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Instagram Business, launched in America, has become a reality in Italy as well for a few months now. Many have heard of it, some have tried it, but few have expressed their views on its usefulness for business purposes so far. Here’s our feedback after testing it for clients in various industries.
Instagram has rapidly become an essential tool for digital strategy for an increasingly growing number of brands. Today, having a strong presence on Instagram is no longer just important for retailers, restaurateurs, and travel agencies; it’s becoming a conditio sine qua non for building a successful brand in any field.
As Instagram is increasingly used as a business tool, developers had to introduce, in addition to the already-known personal profiles, new business accounts with specific features.
Instagram Business: The New Features
Turning your personal profile into a business account is extremely simple. Just access the settings of your profile and perform the “Switch to Business Profile” action, then link it to the Facebook page of which you’re an administrator. The new features are essentially three:
1. The “Contact” Button
The company can set different contact information for personal and business purposes, including: email, phone number, website, and address of the company headquarters.
2. Insights Data
Once the contact form is completed, an icon in the shape of a graph will appear in the upper right corner, providing access to your Insights data.
The data shown here specifically cover:
- Impressions and reach of posts
- Most popular posts and their engagement
- Follower growth and demographics (gender, age, location, preferred user hours)
- Promotions Report
3. Sponsored Ads
The third novelty involves the ability to create sponsored ads directly from Instagram without going through Facebook.
With a simple click on the “Promote” button below the selected post, you can:
- specify the Call to Action to associate with the ad,
- insert the link to the landing page,
- choose the preferred target audience,
- define the budget.
What We Like About Instagram Business
- With the new “Contact” button, it’s easier for users to get in touch with brands on Instagram. Moreover, users can choose from different options: “call,” “email,” and “directions.”
- At the same time, thanks to the contact form, it’s easier for businesses to manage information requests from users.
- By utilizing Insights data, brands can improve their strategy by creating content and promotions that are increasingly suitable for their target audience.
- Thanks to the “Promote” button, you can create Instagram ads without going through Facebook. This way, the data recorded by the campaigns remains in the platform where they are viewed.
What We Don’t Like About Instagram Business
- The objectives of Promotions managed by Instagram are limited to “visit your website” and “call or visit your business.” Other objectives such as “increase post interactions” or “acquire new followers” are missing, which are certainly relevant for brand growth.
- The target audience definition in Instagram Promotions is currently very limited. You can select age, gender, location, and interests, but the choices are still much more restricted compared to the possibilities offered by Facebook.
Certainly, the introduction of Instagram Business has brought a significant change to the life of this visual social platform. Nevertheless, we don’t believe the innovations have ended. Given the growing needs of businesses and social media managers regarding Insights and Instagram ADS, there will certainly be more changes for Instagram in 2017. And we can’t wait to try them out.
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