Love it or hate it, social media has dramatically changed our lives and one platform that has completely transformed from what it once was is Instagram. With over 1 billion monthly active users, it has become the most influential app of this generation.
The platform is rolling out some major changes to improve the user experience and change the way in which businesses can use the app. With Instagram constantly making changes and updating the platform, it can be exhausting and difficult to keep up but that’s where we can help.
So, what changes will be most valuable to you and your business?
Instagram’s number one priority is for users to have an easy and enjoyable experience when using the app.
The CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, revealed users will be able to switch between different views on their home screen, giving users the ability to tailor their Instagram experience in a way that works for them.
Here is a breakdown of the 3 different views:
Ultimately, this update will help you grow your business as users will be recommended to follow your business if they follow similar businesses or individuals but it also makes your content more visible.
But how can you use it to your advantage? For instance, the favourite view can be used as a means of inspiration for your business whereby you can clearly see competitors.
Instagram has said that it is moving away from the traditional view of the platform as a photo-sharing app to becoming a video-platform. Like most of us, you may be thinking why?
Well, Instagram is actively investing and prioritising Reels, promoting short, entertaining video content to mimic the formula that has contributed to the success of other video platforms like TikTok and Youtube. The platform is trying to make video content as simple as possible for us to discover and create because it is often seen as a complex and time consuming task.
How can your business benefit from this change? Video content is starting to dominate Instagram so it is important that you level up your content to reach and grow your audience. Perhaps you could get your staff involved with making some fun reels.
Instagram has already started rolling out changes to the layout of the home screen. The most obvious change is that posts will become larger, taking up most of the screen, with a 9:16 ratio.
This update is to ultimately encourage the promotion of Reels particularly, and to be more mobile friendly. With this update, it is crucial to make your caption gripping and engaging as captions are limited to 1 sentence before users are asked to click to view ‘more’.
Instagram is continually and rapidly evolving to improve its user experience and like the rest of us, you can often feel overwhelmed trying to keep up. That is to say, all these changes will ultimately benefit your business and it is obvious why staying up to date with the latest updates is crucial when it comes to nailing your marketing strategy.
