The free lunch is officially over on Instagram. Here’s the reason for this proclamation: On May 31, 2016, Instagram announced a new set of business tools designed to help brands “stand out, get insights, and find new customers” on the platform.
We’ve been chronicling this impending shift in Instagram’s utility for marketers for months. But before you start lamenting the loss of Instagram’s engagement buffet, consider the upside: content delivery on Instagram is now professionalized.
Here, we’ll walk through the new Instagram Business Tools, and explain how to avoid being left behind by the changes.
What are Instagram Business Tools?
The new Instagram Business Tools include three core components:
Business profiles for brands on Instagram;
Insights into audience engagement and demographics; and
The ability to promote content to targeted audiences.
Let’s walk through the key features of each component of Instagram Business Tools.
INSTAGRAM BUSINESS PROFILES
Prior to the announcement of the new business tools, a brand profile on Instagram bore no distinction from an individual’s Instagram profile. With this homogenous co-mingling of brands and people, Instagram had more in common with Snapchat than its parent company, Facebook, which was quick to distinguish brand pages from individual profiles.
However, brands and individuals on Instagram have very different objectives. Individuals want to document and share their experiences, but don’t necessarily want to be contacted by the Instagram masses. Brands, however, want to entice Instagram audiences to engage further. To address this distinction, the new Instagram business profiles will allow users to contact brands via call, text or email, directly from a “Contact” button in the brand’s Instagram profile.
Instagram perusers can even click the brand profile for directions to a business address, if applicable. Important note: Brands must update to a free business profile to get access to the two other Instagram Business Tool components: insights and content promotion.
INSTAGRAM INSIGHTS
As a marketing analytics company, the new Instagram Insights piqued our interest the most. Native analytics platforms on many social networks are oft-maligned by marketers, namely for their user un-friendliness. For this reason, we’ll withhold comment on the utility of Instagram Insights until we’ve had a chance to experiment with them firsthand.
The details to date about the breadth and usability of Instagram’s new insights are vague. Here’s what Instagram has promised so far: