3 Benefits of an Instagram Business Account

If your business thrives on customer engagement and brand awareness, it’s no secret that it should be represented on Instagram. The types of businesses that thrive on Instagram are ones that are able to offer aesthetically pleasing products or photos that audiences engage with. This platform is image-based. So it stands to reason that brands who revolve around naturally photogenic items and places such as beauty, fashion, food, and travel do well on this app. As of June 2018, the platform reached 1 billion active monthly users.This is an audience you want to get in front of. So how do you utilize Instagram for marketing? It starts with having a business account.

An Instagram business account gives you access to features that are beneficial for engaging with and marketing to your followers. The three benefits we’re focusing on are insights, call-to-action buttons, and ads. Let’s dive in.

Find What Works for YOUR Business’s Instagram

Instagram insights is the platform’s native analytics tools that allows you to view information on the performance of your content, your profile’s activity, and your audience demographics.

Content Insights

These show the activity and engagement on your posts and stories. Here you can view your posts and stories sorted by reach, impressions, engagement, likes, followers, comments, saves, and profile visits. This is useful information for you to gauge which posts are doing well, figure out why, and mimic them. Once you get a feel for what type of content performs best with your audience, stick to it. But always look for ways to improve without straying too far from your established branding.

Activity Insights

Activity insights include interactions and discovery. The interactions section will show you the actions taken on your profile over the past week including profile visits and website clicks. Actions taken on buttons such as call, email, or directions will also be shown here. The discovery section will show you how many unique accounts were reached and the number of impressions (times your posts have been viewed, including repeat views by the same accounts) your profile received over the past week.

Audience Insights

Audience Insights show valuable demographic information about your followers. With a business account you are able to see the age and gender distributions of your followers, as well as the top locations that users who engage with your page are from. There is a section that shows the average times and days of week your followers are on Instagram on a typical day. These insights can be used to plan what and when you should post to get the best engagement.

Gain Local Acknowledgement

As a business, you want customers. Your potential customers are on Instagram, and if they’re viewing your profile you want to give them the option to contact you. With a business profile you get the ability to add call-to-action (CTA) buttons to your profile that can give eager clients a way to convert right now. On your profile between your bio and posts, you can display call, email, and directions buttons. These buttons take visitors to their phone’s native call screen, email app, and their choice of Apple or Google maps, respectively. Buttons are quick and easy ways for customers to contact you.

Instagram can also be used as a search engine. The search bar can be set to places so that users can look for businesses near them. To take advantage of this, a business profile allows you to designate a category for your company. Categories can be things like: dentist, hair salon, plumber, trade school, restaurant, food delivery service, photographer, and more. The category you set will allow your business to appear in relevant local searches.

Get in Front of a New Audience

Instagram ads are an opportunity for you to spread brand awareness, gain new reach and engagement and get traffic to your website. Ads can be tailored to objectives such as conversions and lead generations. Running ads gets your content in front of new people. You have to have a business account to be able to run ads. Instagram has great resources to help you understand the types, objectives, set-up, buying options, and precise targeting.

Making the Switch

Now you know why you should consider switching to a business account. Are you ready to make the switch? It’s fairly easy to do. In order to have an Instagram business account you will need to make sure your account is set to public. Once this is done you can simply go into settings and follow these steps:

• Tap Sign up for a Business Profile
• Tap Create New Account or Convert Existing Account
• Connect to an existing Facebook Page (optional)
• Input and review information on the Set Up Your Business Profile page

Let Oozle Help You Get Started

From there you can start making connections and enjoying the benefits of having a business account. While you’re getting started on your marketing journey, have you considered using an agency for your marketing? Oozle Media provides a variety of online marketing services, including social media marketing and paid advertising. If you’d like to get a quote on what we can do for your business, contact us today!