Why And How You Should Switch Your Brand To Instagram Business Profile

Sahail Ashraf posted on 13 November 2017

Instagram has consistently proven to be a major tool for brands. There are a number of reasons for this. For a brand to really have a large amount of success though, it’s important that there is a clear understanding of what an Instagram Business Profile can do.

Some brands still didn’t switch their Instagram presence into Business Profiles, and this directly affects their growth on the platform. We’re going to take a look at what an Instagram Business Profile is and why your clients should have one.

Reasons why you should switch to a Business Profile

The big reason for having a business profile on Instagram boils down to one thing: access.

Prior to the introduction of business profiles, anyone wanting to contact a business outside of Instagram would have to quit the app and go to a brand’s website.

This of course provides the possibility for frustration and/or lack of interest. An Instagram Business account takes care of this by providing a ‘contact’ button on the screen.

It may seem like a small thing, but having that quick and simple access makes a huge difference to a business.

More benefits: Analytics, links and paid advertising

Instagram is a great way to build engagement for your brand. That’s understood. But if you have more than a few thousand followers, Instagram’s business solution makes more sense. The business set up allows you to interact with and learn more about your followers.

Essentially, a business profile allows a brand to access more marketing tools, support tools and access to a wide range of new analytics. And if you have plenty of followers (and you’re not a movie star) then it makes sense to use the platform for marketing.

Any business that wants to have an Instagram profile is generally looking at engagement potential. The Instagram Business profile allows brands to run ads via the app. This is a real plus for any brand, and the ease of use makes it well worth looking at.

But taking that even further, you can also promote posts from inside the app. This is again incredibly easy, and the mobility aspect means that you can literally fit in post promotion throughout your day. Just like boosting a Facebook post, it is a quick way to reach and engage people.

Another key aspect of Instagram for Business is the ability to link to Instagram Stories. It’s an extra marketing channel for a brand, and, if done sensibly, should ramp up marketing efforts quite quickly.

Your clients benefit

We’re assuming that you are running Instagram accounts for clients right now, and you’ve been doing it for some time. The business account thing, if you haven’t tapped into it, can only reinforce the good work what you’re doing.

Looking at the general view on the platform, it’s clear that Instagram is currently a huge draw for audiences. It’s visual, and it allows for a higher level of interaction.

But there is one key reason for grabbing an Instagram Business profile. Locowise has updated our Instagram analytics in a huge way. And the big changes mean that having the profile for your clients means even more data, analysis and prediction is available.

Locowise has been hard at work making our data even more useful to agencies. Our new update on Instagram Analytics delivers even more, better targeted data. This means you can report to clients with every imaginable variable covered.

From the city an audience group lives in to the number of clicks on the links in your description. You can find out everything you need to know about the Instagram profile you’re running for clients.

Converting your Instagram account to a Business Profile is essential if you want to tap into these new marketing possibilities for clients. And you have nothing to worry about the data either. We keep all your existing data, but just add a lot more on top.

How to switch your brand to Instagram Business Profile

As with most things Instagram, this is quite easy to do. One thing to bear in mind is that this particular platform is incredibly popular with businesses. Instagram states that over 15 million business profiles have been created across the globe. It obviously works.

The way to make a business profile happen for your client’s brand is to head over to the app and click the ‘gear’ at the top to view profile options. Tap ‘Switch to Business Profile’, then select the Facebook Page you’d like to associate with your Business Profile on Instagram with.

On the “Set Up Your Business Profile” page, review your business’s contact information, make any changes and tap “Done”.

Then in Locowise you need to give us access to the new business permissions for your existing owned Instagram profiles via the Report Builder page by clicking the gray auth button in the profile card.

Alternatively, you can add a new business profile via the “Add Profile” page (accessible via the ‘Add’ link in the top right hand corner of your Locowise admin screen).

Then access the new Instagram charts and data on Locowise

Here’s what’s new in Locowise Instagram reports:

Support for all post formats including Instagram Stories, carousels, videos and photos.
All the new data is available on both the individual post level and the total profile level.
Impressions and reach numbers now available for all post formats.
Exits, replies, taps forward and taps backward for Instagram Stories.
Video views for all your video posts.
The number of unique accounts who’ve visited your profile.
The number of unique accounts who have saved any of your posts.
Learn more about your audience with gender, age, and country and city location data.
The number of clicks to the link you’ve included in your description.
Track clicks on the call to action button on your profile.
You can export and download all the new data using Excel, PowerPoint and PDF.

Drilling down to understand your audience better

Your client’s audience is complex. It has segments everywhere and you really need to be on top of all of it to bring real value. Our new analytics update requires Instagram for Business, and once you’ve got that set up for your client the features available will make all reporting fully comprehensive.

For example, all of the video posts you have up on your client’s Instagram Business profile have attached data on the views the videos receive. This is invaluable as part of your analysis of campaigns. Get a real feel for how videos perform, and what, if any, changes are required.

Another great feature is the ability to drill down into your audience and its geographical makeup, as well as other aspects such as gender, age and even city location. This means your Instagram campaigns can become even better when it comes to targeting.

Clicks can be tracked for any call-to-action buttons on your profile too. So all areas are covered. It’s just another way to demonstrate to clients that you have all the information and data they need to get a full picture of the work you do.