Instagram will give businesses an official presence

Instagram have announced that there will be new profiles and tools for businesses, however they will only be available for businesses in the US, New Zealand and Australia for now.

The new business profiles will include a contact button which enables viewers to get in touch with the business via call, text or email by simply clicking the button. The profiles will also unlock access to detailed analytics tools and the ability to promote easily. 

The most noticeable change for your audience will be the addition of the contact button which will make it easier for them to get in contact with you. Although there is currently a private messaging feature, most users still communicate through the comments section which can be difficult to sift through if you have a lot of them. This should make it easier for users to get in contact with businesses to ask important questions.

Instagram is also adding an analytics to business profiles which will be accessible through the app. The analytics will be very similar to Facebook’s insights, providing you with a detailed look at post engagement from your audience as well as followers’ behaviour and demographics. With access to this sort of knowledge it will enable you to create more relevant, interesting and timely content for your audience.

Business profiles will also have new promotional tools which will enable businesses to expand their reach outside of their followers through sponsored posts. You will now be able to turn well-performing posts into ads to help you connect with more people. You can also select target audiences or allow Instagram to suggest targeting for you as well as add call to actions to your ads.  

These new tools show us that Instagram is maturing into a serious social platform and will definitely encourage more people to use the photo sharing app to promote their businesses.