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There are so many tools and benefits that social media provides for businesses both big and small. Facebook has been paving the way for sales on social, but now that Facebook owns Instagram, we have a new runner up. Instagram is a platform that is hugely beneficial to be active on, especially if you have a product to sell. The new tools that the Facebook team has integrated is vital to connecting with a younger market and being able to direct those calls to action straight to a shopping cart.
#1: INSTAGRAM STORIES
When Instagram made the controversial move to create Stories and compete with Snapchat, the world was in shock. No one would have guessed that directly stealing the 24 hour video feature that Snapchat had coined was going to bode well for Instagram. However, Instagram has taken the feature to the next level with tools that are INCREDIBLE for gaining traction, engagement, making announcements, and truly having a connection with your audience.
Instagram stories allow you to not only take photos, boomerangs, and video, but also allows for location tagging, hashtags, gifs, stickers, custom text, polls, and direct messaging. These are all tools that allow you as the company to become searchable, current, and most of all see what your audience is enjoying. Every company and individual uses Instagram stories in different ways, but all of them have coined their own style that works for their target market.
Photographers and influencers use stories to announce new video content. Chipotle uses it to take us through journeys to their restaurants. Visit Anaheim uses it to garner engagement. Drybar uses it to announce and talk about new products. There are a million and a half ways to use this tool to create amazing, unique, and totally branded content. Plus, you can now save it to your feed so it’ll last longer than 24 hours if you choose. What else could you possibly need?
#2: SPONSORED/BRANDED CONTENT COLLABORATIONS
The FTC now legally requires all influencers and paid collaborations to be disclosed to the consumers, which of course is great for them, but not always great for the business. However, Instagram makes it clear and easy to disclose via your feed without being an eyesore or bothering anyone.
Now all paid partnerships with influencers and social media stars are disclosed cleanly on the top of its relevant content and no one is confused or tricked into buying anything they don’t want to. You can even make it approvable as a company so that no random person can say they work with you when they don’t. 100% clarity for both consumer and company.
#3: SEE ALL YOUR STATS
We measure our growth and content success by being able to see the back end of our efforts. Instagram allows you to see all the little details that can make a world of difference on your page. From how many followers to which posts are performing the best, you can see everything you need to improve your content and your page!
Knowing these stats will allow you to shape content and understand your audience needs without having to go to the depths of the internet or guessing. It’s all laid out there for your specific needs.
#4: CONNECT YOUR STORE DIRECTLY TO THE FEED
Remember when we said Instagram is going to be a vital tool if you have a product to sell? Here’s why. One of the newer features Instagram has added to their arsenal is the ability to shop directly from your Instagram feed. This is 150% a GAME CHANGER! Now, instead of using links to get people to the website, they can literally just click a photo and the product within it and purchase.
You’re taking out one of the steps that provides a huge amount of drop off and replacing it with a quick, easy way to buy for your customers. Huge companies such as Forever 21, Hidden Crown Hair, and H&M use this feature and you can just imagine how successful it must be for them. If you’re not currently using this feature, stop what you’re doing, and set it up!
#5: HOORAY FOR ADVERTISING
Thank the universe for Facebook buying up Instagram, right? Now we have the ability to run advertisements in the same way Facebook does. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same ability to run a like campaign as we do on Facebook, but we can provide our customers and our potential customers with vital calls to action to purchase, check a profile, or learn more. These types of ads can send traffic to our websites, to our profiles, or just the posts themselves.
Promotions like this are great if you have a product to sell or a discount you want to share with followers. You also have the ability to choose the audience or let their algorithms choose them for you if you’re unsure where to begin. Ultimately, IG ads are hugely beneficial to businesses both big and small and can be set up to run on both the timeline AND IG stories! Two in one!
#6: FOLLOWING HASHTAGS
While some may find this tool useless, it’s actually hugely vital for any business and their social media department. One of the most beneficial thing a business can do while on Instagram is to monitor and engage with what is happening in the community. You comment on other companies you follow. You respond to comments on your own content. But now Instagram has the ability to track hashtags. Let’s say you’re a bar and you’re having some trouble curating content. Now with one click, you can see what other bars using the same hashtags are doing. You have the ability to get involved with what hashtags people are using not only to improve your content to stand out from the competition, but the hashtags you use to market your content to your audience. You can be relevant and on trend because you’re seeing what people are doing directly from the source and that’s a tool you cannot miss.
Instagram is a hugely viable platform for any business, but most importantly businesses with products to sell and a younger target market. If you’re not there, you’re seriously missing out on a huge group of customers who don’t know they want your stuff. Check out these tools when you connect your Instagram account to your Facebook business account. You can also see how IDG can help you improve your Instagram game by giving us a call at (714) 221-4377!
