From Notes to Reels—here’s a look at some Instagram features worth trying in 2023 to grow your business.
Spent hours scrolling Instagram lately? Well, so have many others. Over 1.2 billion people worldwide use the Meta-owned social media photo and video-sharing platform. What’s more? It’s a money-making haven for businesses. In 2021, Instagram brought in over US$25 billion in advertising revenue in the United States. Evidently, if your business wants to grow, it needs to be on Instagram today. To ensure that you make the most of it, we have rounded up some new and popular features for you to try.
Reels
In June 2021, the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced the platform’s intention to move beyond just photo sharing and lean into video. Thus began Instagram Reels. A report found that Instagram Reel ads reach over 750 million users.
Reels are 60-second videos designed by creators to entertain you. You must’ve seen a host of reels online across a range of topics, from fashion and beauty to tech and startups (like the Jumpstart Media page!) Reels can help boost your engagement and reach a wider audience.
Notes
In December 2022, Instagram announced a host of new features that it would be launching and testing on the platform. One of them is Notes. Launching soon everywhere except the U.K., European Union and Japan, Notes is like Facebook’s Status feature, except it is placed in a thought bubble. It hovers over your profile picture over people’s DMs (direct messages). Yet, your thoughts will need to be succinct, as the feature only allows for 60 characters.
Notes disappear in 24 hours, and any responses to your Notes will appear in your inbox. It’s Instagram’s way of starting conversations, aligned with Mosseri’s vision for 2023: Bringing people together. For a small business, Notes could be a great way to share snappy business updates.
Add Yours
Have you participated in any of the “Add Yours” trends on your friends’ stories? Turns out, they are quite popular. From “Add Yours” pet pics to “Add yours” favorite weekend memory, there’s a lot to play around with in the feature. Now, Instagram is adding a “pass it on” feature, where you can invite your friends to participate in a trend that suits them. Your business can use this to encourage users to share pictures of your products on their Instagram pages, thus increasing reach.
Candid Stories
Like BeReal—a social media app that randomly prompts you once a day to share what you are doing at the exact moment, i.e. be real—Instagram’s Candid will urge you to share real-time photos on Stories with your friends who do the same. You will get a daily reminder to share a candid photo, and you can turn this notification off in settings at any time.
You could use this feature to give followers an insight into your business (like the behind-the-scenes), especially if it’s a startup or small business that is just getting off the ground. All things considered, people like to feel involved.
Group Profiles
This is a super cool one to engage your closest online community, thus further boosting your engagement. Like you would share posts to your Instagram messaging group, now, you could do so on a proper shared profile. Users who are part of the group can post photos and stories on the group page. The content will be shared with the group members only.
It’s a great way to create a shared space of personal memories. In a similar vein, Instagram will be trying out a collaborative collection feature, wherein you can save posts in a collaborative space with your friends—kind of like with Pinterest groups!
Essentially, it seems that Instagram has taken the most popular features of other social media apps and combined them with its strongest suits. That said, given the large amount of Instagram users, it is worth it to get on board and give these new features a try. Not only will you be able to get closer to your community, but you will also get to collaborate with them and perhaps even come up with new ideas based on their feedback.
Also read:
- Top 5 AI Tools for Content Writers
- How to Make Money on Pinterest
- 7 Must-Have Tools for Social Media Managers in 2022
Header Image by Unsplash
