More Access and New Business Tools on Instagram
Instagram has always been a place for users to share their lives with other people. As the years pass by, it continued to grow and better cater to its users' needs.
Back then, this social media platform is no more than an app where people share photos. But now, it became more than that, thanks to all the effort that the company made to improve Instagram.
It is not always obvious, but many Instagram features could help you grow your business online. Through these features, you can build brand awareness, strengthen your community, sell your products, and more.
Furthermore, no one can deny there are endless possibilities in Instagram.
Instagram Updates that Are Beneficial to Users
Checkout on Instagram
Some people turn to the said social media platform to advertise a brand, product, or service. For this reason, Instagram took the initiative to test out a feature for them on the platform.
Through the said feature, Instagram users will be able to buy a product they saw without having to leave the platform.
Moreover, checkout on Instagram is already accessible to all eligible businesses and accounts with a Shop in the United States. Needless to say, this update is a seamless and secure method to sell a brand’s product directly within the platform.
If you have a business that you want to advertise on Instagram, you can open a shop. You can either use the social media platform’s Commerce Manager or through Instagram’s partners such as BigCommerce and Shopify. Also, Instagram noted that it plans to support more eCommerce platform partners soon.
Once businesses have enabled checkout on Instagram, they will be able to experience all of its benefits. That includes gaining access to shopping tools and reducing friction in terms of purchasing.
Shopping Increases IG Followers
Moreover, some of the features that this option supports are shopping from creators, live shopping, additional ad products and signals, and product launches. These features result in you getting more IG followers, as they say!
Shopping from creators provide content creators with the ability to tag businesses or products on their posts. This way, businesses will reach a wider audience. On the other hand, product launches are the ability for businesses to notify people when they have an upcoming product launch on Instagram.
There is no denying that with checkout on Instagram, brands can genuinely leverage the entire Instagram Shopping features. This way, they will create experiences that build awareness and transactions all in just one place.
Live Shopping
Now, checkout-enabled businesses can sell products using Instagram Live.
Live shopping lets Instagram users buy products in real-time. For instance, if an Instagram shop posts a live video, viewers can comment on buying the products that the shop is showing. Thus, Instagram’s Live Shopping feature opens up a fresh and interactive shoppable channel for businesses.
Additional Features for Shop
Last May, the social media platform introduced Shops. This Instagram tool aims to set up a single online store accessible on both Facebook and Instagram easier than ever.
Now, Instagram announced that it would integrate additional Shops features and expand access to all businesses in Shops. These new features will provide businesses more control regarding how they will build a brand and advertise their shop.
Included in these additional features are new layouts for featuring groups or individual products in your Shop. In addition, you will be able to give your potential customers a real-time preview of your collections as you design them. On top of that, businesses can better measure their Shops’ progress using the new Shops insights in Commerce Manager.
Gift Cards and Food Orders
People are now facing a global pandemic. This caused everyone to have no choice but to stay in their homes to avoid contracting the virus. In addition, businesses, especially the small ones, are affected by the lockdowns brought by COVID-19. For this reason, the social media platform has rolled out two new features for small businesses. These features are Food Orders and Gift Cards.
Food Orders gives businesses in the hospitality sector with a new way to raise awareness about their food delivery services.
On the other hand, Gift Cards are a new method for businesses to sell redeemable vouchers on Instagram. This feature is available using the new Instagram Stories stickers or via a profile button.
Pinned Comments
Pinned comments is new on Instagram. It is an excellent way of setting the tone for both your brand and community within the platform.
For instance, if someone posted a positive comment about your brand or product, you can opt to pin that on the comments. This way, you will be able to show people that your brand is trustworthy. By doing this, you can divert your potential customers’ perception away from trolls and spammy comments made by bots that try to harm your brand's name.
IGTV
A lot of artists and influencers use IGTV to connect with their fans. However, this Instagram feature is also beneficial for businesses. In fact, brands that have utilized this feature have witnessed huge success for their business.
For instance, SilkFred, an online Instagram boutique uses IGTV to share quick styling tutorials that are all filmed using a smartphone. This marketing effort is perfect for advertising SilkFred products in action. In addition, using IGTV also allows SIlkFred to show the faces behind its brand.
Moreover, you can add clickable links to your IGTV descriptions. This way, it will be easier for your potential customers to discover your Shop and buy the products that you featured on your IGTV.
In addition, Instagram said that it will gradually roll out IGTV ads. This means that influencers, content creators, and businesses who have a significant number of followers will be able to monetize their IGTV videos. So, aside from what you will earn from selling your products, you will also be able to earn a profit once Instagram has added ads to your IGTV.
Date: December 3, 2020 / Categories: Interesting, / Author: Joy P
