Instagram’s Latest Features Rollout and How to Use The for Your Business
Instagram’s Latest Feature Roll Out and How to Use Them for Your Business
In a year when it seems as though life has been put on hold, social media has become more important than ever. We look to it for communication, for entertainment and for answers, but we also look to it to keep the economy spinning. Now more than ever, social media is a crucial marketing tool for businesses, especially when so many physical locations have temporarily closed.
In its 10th year, Instagram commands a sizeable portion of the market with more than 1 billion users in 2020. It’s the 6th most downloaded app on the planet and it’s not going anywhere. In the last decade, Instagram has expanded from a simple photo-sharing platform to a hub with images, videos, stories and shopping all available at the touch of a fingertip.
Statistics have shown that in recent years, more than 80% of Instagram accounts follow business accounts. Combine that with the significant increase in everything online this year and it becomes clear that Instagram is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal to reach and engage with consumers.
Instagram have released numerous updates and features in 2020, but here are the key ones that you can easily use to market your business.
Reels
Reels is Instagram’s answer to TikTok. The short-video sharing app exploded this year and became a huge hit amongst Gen Z and millennials in particular, but alongside a boom in popularity came a security scare with fears that TikTok was making users vulnerable to hacking attempts. Never one to shy away from adapting a competitor’s latest offering, Instagram released Reels to emulate the key feature of TikTok, with the trusted company name to sway people back to their own platform.
In a nutshell, Reels allows users to post quick 15-second videos set to music. Given that 80% of time spent on Instagram is devoted to watching videos, it’s clear that this type of content is in demand. It allows users to add dynamism to their posts and feed. Prior to this, videos could be added to Stories, but they only last 24hrs. Using the new Reels feature, accounts can feature these quick videos on their feed permanently. Plus it’s a way for brands to show their playful side. We’ve been loving the reels from London on the Inside (@londonontheinside).
We know stories are a great tool for engaging with an audience, offering features such as using polls and asking questions, setting countdowns and enabling viewers to skip back and forth within the story. Differentiating itself from Stories, Reels has found its niche as a way to deliver quality content in an easily accessible and informal manner, without being limited to 24hours.
Hot Tip: With Reels, getting the right music is everything. Pick something funny or upbeat to get noticed!
IGTV updates
At the opposite end of the video spectrum, comes Instagram Live Videos. The old feature would notify followers that a live stream was about to start and once it was finished users could add the live video to their stories. Unfortunately, this upload cut the video into an array of 15-second chunks and shared them as a temporary story,
The new update, released in May, allows users to post longer videos onto IGTV immediately after filming and leave it there until any time at which you might decide to remove it. While short videos typically get the highest views, this can be a great way to bring more detailed information to your client base when a quick clip just won’t cut it. Check out Dinner Party with Bon Appetit (@bonappetitmag) to see live streams getting their permanent place on IGTV.
Pinning Comments
Do you ever get great feedback and then realise that it’s so far down in the comments that hardly anyone will see it? What a waste, right?
Not anymore.
This feature doesn’t sound like much at first, but it gives IG users greater control over how their posts are viewed. Using this new feature, businesses can choose which comment to feature and ‘pin’ it to the top of their post, whether they have a handful of replies or thousands. This allows businesses to highlight their favourite feedback or relevant links and let that be the first comment that future viewers will see with the post. Head to Later Media (@latermedia) to see some great examples of how best to use this nifty little feature.
In-Platform Shopping
Last, but not least, we have Instagram’s new shopping capabilities. Gone are the days of posting links and hoping people will go and find your shop. As of July 2020, the platform has rolled out Instagram Shop for public testing. Users can browse different collections and actually purchase items without having to leave Instagram at all.
The app will also be featuring collections that have been curated by their own in-house team to promote emerging businesses. At this point, it seems the best way to get involved is to have products tagged in your content consistently and to create multiple collections within your shop.
Zara (@zara) were one of the first brands involved in the Instagram Shoppable trials. Check out these Zara product posts to see how simple it becomes to see it, like it, buy it!
It’s been an exciting year for Instagram users with all these new features coming in and it’s set to continue this way. The increased consumer focus on social content isn’t going anywhere so keep an eye out for the next wave of updates!
What’s your fave new feature?