Over the last few months, Instagram has released plenty of new features including a new explore page, IGTV, Instagram questions and more.
Using all their new features could do wonders for your business, blog and engagement, want to know more?
Read our tips below on what new features have been released this summer and how to utilise them…
IGTV
In June, Instagram launched it’s very own video platform that can be used within the Instagram app or via a separate ‘IGTV’ app. Yes, Youtube already exists, but this is different as you can film vertical videos.
This means it is much more accessible as there is absolutely no need for expensive, professionally shot videos with hours of editing. Instead, you can grab your phone, do a video, edit it and upload it all from your smartphone! This is great as it will be much more accessible than Youtube and people will hopefully feel more obliged to use it.
The videos can be 10 minutes long for some accounts, but up to one hour for the accounts that are verified or have a large following.
To use it for your brand- think of using it as a super-charged Instagram story. You could use IGTV to film behind the scenes at events you go to or a sneak peek into your office space or you preparing orders for clients. You could also use t as an opportunity to record a webinar to share skills with your audience or a real-time tutorial for makeup/hair etc.
Instagram Direct Calls
Easily contact anyone regardless of where they are in the world with group video chat!
Released in July, you can turn a DM into a call with up to four friends.
To call someone you have to create a DM first and you’ll find the video camera logo in the right-hand corner which enables you to call them.
This could work for your business if you’re someone who wants to check in with clients easily and still keep it informal. As a blogger, you could keep in touch with brands without giving out all your contact details. Also, you could use it if someone needs customer support from your business, ringing them may seem more personal and get the problem resolved quickly.
Of course, you can just use it to call your friends too!
Soundtracks for Instagram Stories
There has recently been a launch of a new music sticker in Instagram stories, allowing you to add even more personality to your profile are share music to suit the content you’re uploading!
This feature is available in both videos and photos, you can choose from thousands of tracks to pick the tune to suit the mood thanks to Facebook’s recent partnership with record labels.
Currently, the music sticker feature is only available to those with iOS or Android devices and is only available in a few countries, but that is likely to change soon.
Influencers can use this feature to add a more professional feel to their video clips. However, it’d be great for brands too! If you are in the music industry in some way e.g. a music teacher, own a record store or are in a band you can easily show off the music you love.
This will give your followers a better insight into your favourite music and personality!
Updated Explore Page
This July, a new update was made to the Instagram Explore page. It was redesigned with you in mind, so you can discover more content that is interesting to you. The new layout has ‘Topic Channels’ with groups such as sport, fitness, animals and more. It also has a ‘For You’ sections which has a mixture of posts tailored to your own interests.
There is also a list of hashtags which will help you see the posts that have recently used that hashtag with ease.
This can be beneficial for brands that focus and take care of the hashtags they use. With over 200 million people visiting the Explore Page daily to get inspired and discover new content, if you aren’t using the right hashtags in your posts you’ll be missing out on multiple opportunities to be discovered by other users!
Questions
Instagram Stories now have the ability to be even more interactive than they were with the vote sticker and slider poll. You can now add a ‘question’ sticker to your Instagram story and followers can submit their questions for you to answer.
This is fantastic for business as you can get tailored and valuable information from your followers on what they want to know about your business and what they would like to see!
All of these new features can easily be adapted to use with your business, blogging site or personal profile. It will help you engage with other users and potentially reach even more people to help grow your page and get your business seen!
Engagement is important on Instagram and is vital for growing your page. If you’d like to organically grow your Instagram engagement then sign-up now with Hashtag Blogger for a 7-day free trial!