Instagram is launching several new updates that have important implications for businesses. Although Instagram has more than 1 billion users, only 25 million accounts are owned by businesses. Yet, Instagram is catering to brands by providing several features that will augment digital marketing strategies.
Most importantly, Instagram is providing “Instagram Insights” that allows users to view various growth patterns. This tool highlights the posts and stories that generate the most followers while also providing analytic data that includes the reach and engagement for each specific post. The ability to identify which content engages customers is significant for a brand to continuously deliver what is on trend, and hence, what marketing tactics contribute to customer retention. The Instagram Insight tab will also show longitudinal growth in follower count over the course of the past week or even the previous 24 hours providing additional analytics to evaluate the impact of posts on engagement.
Instagram will now allow users to set age-limits on the viewers of an account. These age-discretionary limits will allow industries that are sensitive to age, e.g. alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, to market only to those individuals who are eligible to purchase, a practice known as age-gating. I suspect that this feature will result in a significant increase in business accounts for the “sin stock” industries. Instagram will provide an additional distribution channel for these brands that will enable them to reach their audience using social media without the public outcry of marketing to youth.
Another new feature includes the aggregated stories that mention the user’s account. For businesses, it will be important to be aware of content that mentions its brand to know what is being publicly published, for better or for worse. Knowing the type of content that is user -generated, or created by unpaid contributors, can help a business better understand how its values resonate with users. If the user-generated content is positive, businesses can share it, which will further promote the brand by forwarding unsolicited compliments from its fans. Additionally, if a business follows an account that tagged it, the Story is added to the “About You” story reel allowing a business to capitalize on the user-generated content.
Also new this year, the Inbox has undergone a reorganization that allows users to prioritize messages. The inbox will have two different tabs: “Primary” and “General” and messages can be sorted based on their importance. The “General” tab will be for messages that don’t require responses, whereas the “Primary” tab will be messages for which notifications are automatically enabled, so the user knows when they receive a response. Thus, businesses will be able to use Instagram’s direct message feature to track and triage messages.
Instagram is also providing a more flexible format for business pages. In the past, users could not choose to hide the business category and contact information from the business profile. The ability to change the business profile allows users to decide whether they wish to list a business category. As a result of this new feature, we may see more businesses migrating from personal accounts on Instagram to business profiles to be able to take advantage of the aforementioned features without the risk of losing followers during the switch. While all users will benefit from these features, business are the most likely benefactors of these changes to Instagram. I would not be surprised if the number of Instagram business profiles explode in the coming years as long as Instagram stays the darling app.
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