Finally, Small Businesses Have the Tools to Connect With Their Instagram Audiences

Originally, Instagram’s platform provided users strictly with photo-sharing capabilities, such as uploading, editing and sharing photos. Recently, however, the social media giant has decided to let small- and medium-sized businesses — like The Brandon Agency — in on the logistical side of monitoring and sharing posts.

With more than 400 million active users, Instagram continues to revamp its site in order to provide its audience with updated social media capabilities. This time around, Instagram will be providing businesses a built-in dashboard available on its mobile app with the ability to monitor impressions, reach and engagement. The dashboard will also give businesses the ability to compare current stats with those of prior weeks in order to track progress and better understand what resonates with their audiences.

“The goal is to help smaller businesses get organic insights while also priming them for advertising on the platform,” said Jim Squires, director of market operations at Instagram.

The new update will also allow users to mark their profiles as businesses. As a result, this “mark” will allow these business profiles to include an extended business description and contact information for customers. Another feature the update is providing businesses is the ability to turn popular organic posts into actual ads. According to Marty Swant, staff writer for Adweek, because of these customized ads, the new dashboard will allow brands to pick their target audiences or let Instagram do the targeting.

“There are now more than 200,000 businesses using Instagram for promoting products and services,” said Swant. “According to Instagram, about half of users now follow a business on the platform, and even more — around 60 percent — say they’ve learned about products on Instagram.”

Earlier this month, Instagram introduced video Carousel ads, which allow marketers to choose up to five videos and/or photos that users can swipe through. The Carousel ads provide these marketers the opportunity to catch their consumers’ attention and cater to their potential customers. In addition to the new dashboard, both of these updates are going to revolutionize the way businesses interact with consumers, permanently changing the way business is done through Instagram.

As more and more social media updates emerge, it’s important to always keep your brand’s desired end goal in mind when using these platforms. Is there a certain message you want your consumers to understand? What kind of audience best represents what your brand sells? Where do you see your brand in the next five years? Luckily, Instagram’s new features are sure to help businesses better recognize the answers to these questions in order to better serve their future and present customers.

Don’t know where to begin with your brand’s Instagram account? We are here to help. Either comment below or contact us to learn more about what The Brandon Agency can do for your brand!