After the surprising announcement of the Facebook Inc. rebranding which from now on will be called Meta (we talk more about it here), important news arrives also for Instagram.
No name change, palette or logo but the development of some new features that will expand the user’s interactivity on the platform.
Some of these innovations directly comes from the community (for example external links open any profiles with less than 10,000 followers). Others, on the other hand, demonstrate Instagram’s intention to push the pedal in the relentless competition with TikTok.
Not surprisingly the Reels are reconfirmed as the real driving force on Instagram also for this season. The boost is relevant compared to the other formats (Posts and Stories in primis) and the return in terms of visibility is optimal if the content is created with originality and consistency with one’s positioning.
Below we see the latest innovations introduced on the platform and some suggestions for using them to the fullest.
1. Instagram Collabs on posts
Chiara Ferragni and Fedez wasted no time in testing this new feature to celebrate Halloween first and then advertise their next television adventure.
Collaborative posts are certainly among the most interesting features of the whole Instagram novelty package.
They allow two users to appear as co-authors of the same post that receives the same visibility on the feed of one and the other.
What is shared is not only the content but also the feedback, reactions, reach and comments.
To create a collaborative post it is not necessary to have a verified profile or exceed a certain threshold of followers.
Just invite another user as a contributor when publishing a post in an analog way to the tag. If the invitation is accepted this is how your collab post will appear to the audience:
2. Posting from desktop
This was undoubtedly a long overdue feature.
Instagrammers, creators, social media managers and marketers have long been asking for the possibility of publishing content even from the desktop.
Until now, in fact, sharing photos and videos on the feed was possible only and exclusively from smartphones, thus encouraging usability mainly via mobile. A tactic consistent with the mission of the original Instagram, when the contents were mainly edited within the platform itself.
But with the evolution of the service, the extension of the audience and the explosion of content, publishing exclusively via mobile has become increasingly limiting. Especially if we consider the frequent use of external editing software that force portability via mobile for final publication.
Online we have collected conflicting opinions between those who welcome this opening as a real blessing and those who will continue to publish via mobile because they are now used to it.
3. Sharing Links in Stories to Everyone
The sticker for external links in stories is the result of a real democratization of the link.
Previously for the exclusive use of those who exceeded the conventional threshold of micro influencing set at 10,000 followers, now the possibility of inserting external links in the stories has (finally) been open to everyone.
“We have heard from the rest of our community that they too want to share important things with their friends and family – it was written in the official announcement here -. Whatever interests you, from cooking to volunteering or shopping, you now have a space to share in stories, regardless of the size of your account“.
It is undoubtedly an important change. Usually, social networks such as Instagram tend to centralize the user experience and limit their ability to go out to other places. In this case, however, the interactive and stimulating potential of the external link is rewarded and indeed extended to everyone without any limits whatsoever.
To share a link, just select the sticker from the stories settings, copy the url of the page we want to direct our users to and that’s it.
4. “Add yours” sticker in Stories
The latest news is the “Add yours” sticker that we have seen circulating a lot in the Stories of the last few weeks.
The basic idea is to create real content trends.
A user shares a photo or video giving his followers the opportunity to respond to that Story with another Story, binding it to a specific theme.
This will result in all kinds of trends: from photos of the last sunset at the sea, to videos of your pet, to content relating to your work or online business.
This could be an interesting way to stimulate your audience to share their ideas, experiences, perspectives.
Once again the goal is engagement so the advice is always the same: space for creativity with consistency with respect to your image and goals!
