Instagram recently launched a feature to support “Black-Owned” businesses. The social media platform now allows shops based in the U.S. to design and display a “Black-owned” label.
From last summer through fall, there were over 1.3 million Instagram posts in support of “Black-owned” or “Black-led” businesses; and the number of businesses located in the US with “Black-owned” or “Black-led” in their profile increased over 50%, according to Instagram.
“There was a lot of tragedy happening in the Black community,” said Rachel Brooks, a product manager at Instagram on the equity team who worked on developing the label.
“On top of that, there was a global pandemic raging, and a lot of challenges particularly with Black-owned businesses being able to stay open, maintain livelihoods, those sorts of things. And so what we saw is the community really rallied around Black-owned businesses somewhat naturally and organically by using #BuyBlack and all sorts of other ways of amplifying Black-owned businesses,” Ms. Brooks added.
To activate the feature in their profiles, black-owned businesses have to tap on “Edit Profile,” and select “Business Diversity Info” where they can learn more about what it means to designate your business as Black-owned.
Then tap “Get Started” and you will land on the “Diversity Info” page. Toggle on the “Show Black-owned business label” setting, which will enable a “Black-owned” label on the business profile and product pages.
Once businesses designate their profile as Black-owned, it may also be highlighted in places like the Shop tab, which helps more potential customers discover them.
A success story comes from Stormi Steele. She posted a video on her social media accounts back in 2017 of how to use Black hair products she created herself with $800 of capital. Her homegrown business, Canvas Beauty Brand, later brought in $435,000 in profits through a single $100 paid social media advertisement.
The expectation is that with this new feature black-owned businesses can have more exposure by customers trying to find them.
