NEW Instagram tools to support small businesses
The pandemic has been hard for everyone but even more for small businesses that are the most exposed to the consequences. Instagram just released new story stickers and action buttons that will help your business get noticed and drive more sales during this lockdown. So if you own a business and aren’t on social media yet, I urge you to open an account on Instagram as the platform is giving you powerful tools to market your business on their app.
Let’s get straight to the topic starting with:
GIFT CARD
You can add this feature as an action button on your profile or when posting a story by adding the “Gift Card” sticker. Basically, to set up your business with the gift card option you will have to select one of Instagram partners (Gift Up!, Loy
Lap or SumUp) and link this partner to your business so you can set up the button on your profile and start enjoying this new feature.
The procedure doesn’t seem to be complicated, all the steps are clearly explained on Instagram when clicking on the “Learn More” button. Once everything is established you can post a story adding this sticker and encouraging people to support your business by just clicking on the sticker of your story or on the action button of your profile.
FOOD DELIVERY
A unique feature has been implemented that will help you promote your food delivery services if you are still offering takeaways on Deliveroo and Uber Eats. So, on the same model of the Gift Card feature, you need to link your account to one of Instagram’s partner, once it’s done, you can set up the action button or the sticker to your profile. A unique way to promote your restaurant menu to your audience and encourage them to order just by clicking one button on your profile or in your story. Ordering food as never been so easy for a customer experience point of you, so if you are already on Deliveroo or Uber Eats seize the opportunity and activate this option on your Instagram account, reach more people by optimising your profile and stories and increase your sales!
With those new options being active on social media and creating meaningful relationships with your community is more important than ever as it will significantly positively impact your sales, so scroll back on our blog to read our best tips on how to start an Instagram account the right way and if you have any question just send us a DM or an email at hello@hblcmarketing.com
DONATION
The last feature that appeared is “Donation”, so if you are an association in need of funds to support your cause this feature is for you! Make sure to have a look to the association list to verify that you appear there or to follow to process to register as an association to appear on the list. Once this is done, you can encourage your audience, the volunteers in your association to share the sticker on their stories and to add the action button “donate” on their profile to maximise your reach.
However, if you are a business that hasn’t been heavily affected by the current situation you can show your support to one of those association by sharing this feature via an action button on your profile or doing a story and adding the sticker so your community can donate to the association of your choice.
FACEBOOK SUPPORT
Facebook which as reminder own Instagram, is introducing the “small business grants programme”, offering USD 100M in cash grants and ad credits to help during this challenging time, a credit that will help your business, if eligible, to pay rent costs, keep your workforce going strong, connect with more customers and cover the operational costs of your business.
So have a read through this link to see if your business can access this help: https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants which is available in 30 countries at the moment.
We really hope that this article will help you understand the importance of staying connected during the lockdown and adapt your communication to offer content to your audience that is relevant to the current situation. Social media offer you great and free tools to market your business online so seize this unique opportunity and make the most out of it to create an engaged community, reach more people and ultimately drive more sales thanks to the platform. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us, we are always happy to help in any way possible.
Have a great day and hang on!