Instagram’s new logo
Instagram has introduced new tools designed to please marketers and encourage businesses to advertise on the network.
“With so many companies using Instagram, and many people on the platform interacting with them, there was a desire from our business community to do more,” Instagram stated in its announcement.
Business profiles can provide a description of the business, directions and buttons for consumers to contact businesses via phone, text or email.
Insights provide information about follower demographics and performance of posts. Marketers and advertisers will be able to view impressions, reach and engagement, learn when users saw posts and compare engagement to previous weeks.
Promotion lets businesses change posts into ads within the app by adding a call-to-action button. Businesses can select a target audience or let Instagram suggest targeting.
The new features will be rolling out in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand in the coming months and will be available worldwide by the end of the year. The features are remarkably similar to features at Facebook, which owns the Instagram app.
Instagram hopes the free profiles and analytics will encourage businesses to advertise. “The way I envision this is there are a lot of businesses on the platform that may be new to advertising, or not advertising yet, and this is a straightforward, easy way to start advertising on the platform,” Jim Squires, director of market operations at Instagram, told AdWeek.
Many Changes for the App
The business tools are just some of the recent changes at the app used by over 200,000 businesses and over 400 million monthly active users. Instagram recently redesigned its icon to feature a simpler camera and rainbow theme and updated its app to offer a cleaner viewing experience for browsing photos and videos. It introduced video Carousel ads and began letting retailers target users with ads based on items in their online shopping carts.
Earlier this year, Instagram transitioned from a chronological to an algorithm-based feed that determines what content users care about most based on the user’s relationship with the poster, their previous interactions, and timeliness of the post.
Advertising vendors say their Instagram ad placements have increased substantially, in some cases doubled or triple, Adweek previously reported. “I think the ad spend is going to go through the roof,” Tony Effik, managing director at R/GA, told the publication.
Although Instagram says it will be careful to maintain quality and place only relevant ads before users, some marketers have expressed concerns that more advertising makes organic marketing on the network more challenging. Advertising could overwhelm users and diminish ad quality, they worry.
Bottom Line: Marketers will likely appreciate Instagram’s new tools that can help them promote businesses and analyze engagement levels. The new features highlight the Facebook-owned network’s aggressive efforts to improve its business services and advertising potential.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
So very interesting! Since the last Instagram update I admit it was harder for me to work with the program. Thank you for helping me clear things out!