It looks like Instagram has finally started its Facebook-like feature of connecting businesses with their consumers. In what is expected to be a game changer for online businesses, a new "Contact" button is now being tested.
The new button basically works in the same way as Facebook Brand Pages. The "Contact" button can be seen beside the old "Follow" button-this is the most visible difference between business and personal profiles.
This "Contact" button, when clicked, shows a pop-up menu. This menu has a couple of nifty features such as offering directions to the seller and the capacity to email the seller, Tech Crunch reported. What is interesting is that Instagram is going with traditional emails as opposed to using the in-house messaging system.
Many sellers actually have physical offices and shops. Being able to offer directions to these local spots has its clear advantages in expanding reach and building a name for the business. For a very long time now, online sellers have had to make their own way in providing directions to their customers. Also, the use of traditional email is actually preferred by many businesses and this information is typically freely posted on most business profiles.
Business pages will also be categorized in a similar fashion to their Facebook counterparts. On Facebook, businesses are listed under a type of business under their names. This can be used to curate content for users.
At the moment this new "Contact" button is not being rolled out yet for general use. A spokesperson for Instagram said, "We are testing new business tools coming to Instagram in a few months." These "tools" are also expected to be more than just a new button. Analytics data to see how well posts are doing and the capacity to buy ads from a mobile device are just a couple of possibilities.
The new business features of Instagram are sure to make online businesses maintain a real presence to consumers. This means that whatever success businesses have had so far on Instagram can only get better. The real possibility of making a legitimate business based on Instagram is becoming more real by the day and even employment options could not be so farfetched once Instagram's business pages become the norm.
