Tag: benefits

8 benefits of using an Instagram business account (and how to set it up)

Instagram is a must-have social media platform for many businesses, but do you need an Instagram business account?

The visuals-first app generates about 1 billion active monthly users and is particularly popular among consumers 34 and younger. Features have diversified since its founding in 2010, with Instagram Stories, Reels and more available to engage with your target audience.

You can opt for a personal or business account on Instagram. The platform has more than 200 million business accounts that users visit daily. In fact, about 90 percent of Instagram users follow at least one business.

The following are eight benefits of using an Instagram business account.

Scheduling posts

The ability to schedule posts due to having an Instagram business account is huge. Scheduling helps you save time and be more efficient as a content creator and publisher.

Various third-party applications, such as Hootsuite, can make it easy to connect and schedule away. Finding the right tool for you can make all the difference in your social media presence.

Check out these 11 free (or almost free) social media management tools that can help you do it all on social media with a limited budget.

Access to Instagram analytics

Data matters in digital marketing, particularly in social media, such as Instagram. It’s all about understanding your followers and what content resonates with them.

An Instagram business account gives you acces to dive deep into your audience’s profile views, your total reach, your post impressions and even the demographics of your followers.

With this information, you can pivot your content strategy accordingly.

Get a better understanding of Instagram Insights with our guide.

Instagram Shop features available

If your business sells products specifically, you’ll want to be able to leverage Instagram Shop features within your strategy.

With Shops, you can upload a product catalog, tag your products and (depending) you can even process sales directly within the Instagram app. In addition, you can set up: 

  • Collections of products (such as “new arrivals” or anything else that makes sense for your business)
  • Shoppable Reels
  • Brand affiliations that can then share and sell your products for a commission (with controllable permission for who can tag your products)

Plus, you’ll have additional insights data related to Instagram Shop specifically.

Ability to add a contact button

Instagram business accounts can add a contact button on your profile so that when a user clicks it, they can either email you, call you or view a map of your location.

You also can sync your public contact information with your Facebook business page, which means that when information needs to be updated, you only have to do so in one place.

In addition, Instagram business accounts can use action buttons, including “Order Food,” “Book Now” and “Reserve,” if appropriate for your business.

Showing your industry on your profile

With an Instagram business account, the industry you selected that best represents your business when creating your linked Facebook page will show on your Instagram profile.

Of course, this is editable within Instagram.

Adding links to your Instagram Stories

If you’re using a personal profile, the only clickable link you can share is on your profile. An Instagram business account changes this.

You get the option of adding link stickers to your Instagram Stories, which allow you to multiple images and/or videos in a vertical format, where you can layer on various doodles, text and/or interactive stickers. They last 24 hours before disappearing, but they can be pinned to your Instagram profile in Highlight groupings and last longer.

Since about 75 percent of Instagram users take action after looking at a post (such as visiting a website), this feature can help users easily do what you’re compelling them to do with your content.

Age verification

If your business is in a restricted industry (such as alcohol), your Instagram business account can set a minimum age. 

This is important because you can then ensure that you aren’t showing your content to potential underage Instagram users.

Instagram advertising

If you have a marketing budget to spend on your Instagram presence in any way, an Instagram business account will enable you to run advertising campaigns and boost posts on the platform.

Facebook and Instagram and intricately linked in this way. You can build campaigns in the Facebook (now Meta) Business Manager that can serve on both platforms.

In addition, Instagram Shoppable posts allow users to tap on product tags to view a full product description with a “Buy Now” button. This makes it easier than ever to purchase from your business through the app.

How to set up your Instagram Business Profile

In the Instagram app, navigate to “Settings,” then click “Account” and “Switch to Professional Account.”

You’ll want to select the category that best describes your business, and then select “Business.”

And that’s it! You’re ready to roll.

In conclusion

While there are big benefits to switching over to an Instagram business account, keep in mind that there are two features you will lose when you convert, which is the ability to:

  • Make your posts private
  • Link multiple Facebook profiles since you’ll only connect to your business’s Facebook page

Dive deeper to better understand the differences between personal, creator and business Instagram accounts.

Then, consider leveling up your digital marketing with DailyStory. Features include automating various marketing tasks, dynamic audience segmentation and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.

6 benefits of using CRM software for small businesses

Businesses of all sizes consider CRM software as a near-vital tool because of its ability to make communications more consistent, efficient and relevant.

CRM (which stands for “customer relationship management”) software gathers customer interactions in one central place to improve the customer experience and overall customer satisfaction. Simply put, it helps businesses manage, track and organize their relationships with customers. CRM software stores customer data, such as user behavior, how long someone has been your customer, any purchasing records and potentially notes on sales interactions. This data can then be used to optimize your digital marketing strategy and processes. 

Because this type of software tracks the behavior and actions of your current and potential customers, it can then guide that consumer through your sales funnel, depending on how you decide to set it up.

It simply makes all of your customer interactions that much more effective. So, it’s not surprising that about 91 percent of companies with more than 11 employees now use CRM software.

Not convinced? The following are six benefits your small business can have by using CRM software.

Improved customer service

At the heart of CRM software is the intention to improve business-to-customer relationships.

Your CRM manages and organizes all your contacts while gathering important data points, such as demographics, purchase records and previous messages across all channels. This information is then easily accessible to anyone on your team who might need it, which ensures that your customer service representatives can easily understand every customer they interact with and reference past interactions, which provides a better experience for the customer.

In other words, access to relevant customer data empowers your customer service representatives to earn greater customer satisfaction.

Check out our six ways to improve customer responsiveness to boost your customer service even more.

Increased sales

Because CRM software can streamline your sales process with automation of key tasks and analysis of sales data within the same place, this can clearly help increase both your sales and productivity.

Lead nurturing, for example, can be an arduous and complicated process, but your CRM software can automatically manage this process, while also sending your team alerts for when they should reach out to the potential customer. You can then ensure that you’re getting the right messages out to each contact based on his or her buyer behavior and actions.

It’s all about establishing a step-by-step sales process that can easily be tweaked along the way as needed to optimize for sales.

See our 16 tips to help increase your sales conversion rate for inspiration.

Boost your customer retention

Customer retention is incredibly important for your business. Just a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to at least a 25 percent increase in profit.

Customer retention is about maintaining your current customer base and increasing loyalty by offering better products or services and other benefits.

You can use your CRM software to encourage repeat business from your customers by leveraging your CRM’s automation features and behavior tracking to identify both issues and opportunities with your customers.

Check out our six tips to improve your business’s customer retention rate.

Contextualized data

It’s one thing to have analytics, it’s a whole other thing to have context with your data. That’s the power of CRM software, which typically offers built-in analytic capabilities so that you can better understand the data available with actionable steps that you can take.

Metrics include click-through rates, bounce rates and demographic information, among others. These all can help you judge the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns and pivot as needed. And the visualizations of data that many CRM software options provide can help as well.

Better productivity and efficiency for your team

Because CRM software uses automation technology, menial tasks (such as email drip campaigns) no longer have to be handled by your and/or your team. That means that you can then focus on other tasks, such as creating content.

CRM software also helps ensure that no tasks slip through the cracks. You can rest assured that all important emails are always sent to the right people.

Organization leads to better customer segmentation

Having a list of even just a few hundred contacts can be unwieldy and overwhelming. This is especially so if you have thousands of contacts.

CRM software can automatically segment your contact lists based on the criteria you set so that you can find and message the ones you want at any given time. Sorting can include gender, age, location, buyer stage and so on.

It’s all about getting the right message to the right person at the right time. 

In conclusion

Clearly, CRM software can help streamline your customer interaction and sales efforts. Make sure that you thoroughly research available CRM options before committing to one. What features do you need? How much does it cost? Is it user-friendly?

As you’re exploring possible CRM software for your small business, consider leveling up with DailyStory. Features include automating various marketing tasks, dynamic audience segmentation and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.