{"id":42591,"date":"2023-10-20T15:22:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/instagram-and-twitter-updates-to-make-social-a-better-experience-for-businesses-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:22:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:22:20","slug":"instagram-and-twitter-updates-to-make-social-a-better-experience-for-businesses-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/instagram-and-twitter-updates-to-make-social-a-better-experience-for-businesses-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram and Twitter updates to make social a better experience for businesses – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Social media platforms Instagram and Twitter have recently unveiled a number of changes designed to help small businesses manage negative comments and deliver better customer services to their followers.<\/p>\n

Recent statistics from Instagram show 7 million Australians now use the photo and video-sharing platform every month, which is up significantly from the 5 million users the platform had in 2015, and a massive 4.2 billion posts are liked on the platform every day.<\/p>\n

For businesses already comfortable on the service, Instagram is looking to make them even more so with recent changes to comment posting.<\/p>\n

Comments made on photos or videos can now be filtered for both offensive language and specific keywords nominated by the account holder. Instagram revealed the change in a blog post on September 12, with chief executive and co-founder Kevin Systrom saying he aim is to \u201cmaintain what has kept Instagram positive and safe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of the Instagram community is the diversity of its members. To empower each individual, we need to promote a culture where everyone feels safe to be themselves without criticism or harassment,\u201d Systrom said.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

The comment options available to all accounts<\/p>\n

On users\u2019 account settings, a new \u2018comments\u2019 section has been added. Through this, account holders can nominate the keywords they wish to filter, and choose to hide inappropriate comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know tools aren\u2019t the only solution for this complex problem, but together, we can work towards keeping Instagram a safe place for self-expression,\u201d Systrom said.<\/p>\n

Elena Antoniou, co-founder of underwear company Mighty Good Undies, is an Instagram natural, having used it to promote the business\u2019s crowdfunding campaign. Antoniou told SmartCompany<\/em> the company\u2019s Instagram account has just hit 11,000 followers, and the platform is perfect for telling a company\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstagram has been an integral part of growing our business. The platform doesn\u2019t really lend itself to making sales, I think it\u2019s better used as a window into your brand,\u201d Antoniou says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about the aspirational side, and telling the story of your company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its thousands of followers, Antoniou says Mighty Good Undies doesn\u2019t encounter any negativity on the platform, meaning so the new comment filtering features won\u2019t necessarily be useful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably not for us, we usually just get questions about the product in our comments,\u201d Antoniou says.<\/p>\n

But for small business owners who may be daunted about getting started on Instagram, Antoniou says it is \u201cabsolutely pivotal\u201d to try the service for yourself first.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry it out for yourself first and work out how the platform functions. Work out who your competitors are, and who your followers are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding some of the supportive tools for Instagram is helpful too. I\u2019m not a graphic designer, but knowing how to use Adobe InDesign and Photoshop is invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

This news comes on the back of a recent feature test from Instagram that introduced a contact button on businesses\u2019 profile pages, allowing customers to email or receive directions to the business right out of the app.<\/p>\n

Twitter introduces customer support changes<\/h3>\n

Twitter has followed in Instagram\u2019s footsteps with a similar feature for businesses, mostly focusing on customer support features. Twitter explained the new options in a blog post, outlining the new customer support page that can be found in the website\u2019s Dashboard settings, which are available on any account.<\/p>\n

The changes provides three options on the page, including one that allows accounts to receive messages from anyone on Twitter, regardless of if they follow the account or not. This is a feature that has been available for a while, but Twitter has changed it to make the contact option more visible.<\/p>\n

When a business ticks the \u2018Support Account\u2019 box, the direct message button becomes more prominent on its Twitter account, and an indication is added in Twitter search results that the account provides support.<\/p>\n

Mighty Good Undies also uses Twitter, but only has 2,500 followers on the service. Despite this, Antoniou says she will definitely use these customer support features.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwitter lends itself to customer support anyway, so it doesn\u2019t surprise me that they\u2019re doing this,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A notable change with these features is the direct message button now takes the place of the usual \u201cTweet To\u201d option on businesses\u2019 profile pages. This may be to encourage customers with problems to message businesses directly, rather than take potentially negative customer experiences public.<\/p>\n

This article was first published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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