In the forever-changing world of social media, Instagram has emerged as a powerhouse platform, transforming the way businesses connect with their audience. From attractive visuals to interactive features, Instagram offers businesses a versatile toolkit to create an impactful online presence. If you’re looking for more ways to use Instagram for business, we’ve got the how to! Keep reading.
The significance of marketing on Instagram lies in it’s ability to transform traditional advertising, allowing businesses to tell their stories, showcase products, and foster genuine connections with their audience. Instagram offers an abundance of interactive features to allow businesses not only to utilize but also to thrive by using a marketing strategy for Instagram!
Instagram for Business: Instagram Business Facts
Throughout social media, it has become increasingly clear that Instagram is not just used as a personal platform. Instagram is now a global platform that allows brands to showcase their personality in their content, recruit new members, advertise products, and engage with their audience. Instagram users aren’t just active, they are more engaged than ever!
About 59% of the platform’s active users visit Instagram daily and spend at least 7 hours per week browsing content and interacting with other users. This is the perfect avenue for businesses to drive their visibility to many users that they would otherwise have not interacted with. (Source: Hubspot)
Instagram for business has many advantages, but the most important one is the visual aspect. If you have a business that has a product or a service that would benefit users with an image or video to represent, then Instagram would be one of the best platforms to promote, sell, and engage!
Research shows that 130 million Instagram users engage with shopping content every single month. Instagram gives businesses the ability to show their products and help users take the next step to purchase. Instagram is becoming more of a vital part of each industry and businesses should incorporate it into their marketing strategy today!
Instagram for Business: Instagram Business Features
Instagram is an effective platform for businesses to be able to promote, connect, and engage with their audience. If you’re a business owner, you probably already know that Instagram has a TON of features. Is it really possible to use them all?
While we can’t answer that for you, we can get you the list of Instagram business features:
- Business Profiles. Business accounts have access to specific tools and features to promote your business.
- Professional Dashboard. Launched in 2020, this feature lets businesses track performance and access tools and resources in one place.
- Shoppable Posts. Shoppable posts allow businesses to tag their products in their photos. For example, if a model in the photo was wearing a specific shoe- users would be able to click on the product page right to the shoes to purchase.
- Instagram Ads. When you set up a professional account, you can run ads from your Instagram account to drive awareness and increase its customer base through visuals.
- Instagram Post/Carousel. An Instagram carousel is a post containing more than one photo or video, which users can view by swiping left on a post through the phone app.
- Instagram Stories/Story Highlights. Instagram Stories last for 24 hours on your profile at the top of users feed rather than on the main feed where posts lie. But users can now save their best stories as story highlights, which appear in your profile right below your bio.
- Instagram Reels. Reels were released in 2020 as a new way to create, discover, and share short, entertaining videos on Instagram. You can clip videos together, crop, add text and music, add in fun transitions, and more.
- Instagram Live. This feature allows for businesses to be able to livestream to engage their audience and take a step deeper into brand authenticity.
- Direct Messaging. Businesses use this to be able to privately or direct message any other user on Instagram. This is the best place for a conversation that you don’t want the entire world to see such as a casual conversation, gaining rights to repost something, future collaboration with an influencer, etc.
- Interactive Bio. The interactive bio features make it easier for your audience to access information directly from your Instagram profile. Information like your business’s address and phone number are clickable, leading curious potential customers straight to the point.
- Explore Page. The Explore Page is a place that shows you recommendations such as photos and reels to help you discover new things from accounts you don’t follow.
- Branded Content. This specific content is when the creator has been compensated, either with money or something else of value, by a brand or business partner.
- Collab Posts. The new Instagram Collabs feature lets users co-create content with other users. This means that a collab post or reel will show up on both users’ profiles with the same number of likes and comments.
- Instagram Subscriptions. Instagram subscriptions allow creators to charge subscribers a monthly fee for exclusive content
- Instagram Notes. Short notes you can post to your followers. These notes show up in the messaging section, but are not a message.
- Close Friends (NEW for Instagram business). Create a ‘close friends’ list and post special stories and write notes to your close friends! This is a great tool for businesses who want to share special messages or announcements with a select list.
Features throughout the app are always being added to make the process of purchasing items and connecting with users easier. Each business should be taking advantage of Instagram for business to increase visibility and build brand authenticity with their consumers. While we know using every single feature is a little overwhelming, we encourage you to try out different features to see what your audience likes!
Remember, Instagram’s #1 goal is to keep users on the app, so if your content makes users stick around, you’re in good shape!
Instagram for Business: Instagram Business Analytics
Analytics, also known as the collection of data and performance metrics for your social media posts, are a powerful tool that can help you perfect your social media strategy.
A recent study found that Instagram’s 1.39 billion users spend an average of 11.7 hours using the app per month. Nearly two-thirds (62.3%) of users utilized the app to follow or research brands and products. These statistics are crucial for businesses to take into account when they are creating content and posting on their profiles! To help you better understand Instagram for business and instagram business analytics, we put together this list:
- Impressions. The number of times your content is displayed on the Instagram feeds, no matter if it was clicked on or not.
- Reach. The number of unique users who viewed your content.
- Engagement. The number of interactions your content received from users. These might be likes, comments, saves, or shares.
- Saves. The number of times users saved your content.
- Shares. The number of times a user has shared your content, either in stories or through the DMs.
It’s one thing for someone to view your social content, but for them to engage is an even greater action. Keep in mind all of these analytics are crucial in understanding what is working for your content so you can get the best results!
Let’s be real, Instagram is not just an app anymore! Instagram for business has become a driving force in empowering businesses to reach their fullest potential.
The long list of features that Instagram constantly offers allows businesses to foster brand visibility, engage customers authentically, and provide a space for visually appealing content. Diving into analytics allows businesses to not only learn about the present, but helps them create strategies they wish to utilize in their marketing for the future.
Ready to elevate your Instagram presence and unlock the full potential of your brand? Take the first step today by booking a consultation for Instagram management with Sydney Simpson Digital!
