Instagram Launches New ‘Professional Dashboard’

Sahail Ashraf posted on 19 February 2021

Instagram has launched a new ‘Professional Dashboard’ for brands and creators. It contains elements that have already been available for some time. So is it useful, or not?

Instagram has taken the next step to becoming an organised monetisation platform by introducing a brand new feature. It has announced the launch of a new ‘Professional Dashboard’. This is basically a new tools management system that gives users insight into the performance of their posts, as well as some other bits and pieces that generally make the monetisation journey a little more organized.

Instagram said this on the new dashboard’s launch:

“As part of our ongoing effort to give creators and businesses the tools they need, we are launching Professional Dashboard, a central destination to track performance, access and discover professional tools, and explore educational information curated by Instagram.”

What does it do?

The dashboard breaks down the insights it offers into three distinct areas. The first area allows you to track the performance of your work. The tracking function gives you plenty of data and info on trends around your account and how it is performing. One useful feature, for example, is the provision of prompts that compare your current performance against previous performance. There is also a useful option to tap into your full Insights outline from the same place.

The second area is focused on growth. The ‘Grow Your Business’ section provides tools that allow you to take control of the account from the perspective of monetisation. Within this area you have access to Badges, IGTV offers and promotions, as well as your Branded Content, In this space there is also the ability to check if your account is eligible for monetisation. 

Finally, Instagram also provides a ‘Stay Informed’ section, which is pitched towards the idea of finding educational content and resources that it provides. It’s useful primarily because it offers users some tips and advice on building brands.

It’s important to note that these features and capabilities have been available before to users of Instagram. The main aim of the new dashboard is, it seems, just to offer support with organisation.

Will it change anything?

Obviously, marketers will be the first to ask this question, especially since the features have been available to them for a while. So it’s useful to weigh up the perspectives from Instagram’s point of view. By understanding why the company has done it, we may be in a position to work out if there is any added value.

Instagram has said this in regards to the ‘why’:

While some of these resources already exist across Instagram, we hope that by bringing them together into one central place we can make it easier for professionals to discover and access the tools best-suited for them.

Is that enough for marketers to get excited? Possibly not. Marketers are organised people, and having these features in one place won’t necessarily change the world. However, Instagram has also hinted that it will be bringing more features to the dashboard in the future. The company is staying tight-lipped on what they might be, but it is at least intriguing as to what they could be planning.

The general feeling is that the Dashboard has been created for organisational purposes, and also to help marketers make quicker, more informed decisions. It’s available to both brands and creators, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it grows.

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