Updates – Facebook and Instagram Tools Ideal For Small Businesses
There has been a lot going on in the social media sphere last week so to help you stay abreast of these exciting developments we’ve provided a round up of a few of our favourites that are designed to help small businesses grow and flourish online.
Facebook Launches Shopping Platform for Small Businesses
As small businesses continue to develop their online presence, Facebook has launched a new tool to make online shopping a seamless process on the giant social media platforms, Facebook Shops is a mobile-first shopping experience for both Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook Shops is FREE and easy to use and enables businesses to choose which items to feature, showcase product collections and tell the brand story with customisable fonts and colours. In Facebook Shops, you’ll be able to connect with customers through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to answer questions, offer support and more.
Facebook is also working with partners such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics to give small businesses the support they need to ensure this tool is as effective and accessible to as many businesses as possible.
Point to note: While this tool is free, there are whispers that Facebook will, at some point, take a commission on orders placed through the tool.
www.facebook.com/business/news/announcing-facebook-shops
Instagram Small Business Sticker
Instagram have launched a new “Support small business” sticker so people can easily show their love for small businesses in Stories. Users can mention businesses directly in the sticker to give their followers a preview of the account. When people use the sticker, their story will be added to a shared Instagram story, so their followers can see it along with other businesses that people they follow are supporting which will massively help raise awareness within the small business community.
The “Support Small Business” sticker can help businesses reach new customers and stay connected to the people that they serve. When businesses are mentioned in the sticker, they can repost the content to their stories or message people who tagged them. Businesses can also use the sticker to shout out other entrepreneurs in their community.
We love this!!
business.instagram.com/blog/supporting-small-businesses-on-instagram
Instagram Guides
And finally Instagram has launched a new format for sharing curated, scrollable content called Instagram Guides. Guides is another way to discover recommendations, tips and other content from your favourite creators, public figures, organisations and publishers on Instagram.
When viewing a Guide, you can see posts and videos that the creator has curated, paired with helpful tips and advice. If you want to learn more about a specific post, you can tap on the image or video to view the original Instagram post. You can also share a Guide to your story or in Direct by tapping on the share button in the upper right corner.
At the moment the Instagram Guides feature is only available to selected and expert wellness content creators, but watch this space……we are and we are very excited!
about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/supporting-well-being-with-instagram-guides