Instagram recently announced that it will begin rolling out business profiles to users in select markets. These updated tools will be available to companies of all sizes and will provide insights to help them better understand and attract followers to continue to grow their business. Although companies have already been using standard Instagram accounts as a way to showcase their product offerings, company updates, office space and team members, this new tool will offer different features to help companies better engage with their target audiences. A few of the new tools include:
- Contact button. This addition makes it easy for current and prospect followers/customers to speak with an employee at the company. Businesses can choose how followers can contact them (i.e. via call, text or email) – enabling a private and direct-line of communication between the two parties.
- Analytics tool – This feature enables businesses to view impressions, reach, website clicks, engagement, follower activity and demographics. Through viewing these metrics, the company can better understand the types of posts that are resonating best with their audience/followers.
- Promote tool – This update allows the business to turn a popular post into an advertisement within the app. The “promote” tool is only accessible to Business Profiles – the user who converts the post must have admin-level access and the ads must adhere to Facebook’s advertising polices. Facebook Business has shared a helpful step-by-step process for how to use the promote tool.
With these new tools, companies can more efficiently communicate with their target audiences, increase the quality of their marketing efforts, and connect with prospective customers that they may not have discovered or contacted if not through the ease of Instagram’s business profile update. In addition, having an advanced knowledge of the demographics and preferences of your most engaged customers will enable marketing teams to accurately advertise and improve the overall customer experience.
Instagram is a great platform to increase engagement through visual marketing in the form of photos and videos that convey emotional responses, which in turn increase followers’ emotional connection to the company and even brand loyalty. As the number of Instagram users continues to skyrocket, businesses must share meaningful content that will stand out among its competitors and build the emotional relationship and brand awareness with its followers.
Business profiles can help accomplish this. By understanding what type of content triggers high levels of engagement and an emotional reaction (either positive or negative), companies will be able to improve planning and create more successful Instagram campaigns based on popularity and outcomes of their past posts.
One caveat to Instagram and all social accounts, however, is that in order to be successful, companies must establish a firm character and cadence with their posting. If a company posts a photo once every five weeks, followers will likely lose interest, feel no responsibility to engage, and ultimately unfollow the company. Reaching out to an outside party to handle social accounts allows marketing coordinators and VPs to focus on content planning and other marketing initiatives to grow the business. Having to develop and continuously update an editorial calendar for social posting can be a daunting task, not to mention replying to followers’ comments and questions in order to keep the relationship strong and engagement high.
A PR firm that has a close relationship with a company’s business and communication objectives can help align social media activity with company announcements and content development in the pipeline. Capitalizing on the Instagram Business Profiles opportunities will help drive buzz around company announcements and news, as well as increase traffic to the company website.
Is social media stressing you out? Let us know and we will help to find a strategy right for your company.
If you are a small business interested in using Instagram, check out this article:
Four Ways Instagram Can Lead a Small Business to Success