pexels-photoIn a move to make it more competitive with Facebook, Instagram plans to improve business to consumer relations by adding new business profiles and contact buttons on the social platform. Announced earlier this year by recode.net, Instagram will be adding “specific profiles for businesses (imagine the Instagram equivalent of Facebook’s Brand Pages); more data on how a brand account’s posts are doing (even if those posts haven’t been promoted); and the ability to buy Instagram ads from a mobile device, either through the existing Instagram app or a standalone app the company hasn’t released (we don’t know which one). In other words, Instagram wants to make it as appealing as possible for brands to advertise, and it thinks that if brands have special profiles or the ability to advertise from a phone, that might help.”

The testing phase of these new features is currently being released on the market with TechCrunch reporting that at least three different profiles are being sampled. “The profiles, which are currently being tested with a small group of users, offer a variety of useful features for those who run a business account on Instagram, including a ‘Contact’ button, access to maps and directions, and the ability to categorize the business by type.”

If the initial tests prove to be successful, this will mark another point of expansion for Instagram which has seen tremendous growth over the last few quarters. It is estimated that one-third of all smartphone users will have Instagram installed by the end of the year – a number likely to increase to over 50% by 2017.

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