Today, social media is an essential part of a business. Social media platforms gives businesses of all sizes exposure to their clients and potential clients. Sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat keep companies connected and interactive with their consumers and Instagram just made it easier for business to do just that.
In the first week of June, Instagram announced that it’s going to supply businesses with even more tools to connect with their customers via Instagram’s new business tools. Instagram posted on their business blog that in the next few months they are going to be releasing three new features that are designed to help businesses reach their consumers. The dashboard includes three new options: Business Profile, Insights, and Promote. Let’s talk about what they do:
Business Profile
Instagram is giving companies the option to have a business profile that gives the customers the direct opportunity to contact them. On the home screen where the “Follow” or “Following” button is, the business profile offers a “Contact” button. The contact button prompts a pop up that gives people the option to “Call”, “Get Directions”, or “Email” the business. Companies can directly link all of this information, giving people the opportunity to instantly get in touch with the business.
Insights
The Insights tool is a function that allows businesses to see the demographics and success of their posts through numbers, directly from the app. When a company posts a photo on Instagram, they can see how their followers react. It shows them who their followers are and what they like through analytics. This is a very important tool for businesses, so they can make sure that they are connecting with the consumer and they are enjoying the content.
Promote
The Promote tool allows companies to take a top performing Instagram post and turn it into a “Take Action” ad right within the app. With the Insights tool companies can see which posts are doing the best, then select one or more to turn into an ad. The company can choose their target audience for the particular ad or let Instagram do it for them. Once the post is turned into an ad, all within the app, it will be promoted for however long they desire. These ads can lead people to the business profile, creating more traffic and opportunities for them to connect.
The business dashboard is set to release in the U.S, Australia, and New Zealand in the next few months and issued worldwide by the end of this year.
The new business dashboard is not the only thing that Instagram has recently released. In March of 2015 they announced “Carousel Ads” which gives businesses the ability to take 3-5 pictures and merge them all into one post. When you are scrolling through Instagram, the post will pop up and you can scroll left to right through multiple photos in that singular post.
This allows businesses to tell more of a complete story or idea within one post. And in May it was announced that the Carousel Ads can now be done with videos. Instagram allows up to 60 seconds per video, so companies can have up to 5 minutes of content per Carousel video Ad.
All of these new tools are excellent opportunities to further immerse a business in social media so it can reach as many customers as possible. If you are a business and are interested in using the new business profile on Instagram but don’t really know how or don’t have the time to manage it all, you can contact your advertising agency for advice and services.
Integrated Advertising Inc. is a full service agency based in Jacksonville, FL that can help you with all aspects of promoting a company. We are known for our expertise in strategic planning and negotiating, our award-winning commercial production, and promotional and event management. Visit http://www.intadvertising.com/ or call (904) 296-2585 for more information.
