Marketing Your Business on Instagram Will Soon Be Much Easier with Insights and Analytics

Instagram is one social network that we have all come to know and love over the past few years.  Created in October of 2010, the concept was simple: share photos of your life with people around you.  Since a photo is worth a thousand words, it was no surprise that Instagram took off quite rapidly.  In a time-span of less than 6 years, Instagram’s user base grew to a number over 400 million.  Over time, users have seen a number of small user and interface changes, but the basic concept has remained the same.

Having the second highest user base of any other social media platform, only behind Facebook, it is surprising to think that Instagram marketing is a relatively new concept.  Until last year, advertising on Instagram, no matter the size, was not even an available option.   On top of this, marketing your business on Instagram has been recently limited to whatever options are available to everyone else using the platform.  Both everyday users and large companies have been previously given the same tools to set up and use this application, but not for long.

Instagram is currently preparing the release of a variety of tools focused on marketing for the number of businesses and brands currently using its platform.  Screenshots of the new analytics feature were recently uploaded to Later.com’s blog giving us insight on exactly what to expect from the approaching update.  These updates include the ability to create business profiles with contact buttons and access to maps and directions, as well as tools to track both follower and post analytics.

New business profiles can be seen with a “Contact” button placed next to the current “Follow” button, a graph icon in the top right of the profile giving access to the analytics, a location including attachable directions, and also a category for the profile.  What this means is that marketing your business on Instagram is becoming easier and also more beneficial.  Soon, when users are brought to your page from either an advertisement or from their own doing, they will be presented with options letting them explore your page to much more extent than currently possible.  All of these new options will allow for potential customers to become more involved in your business’s page, allowing for these potential customers to become actual customers much more easily.

These new Instagram marketing tools go much more in depth than just a fancy interface change of the profile.  What marketers are really going to fall in love with is the new ability to view follower and post analytics.  Now Instagram will be giving information out regarding where your followers are located, their gender, and even their age.  A more in depth look at who is following your page will allow marketing your business on Instagram to become more specific.  This specific knowledge will lead a better understanding of which audience to cater your advertisements towards and why.

Another analytics section called “Insights,” will allow you to view data on impressions, reach, website clicks, and follower activity.  This information will inform you on how many times your posts have been seen, from total numbers to unique accounts, and how many accounts have clicked on the link in your profile.  Follower activity has the ability to show you the most popular times of day your followers are using Instagram.  Knowing the information provided under “Insights” will allow businesses to understand which advertisements are and are not working and continue to perfect their marketing techniques in the future.

Although the pending changes to the massively used Instagram application have not been given a specific launch date, they have been confirmed.  “We are testing new business tools coming to Instagram in a few months,” an Instagram spokesperson recently stated. As the platform continues to grow and change, Instagram marketing and the industry as a whole is transforming right alongside it.