With more than 1.000 million active users in the world, Instagram It has become not only one of the most successful social networks, but also a platform to which more companies join every day who see in it a perfect showcase to reach more people and, with it, increase their business.
Something that many have also joined “forced” by the state of alarm and the physical closure of many businesses. And it is already known: “If Muhammad does not go to the mountain…” and thus, since the beginning of the health crisis, many businesses and brands have decided go to your clients' homes or at least to their mobile phone, via Instagram.
The Stories of Instagram
To do this, one of the most popular tools on the social network are the Stories, small videos or animated images, present for 24 hours on the social network, and that already used by more than 500 million users, according to data from Instagram itself.
These “stories” that have filled our days of confinement. From classes of all kinds, concerts, challenges or, simply, images with the “At Home” icon with which to appeal to everyone's responsibility, the Stories of Instagram have become one of the great protagonists these days.
"Support small businesses"
Something that, as we pointed out, they have not missed small businesses of all kinds and to which Instagram now returns that trust with small gestures such as “Support Small Business” label or sticker.
Thus, when a user decides to include this tag in their story, the network allows them to mention a neighborhood store or small business, and thus give it visibility among their friends.
In addition, the friend who sees that story can easily contact that small business using the tag, since they can directly go to their profile on Instagram.
Also, when mentioning with the “Support small businesses” label, it shows a preview of the last three publications that that SME has made on its corporate account in the case of Instagram.
Furthermore, all content published with the sticker “Support small businesses” will be part of a Story special collective, in which each Instagram user can see the businesses that have been “recommended” by the people they follow.
A compelling reason for small businesses to decide, if they have not already done so, to make the leap to Instagram and open their corporate profile on this network.
A gift card
«SMEs are the soul of cities and towns and a very important part of our Instagram community. We know that the Covid-19 crisis represents an enormous challenge for many of them and we want to help them with tools that allow them to continue managing their business during these difficult times, as well as maintain - and even strengthen - the relationship with their clients.
With these words, Irene Cano, General Director of Facebook in Spain and Portugal, presented the “gift cards”, another of the great tools for SMEs that Instagram has launched these days.
This option that allows small businesses to place a "button" with which users to visit your profile on network will be able to buy their products or give them to others, thus helping to keep these businesses active while the pandemic lasts.
Restaurants, gyms, beauty salons, bookstores, bakeries, etc. “In these difficult times, people seek to support their communities and the companies that make them up. One of the ways to do this is by purchasing gift cards, which is why Instagram launches in Spain the availability of a functionality that allows you to easily discover these gift cards from your local SMEs,” they explain from Instagram.
How to use Instagram gift cards
To use gift cards, a business simply has to meet a series of requirements:
- Have an Instagram business account.
- Comply with Instagram partner monetization policies. As they explain on the social network itself, among other requirements, these policies consist of not selling prohibited objects, not spreading hate messages, etc.
- Set up the gift card through one of the available partners, following the instructions on their website. Currently, Instagram partners in Spain are Square and Kabbage.
Steps to configure the gift cards button
If a small business meets the above requirements, setting up the gift card button is very simple:
- Access the Instagram company profile.
- Select Edit profile.
- In “Public company information”, enter Action buttons.
- Under “Select a button,” choose Gift cards.
- Select a partner to sell the gift cards.
- Add the website the business uses to link to the gift card service you have selected.
- When you have included the website, select Ready.
And that's it. A simple action with which Instagram can become a solid ally with which to keep small businesses that are struggling in these difficult times going.
