The three features currently being tested on Instagram also have Facebook pages. This move is intended to make Instagram more attractive to advertisers and thus streamline the entire purchasing process. A test version of these profiles has now been released.
1. Feature: Categorisation and direct contact option
The profiles include new features such as a ‘Contact’ button
, which is right next to the ‘Follow’ button, and the ability to categorise a business.
2. Feature: Advanced communication options
Below the ‘Contact’ button, there are two ways to contact the profile. The first is the option to contact the business directly – ‘Get Directions’ – or the option to send an email. This removes a major headache for businesses and makes communication with customers easier.
Direct contact solves the problem of inserting links
and allows users to contact the brand with a single click: it is thus possible to establish direct communication with potential customers. All this without having to include your email address in the profile description, which, as we all know, is not entirely optimal in terms of functionality and appearance.
3. Feature: Business geolocation
Another feature is the so-called Location tag, which shows you the business’s location on the map within the app. So no more cramming as much information as possible into the bio, but direct navigation to the branch or contact. Thumbs up from me.
The launch of the full version is just a few months away
Thanks to these new features, users will be able to contact you directly, visit you and categorise you into a clearly defined category.
Profiles will be more user-friendly in terms of design and usability, and visually enhanced. The Social Media Tuesday
website reported that the launch of the full version is just a matter of a few months. It is clear that these changes will have a significant impact on the perception of Instagram as a sales channel. This is also linked to a new algorithm that will distinguish between personal and business profiles when displaying content in the feed.
All these new features suggest that further functions could be added to the menu in the future, such as contact via Facebook Messenger
, which Facebook is already trying to turn into a key sales channel.
Who knows, perhaps we’ll see a clickable ‘Buy’ button, just like on YouTube.
Let’s wait and see what Instagram has in store for us in the future and to what extent it will become like Facebook.