Instagram for Business: A Long Awaited Upgrade
Businesses may find Instagram more appealing with this upcoming update.
Instagram has been going through some major changes lately. Recently, the popular app had a major design makeover, featuring different symbols and a new color scheme. Now, the Facebook-owned application plans to optimize accounts for businesses.
Despite the popularity of Instagram, which now has over 400 million users, it hasn’t always provided easy means for businesses and consumers to communicate. One way this is being improved is the addition of a prominent “contact” button on business profiles, likely next to the “follow” button. This will be easier to use and will be more organized than the current options available, which include direct messaging and comments on posts.
Individual posts will also feature an “action button,” for which business users can personalize as they please. This could potentially contain a call-to-action such as “order one today!” or “reserve a table.”
Instagram will, for the first time ever, provide businesses with analytics about their accounts. This will be similar to what Facebook pages currently offer to their administrators. This could potentially offer a huge advantage to companies that rely on Instagram for their advertising and gaining awareness, such as many small businesses. According to Jim Squires, the company’s director of market operations, smaller businesses make up the vast majority of organizations on Instagram. This update will specifically cater to them. Data provided to businesses will include breakdowns of followers by countries and cities, age, gender, and activity. Demographics like these can help businesses assess their customers and provide accordingly.
There are still more changes that lie ahead. Instagram is currently testing out a completely new kind of algorithmic newsfeed for the application, which looks like it could be quite similar to Facebook’s, which was originally introduced in 2009. This sorts posts by relevancy to individual users, rather than by how recently they were posted.
—
How do you feel about the new Instagram experience and layout? Comment below.