TOP 10 BUSINESS FEATURES ON INSTAGRAM AND HOW TO LEVERAGE THEM
Over the years, social media has become one of the most monumental tools for developing brand awareness and increasing consumer connection. Instagram for example, has become a key player in growing businesses. This platform has transformed into an international hub for promoting and leveraging businesses of any size. Because there are so many ways to grow your digital presence through social media, Instagram continuously works to update their interface with tools that help users grow. For those of you looking to grow your business through Instagram, we’ve outlined the tools to get you there. Here are our top ten features on Instagram that you’ll want to include in your 2022 marketing strategy.
#1 THE PROFESSIONAL DASHBOARD
If you haven’t already converted your business's Instagram to a professional account, this should be your first step! After making this simple switch, you will immediately have access to a professional dashboard where you can track your performance, access professional resources, and grow your business. This feature collects insights on how your content is impacting your followers, as well as how to enhance interactions with them. You can easily review post performance and other detailed reporting metrics to further define your strategy and optimize your efforts.
#2 LIVE ROOMS
If you are looking to increase engagement and showcase authenticity, Live Rooms is a great feature for getting involved with your audience. This tool allows you to stream live with up to three accounts contributing at the same time. Going live on Instagram can be intimidating for some, however, Live Rooms allow you to speak to your audience with other colleagues, influencers or businesses alongside you. If you’re not comfortable hosting a live session just yet, joining another person's Live Room is a great way to gain more followers and engage with a new audience.
#3 CAPTIONS FOR STORIES
This may catch you by surprise, but did you know that 40% of people watch stories with the sound off? You can now connect with that 40% by implementing captions within your Instagram stories! After you upload a video, look for the captions sticker within the stories panel. This feature will auto-populate what was said within the video, making it one of the best communication tools to use! Just remember to keep things short and sweet, this feature can only dictate up to 15 seconds of speech at a time.
#4 LOCATION STORIES
Location stories are a great way to leverage some local social media marketing! This feature allows users to find stories being published by accounts nearby. By adding a quick and easy location tag to your story, you increase the odds of locals finding your content and resonating with it.
#5 INSTAGRAM MAPS SEARCH
Separate from the location stories feature, the map search feature will show nearby business profiles within a particular area. When users tap on a particular map item or area, they can view information such as your address, hours, pricing, Instagram profile, and public posts tagged at the location - a great way to connect with potential customers visiting the area.
#6 INSTAGRAM GEO-TAGGING
When you create an Instagram location through Facebook, customers can pin it to their posts and stories. This is a great way to grow your following! When customers add your location to their posts, stories and hashtags, their friends and followers will see this too.
#7 INSTAGRAM SHOPPABLE TAG
If you are in e-commerce, this one's for you! Instagram Shopping is a powerful new tool that allows people to purchase your products without leaving the app. By tagging items in your posts and stories, shoppers will be taken directly to the product page within your website. This feature is a great way to increase traffic and drive sales.
#8 BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS LABEL
During 2020, Instagram stated that there were over 1.3 million Instagram posts in support of “Black-owned” or “Black-led” businesses. With over 50% of business profiles in the US advertised as black-owned, this new feature allows you to discover and support these businesses by engaging with their accounts and buying directly from them.
#9 GIFT CARDS AND FOOD ORDERS
In an effective response to COVID-19, Instagram implemented two new features for small businesses, gift cards and food orders. Instagram Gift Cards allow businesses to sell redeemable vouchers on the app, which can be accessed directly on your profile. The Food Orders feature is a new way for businesses in the hospitality industry to drive awareness to their food delivery services. This feature can be used to place orders through Caviar, ChowNow, UberEats, GrubHub, Seamless, Postmates, Doordash, and more.
#10 “COLLAB” OPTION FOR POSTS AND REELS
The new Collab feature on Instagram is a great tool for anyone looking to cross-post between multiple accounts. Whether you are joining forces with another business, colleague or influencer, choosing a collaboration post means that the content you choose will be shared across all profile feeds involved, and will share the exact view count, like count and comment thread.
