Instagram is constantly pushing the boundaries of what a photo-sharing app can be, providing some exciting new features.
Here are the Instagram features that every marketer should know in 2023
Instagram Notes
Think of Instagram Notes like a bulletin board: you can “pin” short phrases to the top of messenger, and they’ll stay there for 24 hours. Notes are a great place to remind people about events, promotions, life updates and more.
Instagram Collab
Collab posts allow two separate accounts to share the same content to both of their feeds. Both of the creator’s handles appear in the post, and the comments and likes are all in one place. This is a smart feature to use when you’re partnering with an influencer or another business for an advertisement or sponsored content: It makes the partnership transparent and obvious for your audience. IG collab posts instantly increase your reach, because both your followers and your collaborator’s followers will have access to it.
Instagram business features
Professional Dashboard
The Professional Dashboard on Instagram is for Business and Creator accounts. Here, you can measure your performance on the app (more on Instagram Insights below) and also learn more about how improve those metrics—the “Grow Your Business” section has helpful tools for great ‘gramming.
Interactive Bio
The interactive bio features make it easier for your audience to access information directly from your Instagram profile. Information like your business’s address and phone number are clickable, leading curious potential customers straight to the point. And don’t forget about the link in bio—you can copy and paste your company website there, or craft your own linktree to maximise that space.
Desktop Publishing
In the days of yore (aka, pre-2021), you could only publish to Instagram via a mobile device. But in June 2021, Instagram introduced the desktop publishing feature. Now you can post from your computer’s desktop and avoid neck cramping. To publish directly from your desktop, log in to instagram.com and click Create on the left side of your screen. From there, you can drag and drop content, use filters, add captions and more.
Instagram Insights
Instagram’s Insights allow you to track your success on the platform (they’re part of the Professional Dashboard, see above). Keep track of important metrics like your engagement rate, likes, comments, followers and more using this feature.
Instagram Live
Make serious connections (in real time) using Instagram Live. This feature helps you engage your audience and can give you a major step up when it comes to brand authenticity. Using Instagram Live, you can connect with viewers, invite them to join your live video, present shoppable products and more.
Instagram Guides
The Instagram Guides feature allows you to curate content around a particular theme or goal. For example, you could create an IG guide to a certain product launch, sale or brand information. To create an Instagram Guide, you don’t need to make new content: think of a guide like a batch of already-published content that you’ve gathered together for a specific purpose.
Pinned comments
Comments generally show up either sorted by time posted or whatever comment the viewer will be most interested in (thanks, algorithm!), but by pinning a comment, you can control what your audience sees first. Pinned comments show up directly below the post’s caption, directing the viewer’s attention to a particular message. Businesses can use pinned comments to amplify positive messages, draw attention to frequently asked questions or simply put a funny comment front and centre.
Instagram messaging features
Direct Messages
Take it to the DMs: direct messages are a private way to interact on Instagram. You can start up a DM with any Instagram account to communicate directly. This is the best place to have a conversation that you don’t want the whole world to see.
Group Chats
Group chats are just like DMs, but they include three or more accounts. Group chats are a great way to share content or talk with a small group of people (and send memes, obvs). Instagram group chats can actually include up to 250 accounts, which feels a bit like having a turkey setting on a microwave.
Audio & Video Calls
Watch your back, Zoom. Via Instagram’s private messenger, you can make audio or video calls to up to eight people at once. Just select either the phone or video option in the top right corner of your DM to start a call—this works on both desktop and mobile versions of the platform.
Audio & Video Calls
An automatic reply is like a voicemail for Instagram—it lets the person who DM’ed you know that you received their message, and can communicate a standard message to everyone who sends you a private chat. This is particularly helpful for businesses. An automatic reply can be used to answer frequently asked questions, present timely information or even let folks know that IG DM isn’t the best way to contact you.
Saved Replies
Saved replies are an incredible IG hack when you’re dealing with a large volume of DMs. A saved reply is a shortcut to a longer message. You can set up multiple saved replies in your IG settings.
Reply to comments
Instead of replying to comments with another comment, you can reply to to comments using a direct message. This is a useful tool for transitioning a conversation from your comment section to a private message. To reply to a comment with a direct message, just tap Message instead of Reply when you’re commenting.
Polls, quizzes, GIFs and stickers
Using Instagram messenger, you can send GIFs or stickers in any direct message. Plus, you can send interactive polls or quizzes to any group chat (any message with three or more accounts involved). To access these features, go into the chosen chat and tap the sticker icon on the lower right side of the screen. From there you’ll be able to pick stickers and GIFs and use the poll and quiz options—if what you’re looking for doesn’t pop up right away, use the search bar.
Unsend Messages
If you’ve made a mistake in a direct message or accidentally sent a DM to the wrong account, you can unsend the message by tapping and holding it, then choosing Unsend. Of course, if the person has already read the message, this won’t erase it from their memory (though it may make them think they’re losing it).
Vanish Mode
This feature isn’t particularly useful when it comes to business (unless you’re in the business of GOSSIP) but it is very fun. Open Instagram messenger and swipe up on the screen to turn on Vanish mode — your messenger screen will turn black, and once a message is seen on Vanish mode, it disappears. Important note: Instagram notifies everyone in the chat if someone takes a screenshot. Better not.
Instagram Story features
Instagram Story captions
Captions are a classic way to up your Instagram Story game — they allow you to layer text, emojis and tags over the photo, Reel or post you’re sharing.
Instagram Story highlights
IG Stories disappear 24 hours after they’re posted — that is, unless they’re saved in a Story Highlight. Story Highlights allow you to keep notable or informative Stories “pinned” and easily accessible at the top of your profile. If you’re looking to customise your highlight covers, like in the example above, here’s how to do it.
Instagram Story links
Add a link to any website on your IG Story by using the “Link” sticker. Just copy and paste the web link into the appropriate field. The sticker will automatically display the name of the website, but if you want to personalize it, just hit Customize sticker text and type in whatever you want — for example, CLICK HERE, READ MORE or SHOP NOW.
Interactive Story stickers
Besides links, there’s also Story stickers that allow users to interact with your content while staying in the Instagram app. Interactive stickers include pools, quizzes and questions: use these features to engage with your audience, source opinions or get ideas.
Add Yours
This is one of Instagram’s newer sticker options, and it has some very cool possibilities when it comes to sharing. The “Add yours” sticker allows anyone on Instagram to participate in a photo-sharing challenge that follows a specific prompt. For example: “Your June so far,” “Family photo” or “Design inspo please.”
Instagram Story shopping
This is another kind of clickable sticker—add links directly to products in your Instagram Shop to make it simple for viewers to learn more (and buy stuff, of course).
Instagram Reel features
Edit Reels
Instagram’s native tools for editing Reels are quite comprehensive. You can clip videos together, crop, add text and music, put in fun transitions and more.
Remix
Instagram’s native tools for editing Reels are quite comprehensive. You can clip videos together, crop, add text and music, put in fun transitions and more.
Reel Templates
Editing Instagram Reels can be a pain (especially if you’re using IG’s in-app program — here are some free alternative solutions), and Reel templates are a user-friendly strategy for creating excellent videos. Templates will automatically clip your chosen videos into a certain time frame, usually to the beat of a particular song–providing you with a perfectly edited video in just a few seconds. To use a Reel’s template, just hit Use template, which appears above the account name on the Reel.
Reply to a comment with a Reel
When someone comments on your Reel, you can reply with a Reel that includes that comment—it’s an awesome way to engage with your audience and to capitalise off of content that you’ve already created. To reply to a comment with a Reel, choose the comment that you want to reply to and hit Reply. Then, instead of typing your reply as you normally would, hit the camera icon. That will bring you to the Reels creation page, and the comment you’re replying to will appear like a sticker on your Reel.
Captions
In order to make your Reel as accessible as possible, use captions. Captioning the audio on your Reels is helpful to folks who might not be able to hear (and also helpful for people who watch Reels silently, for example, for hours on end while their partner sleeps soundly next to them). Instagram will create automatic captions for you (Hallelujah)—just tap the sticker button and choose Captions. IG won’t always transcribe the audio perfectly, but you can edit each word yourself by tapping on the text. You can also change the font of the captions using the options at the bottom of your screen.
Instagram shopping features
Product Tags
Product tags are an awesome tool for retailers using the platform (and an even more awesome tool for online shopaholics). The shopping feature gives businesses the opportunity to showcase their products online, and consumers the opportunity to buy those products directly within the app.
Instagram Checkout
Speaking of buying directly within the app: that’s what Instagram Checkout is all about. This in-app feature makes shopping criminally easy.
Instagram Wishlist
If impulse buying isn’t your thing (brag alert) you can add products to your Instagram Wishlist. To do this, just tap the little ribbon icon next to the product. To access your saved products, tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner of the IG shopping screen and then go to Saved Products. Knowing about the wish list feature is also helpful if you’re a business selling products: this can be a call to action in your posts (“Save this to your summer wishlist”).
Hidden Instagram features
See Archived Stories
Instagram Stories disappear 24 hours after they’re posted. It’s a blessing and a curse. Once those 24 hours are up, the post is gone forever. Or is it? You can access your own Instagram Story archive through your profile — just hit the three horizontal lines at the top right of your screen, then Archive. This feature is especially helpful if you’ve conducted a quiz or poll and can no longer see the results: that’s all accessible via the Stories archive.
See all the posts you’ve liked on Instagram
To see all the posts you’ve liked on Instagram in one place, go to your profile page, hit the three horizontal lines in the top right corner, then hit Your activity. From there, you’ll be able to see all the posts that you’ve liked, commented on, been tagged in, and even your sticker responses on IG Stories. You can even sort these by date — so if you want to know whether you voted “yes” or “no” to the whipped coffee trend in April 2020, this is where to check it out.
Instagram Story tags (after posting)
Have you ever posted an Instagram Story and realized you forgot to tag someone? Now, you can retroactively mention someone in your IG Story. That means that they can share it to their followers, instantly expanding the reach of your content. To tag someone in an Instagram Story after the Story has already been posted, go into the Story, tap the three dots in the right bottom corner, then tap Add Mentions. Type in the handles of the account(s) you’d like to tag, and you’re golden.
In summary
It is always advisable to keep up to date with social media platform changes as daunting as it may be. If time is of the essence though, then leave it up to your digital agency like Content 360 to manage.
Contact us below for all your social media management requirements.
Reference
website – https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-features/
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