
- Macy's: http://instagram.com/macys
2. Use hashtag searches.
Hashtags (the "#" sign) are traditionally considered a "Twitter thing." But hashtags work in Instagram searches as well. You can just look for the little magnifying glass-looking symbol inside Instagram and type in #(word) to search.
10 Best hashtag searches (and the number of posts associated with each):
- #clearance: 303,372 posts
- #sale: 13,482,036 posts
- #discount: 823,918 posts
- #deal: 648,625 posts
- #coupon: 696,891
- #coupons: 1,267,339 posts
- #couponing: 1,149,988 posts
- #freebies: 289,291 posts
- #extremecouponing: 1,066,944 posts
- #freestuff: 272,607 posts
3. Follow the right people and apps.
Did you know KCL is on Instagram? If you find someone on Instagram who faithfully posts deals and shares couponing and sales-scouting tips, follow that person and capitalize on their wisdom!
Examples of people and apps to follow:
- The Krazy Coupon Lady (of course!): http://instagram.com/thekrazycouponlady
- Martha Stewart: http://instagram.com/marthastewart
- Ibotta: http://instagram.com/ibotta
- Checkout51: http://instagram.com/checkout51
4. Search "couponers” to find other people who coupon that you can follow (or use #couponcommunity – 1,424,355 posts to date).
As you continue to search and explore on Instagram, you can connect with couponers who share your money-saving goals—this is a very individual search, but with a little persistence (and the right hashtags—for instance, #couponcommunity #grocerycoupons) you will soon discover some neat folks to follow.
How Instagram deals can save you funds
Like other social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter), Instagram gives you instant access to coupon codes, discounts, deals and sales—with a link that takes you directly to the applicable page for more information.
Instagram is also a great platform to snag one-day-only and other limited time offers, since it caters to people who tend to log in daily.
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