Small businesses are always looking to improve what they do. From carefully considering what products to sell from home in 2019 to making important changes to their digital marketing strategies, there is much to be done. If your home-based business has been using Instagram as part of its social media marketing campaign, there are some Instagram platform updates that you should know about. These updates and tools may be used to help you optimize what you’re already doing. If you’re trying to see how they can be used effectively by you and your team, we have some information you may need.
Table of Contents
Alternative Text Descriptions: Grow a diverse following
Growing your following means finding and using accessibility strategies and tools. These will allow you to connect with every potential consumer out there, including individuals with disabilities who may have previously been unable to access important information. Technological advances such as alternative text allow the visually impaired or blind to have a narrated description of what’s happening in the image or video. This means that consumers who use screen readers will now be able to have the text read aloud to them, providing them with important information that was previously unavailable.
As a visual platform, Instagram’s alternative text description feature will give businesses two options. You can rely on automatic alternative text that uses object recognition technology to create its own audio description of the photo, or you can manually write your own text-based description. This second option gives your business a chance to highlight features of the product or service that matter most to you or that you feel will impact the consumer the most.
Voice messaging: Personalize your messages
Voice messaging is a second feature Instagram has recently rolled out. Businesses may find it can not only benefit some consumers with disabilities, but it can also create a personalized connection with brand reps. Voice messaging is a direct messaging feature that can create a sense of urgency for sales, discounts, or events with your most loyal consumers. Voice messages will have permanency, unlike other features on Instagram, and the one-minute long message can be sent both one-on-one chats and group chats.
Close Friends List for Stories: Promote your Story
You can now create “close friends lists” on Stories on both personal and business profiles. This feature allows only the people you choose to see your stories to be able to view it. You can optimize membership and share specific content with only your top-tier platinum members, or you can reward your brand reps with exclusive offers.
The Promote Stories from Business page feature is yet another feature that will be coming soon. This feature is currently being tested and will allow business profiles to boost their organic stories for increased exposure. Organic posts reach a wider audience than sponsored ads, allowing businesses to have some control over who is seeing the post. This way, your business can auto-target consumers that are similar in demographics to their current follower audience.
Retargeting audiences: Advertise more easily and effectively
Advertise to people based on age, interest, and location because Instagram enjoys one of the most advanced social media advertising platforms. Your business can retarget individuals who have visited and browsed your site but did not make any purchases. Visitors who build and abandon their shopping carts can become part of a retargeted audience. You can learn about their habits, including engagement, video views, and even their email addresses to help with those sales conversions. Instagram believes you will find this consumer engagement targeting tool especially useful for your small business.
Video features: Generate more user engagement
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? Instagram 60-second videos allow you to add a filter, a caption, and tag your location before you share the post. Video posts are known to generate more user engagement than still pictures. And if you’ve used that successfully, your home-based business may also want to try the Live Video features. Your followers can get a notification telling them you’re going live. The feature also allows your followers to comment on or like the video stream in real time. This feature can allow your business to build brand awareness and improve brand transparency.
What are some ways in which your brand intends to use Instagram in 2019? How might these features, tricks, and tips influence your current marketing campaign, improve your reach, grow your following, and move you closer toward becoming a significant influencer in your industry? Feel free to share your ideas here.
About Carson Derrow
