Mar 2, 20217 min read

NEW INSTAGRAM FEATURES – GUIDE FOR MARKETING EXPERTS!

It is a struggle to keep up with improvements to social networks. Especially today, where there are nearly weekly updates. With these changes, the social media marketing approach also needs to change.

We are here to assist. There are almost a billion people on Instagram. Instagram is filled with functionality, like most digital media, and is continually evolving to keep up with the growth of the webspace.

First of all, we will take a brief tour of the new updates to the app, then delve into depth about the more developed Instagram features that are important to marketers.

What is the Latest in Instagram?

In the last couple of years, Instagram has released a lot of updates as it keeps rising. For corporations and communications professionals, let's take a look at the most significant updates.

Likes elimination trial: Instagram is testing to delete the public as a buffer on posts in various countries, including the USA, as of late 2019. Likes are still monitored by the app, however, and are an important metric for advertisers.

Stories Stickers continue to grow: Interactive story stickers with functionality such as polls or recaps have become more and more popular for Instagram users, and the site also keeps introducing new ones, like the newly introduced quiz sticker that can be perfect for highly interactive stories-just make sure you don't mistake this feature with a multi-answer poll because it will show 'correct'.

Shopping with AR characteristics:

Presently, select companies will design a new Instagram Shopping functionality that incorporates the virtual reality lenses that users are familiar with to 'try on' items and buy them from Instagram posts and stories, as well as other sites such as Snapchat.

Messaging extends with Threads: Threads is a new stand-alone program from the 'Close Friends' list you can build on Instagram that links to your Instagram posts.

Features for Advertisers on Instagram

Almost since its launch, Instagram has introduced several features, both paid advertisements, and organic content, that support marketers. For advertisers, let's take a look at some of the most important features of Instagram.

Features on camera:

You are already associated with Instagram video updates, including that they allow up to 60 seconds of video. They're like normal photo posts. Until you share the post, you can add a filter, a caption and tag your location.

This is big for marketers looking to win with the latest Instagram algorithm that monitors the posts' user interest to decide whether or not to show your content (more on this below).

Look at this article to learn how to post a video.

Live Video from Instagram

Live video, because yeah, it is life, is different from the Instagram video. This is how it works here:

Followers get a push notification asking them that you are going live.

In real-time, followers will comment on or like your live video feed.

After you finish it, the video is gone (it does not save it to your account)

This is yet another way for advertisers to establish clarity and credibility for the brand, all of which are relevant with the new algorithm update from Instagram. To understand how to upload a live update, check out this Instagram guide.

IGTV ONLY

Inside Instagram, Instagram TV is a service that allows users the opportunity to upload videos that last up to an hour, like a TV show.

This is big news for content owners who are into video content, as over 80 percent of organizations use video marketing, one of the fastest-growing trends in content marketing.

IGTV allows advertisers the option to post longer video content with the bonus that anytime you share a new video, your fans are alerted.

Features of Stories:

The Stories feature is one of the main updates to Instagram as of late. Stories are similar to Snapchat in that users upload video clips to a post that is available 24 hours before it disappears.

Under the 24-hour cycle, you can access the story material as many times as you want. Stories appear at the top of the feeds of your followers as tiny rings.

In Stories, Promoted Tags

Shoppable tags allow businesses in their images to tag their items. For starters, if you show a model running in the running shoes of your company, you will tag the shoes such that users would click straight to the product page and buy the shoes.

Companies will now also tag items inside tales. This is a perfect way to highlight your product(s) in live-action or in content created by users (like we just mentioned from the @ mentions). Imagine the sincerity of telling one of your client's stories with a sticker on the product with your narrative.

Applications for More Stories:

Recording videos for up to 15 seconds

Up to 10 seconds of image viewing.

Inside Stories, direct messaging

To access photographs and videos from your camera roll, swipe down on the camera pad (You can only access content on your camera roll from the last 7 days).

The total number of views you can monitor and people have seen your content.

You should change the story settings under your Instagram settings. You can mask your stories from the feeds of those users and edit others who can or can't answer via direct message to you. Would you like to read more about stories on Instagram?

Other Key Marketer Instagram Functionality

Turn current posts into ads.

Initially, once you pressed the in-app Promote button, you couldn't turn an existing post into an ad. Now companies in the Advertising Manager will turn their organic posts into ads.

Here are a few tips on what is worth paying for organic posts to advertise:

Start for your most popular posts, which are the best material that your users connect to most, for whatever reason.

Run advertisements that make any sense for the kind of content you promote-if you have a lot of likes for your organic posts, consider running them as an Engagement Ad.

Your favorite accounts' Push updates

As a corporation, you may not deem it a priority to accept updates from accounts that you follow. And, you want to add updates from your fans.

On the mobile app, that rather concealed function is available. To turn on notifications:

Go to the profile from which you want to receive alerts > click on the three dots (hotdog icon) and pick > 'Turn on Post Notifications.'

Once chosen, each time the account shares new content, you will receive updates. Researchers discovered 65 percent of smartphone users who wanted to accept push alerts for a returned product within 30 days in a survey by Localities. The analysis also showed consumers activated three times more than those who opted out, allowing push notification.

Strategies for finding people to toggle on your account notifications:

Please ask them to! You'd be shocked by how many individuals on the social media respond to a direct order like that. Ever question why "click here" is the bulk of the web's call-to-action? "

Post the most useful material possible, always. Tell yourself, is this post anything without which my users do not live? Is there all that they would like to know? The answers need to be yes.

When your users make your account updates, when you post on new product releases, discounts, and promotions, you can bank on earning additional revenue.

Username and Hashtags with hyperlinks in your bio

The username or hashtag that follows will be immediately hyperlinked as you type @ or #.

For corporations, this is fantastic news as this is yet another way to get your fans to connect with other pages that you own or branded hashtags that your company uses.

Filters Your Favorite

When you are uploading new Instagram videos or images, there are 40 Instagram filters to get creative with. But, as a company, in terms of brand value and design, you would want the content to be consistent.

It can be difficult to maintain your look and feel consistent if you have more than one person handling your Instagram. By clicking the gear icon at the end of the filter row, Instagram helps you to handle your favorite filters.

Get somebody on the design staff or a senior marketer/branding consultant to pick the filters your business is going to use. Don't go crazy to examine this, go by what you find suits the identity of your business better.

Manage Geo-tagged Material Carefully.

It can be extremely useful, particularly for brick-and-mortar firms, to use Geo-tagged content for marketing purposes. Nevertheless, even pictures or videos that you didn't tag will reveal the exact street where you uploaded the clip to Instagram if you have Geo-tagging switched on.

You also want this if the content you publish is about your company's place (especially if you want customers to remember your business location, like a restaurant or store). If you're a social media admin or organization, but on the other hand, you might also want to watch where you share to ensure the elimination of those geotags.

You can do this easily: pick a position icon > press Edit in the upper right-hand corner > Choose as many photos or videos as you want and erase the geotags.

Instagram An Easier Way to Handle

Although the native platform of Instagram makes it much easier for organizations to migrate between accounts, there are still several management capabilities and analytics resources lacking. You can track hashtags, handle comments, and gain valuable insights into Instagram data with third-party social media management software like Social Influencers.

Inference

To keep up with customer expectations and competition from other outlets, social media is increasingly changing. Your best bet is to remain aware of these latest features and changes and to reflect on how you will gain as a marketer or organization from these features.

Ensure that in the coming months you are not based exclusively on Instagram Ads-keep engagement as a top priority as the algorithm has adjusted to favor engagement.

What are your favorite recent features on Instagram? How are you using them to fulfill your company objectives?

LET’S TRY INSTASTORY.NET

For exploring new and trending Instagram stories people are posting nowadays, you can watch them on Insta Story and see what new and unique Features are people using to attract their audience. You can even download their posts or stories and them offline in your galley for viewing later.