This post was originally published on November 1, 2021, and updated on April 22, 2023.
Information in this blog post was obtained from the Hootsuite blog and Engadget.
Instagram is always changing and has made quite a few big changes that you don’t want to miss. Keeping up with Instagram and its new features can be very beneficial to your business. There are many ways to get engagement and reach more followers or potential customers, and Instagram is constantly adding features to make this easier for influencers and brands. It’s best to hop on these new features early and utilize them before everyone else knows about them. Keep reading to check out what new features Instagram added that you could use for your business!
Link Button in Stories
One of Instagram’s most recent changes has been within stories. They changed the “swipe-up” link into a “link” button. People use this to link up products or blogs for people to look at or purchase. Many influencers make a lot of money off of “swipe-ups” because they are affiliated with or sponsored by the product they are promoting.
You may be thinking “How do I even link things in stories?” Well, they just changed this feature so that everyone has access to use it, which is why you may have never seen it before. It was only given to people who had 10K followers and they were allowed to use “swipe up” links to share products with people. According to Engadget, the platform has been gradually expanding access to the feature over the last several months, and now Instagram says it's rolling out the option to just about everyone. This is a big change for Instagram because this gave many influencers and businesses more followers, and more opportunities to share items with people over smaller businesses and influencers. With this now being available to everyone, this has a big impact on small businesses, influencers, and creators who now have another way of getting engagement to their customers.
This new feature is also super easy to use, simply snap a picture in Stories and choose the “link” sticker from the sticker options, and link to whatever you want. You can link to your website, blog post, or anything you want and all your followers have to do is tap the link, and it will take them directly to the link within the Instagram app.
Branded Content Partnerships
Another big change that happened was Instagram adding a Branded Partnership feature to posts and stories. What does this mean? This allows partnerships with brands and influencers to easily post a picture or story about the partnership so that it is easily conveyed to its followers. Companies can now add people to their page that are Branded Partnerships and they can post and promote their products with it easily representing the brand they are sharing. This means no more deceiving advertising and easily connects the brand with its partnership. This also allows influencers to be seen by more companies for partnerships and brand deals within the Instagram app. So this benefits not only the company but also the partnership made with the influencer or creator who is promoting the brand.
According to Hootsuite, this allows creators to connect and collaborate directly within the Instagram app. This is beneficial to everyone making brand deals and having Instagram do all the work for you and ensure the brand gets represented accordingly. Making brand deals with creators or influencers is now easier than ever with this new feature and it can give your business more exposure and engagement with branded content.
Schedule Live Videos
One of the unique features of Instagram is how you can go “Live” on video and interact with your audience. Instagram decided to try out a new feature within Live that allows creators to record Live videos 90 days before posting them and schedule them to their feed at a later date. According to Hootsuite, sharing your scheduled Live via a Feed post will allow your audience to sign up for reminders and notifications so they are alerted when you go Live. This is very beneficial to creators because they can then bring more awareness to the Live video they have scheduled to get more engagement once it is posted. The reminder tool in an Instagram Post then allows you to set a reminder of when the Live will be posted so then your followers can click on the reminder to get alerted once you go Live.
According to Instagram, 41% of recently surveyed Gen Zers attended an event or broadcast on Instagram Live in September 2021. This just shows how impactful Lives can be for your platform and how the scheduling tool can increase your discovery and distribution on the platform.
Co-Author Posts and Reels
Another new feature Instagram introduced was Co-Authoring Posts and Reels. This new feature allows two usernames to be included in a Post or Reel when it is published.
According to Hootsuite, this feature is currently in testing and only available to select users, and details regarding a global rollout have not yet been shared. So why is this important? This new feature can be so beneficial for brands that have collaborations with creators or influencers collaborating.
Once again, Instagram is changing the game allowing businesses and creators to get more engagement and interaction with people across the platform. Rather than seeing the post or reel from the same two people twice on your feed, this allows them both to share the content to their separate platforms while also getting credit for their content when it is only posted once.
If you haven’t noticed by now, Instagram focused on Creators and businesses this month and rolling out new features to help benefit them with new engagement opportunities and interactions within the platform. Taking advantage of these new features can put you ahead of the game on Instagram and are easy ways to utilize the platform to its full potential to reach more followers.
Resources
Holt, K. (October 27, 2021). Instagram is Now Letting Almost Everyone Use Link Stickers in Their Stories. Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/instagram-stories-link-stickers-roll-out-150024795.html
Mikolajczyk, K. (October 19, 2021). New Collab Feature Lets Users Co-Author Posts and Reels. Hootsuite Blog. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-updates/instagram/collab-feature/
Mikolajczyk, K. (October 22, 2021). Instagram Introduces Branded Content Partnerships. Hootsuite Blog. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-updates/instagram/branded-content-partnerships/
Sehl, K. (October 14, 2021). Instagram Rolls Out IG Live Scheduling Tools. Hootsuite Blog. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-updates/instagram/instagram-live-scheduling/
Comments