Instagram New Updates You Need to Know Before 2020 Ends

Instagram New Updates You Need to Know Before 2020 Ends

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Nov 27, 2020

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Hi,June here

 

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This year, Instagram is going all out with its latest updates that even the pandemic can’t stop them from doing so.

These updates are extra edge for both content creators and brands as they can use these to boost up their growth on Instagram.

So to sum it up, here are the Instagram New Updates you need to know before 2020 ends that you should apply to your marketing plan for 2021:

Newest Update: IG Guides

The newest update is the “Guide” which allows creators to share tips, resources, and other long-form content in a dedicated tab.

Basically, IG Guide could look like a blog post since you can add a gallery, photos, and videos to it.

This feature can make users increase the time in the app and to the creator’s page. This will also lessen the time where a user needs to go outside the app just to see the complete details of a post – no need for an external landing page.

 

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There are three types of Guide you can choose:

Places: Recommend places in your city and beyond

Products: Recommend your favorite products

Posts: Recommend posts you created or saved

 

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Places are good for sharing location-based recommendations such as restaurants & cafes.

Products are perfect to curate products on Instagram Shop.

Posts are can be used when curating a longer version of the content that you’ve created or save.

REELS

We all agree that this is a major change in our Instagram experience. Many creators even say that IG is now focused on Reels.

With its latest update, Reels can be found at the main buttons at the lower part of your screen – apparently replaced the Camera button.

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Originally, Reels can be found the way you do the Stories but having it at the main buttons, it becomes more accessible to the audience.

It is also announced that you can now have Reels up to 30seconds so more fun and more content to include in your creation.

Including Reels in your content plan gives you a chance to get high impressions and reach. You may read my Tips on How to create entertaining IG Reels to get insight and ideas for your next Reels.

INSTAGRAM SHOPPING:

It seems that Instagram is leading to a more shoppable platform as Shop also replaced the activity on shortcut at the main buttons of your app

Just like Reels, this makes it easier to access and shop on IG – just by one tap.

But the major change in IG Shopping is the way brands tagged their products.

Originally, Brands can tag products on their posts only but now they can also do it on their ads and during IG Live.

By tagging your product in your post, ads, or live, it shows your customers some details they needed when deciding to purchase such as its name & price.

A customer can also click the tagged product which will directly lead them to the product/shop page.

Tagging products is not just on the photos and videos only, shoppable product tags can be spotted in captions too! So keep your call-to-action relevant and creative.

BRANDED CONTENTS:

Influencer marketing is all over Instagram. Many creators have brands that they support and promote on their page, which of course, are paid.

With IG’s latest update in their policy regarding branded contents, it is now required to mark all branded contents with the new partnership tag.

This means that when posting content that features an influencer or business partner, the creator must use the branded content tool to tag them.

So expect to see a tag on a branded content saying “Paid partnership with [brand]” which can be applied on Stories and posts.

IG LIVE:

You can now go live up to 4hours & have 30 days to save the recording which can be also saved to IGTV

This is best for those doing live streams, tutorials, and even fundraisers which now have dedicated donation buttons.

Those featured creators that do live will appear on the IGTV app and Explore page with the “Live Now” label.

IG TV:

Speaking of IG TV, it actually has the most advanced tools among those new features as it now has speech recognition AI that produces automatic captions.

So far, this AI is available in 16 languages that save the creator’s time to add its own caption.

Adding a caption helps the viewer to understand your video even without turning the sound on.

Aside from that, IGTV now has ads and opportunities for streams to get monetized to earn revenue.

This is a good news for influencers and personal brands.

INSTAGRAM STORIES:

Stories are still everyone’s favorite so they also added new fonts and features for small businesses such as Gift cards, Food order, and Donation tools.

You can also see all accounts that you followed that posted Stories to watch it in one place by selecting the “See all stories” grid.

Image source: https://twitter.com/JulianGumbo

MESSENGER + DIRECT MESSAGE

Facebook loves to connect its family of apps together so one of their latest updates is the merging of Messenger and IG direct message.

You may read my New Messenger Update- Facebook & Instagram Merge blog to learn more.

 

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PIN COMMENTS

Pinning comments are now available for everyone which is a good way to feature your favorite reviews or feedback from your audience.

 

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You can choose and pin the top 3 comments you like which makes you more connected to your audience while promoting them at the same time.

Both the brand and commenter will benefit in this feature. & I think this is the equivalent of the top fan badge of Facebok haha.

GIPHY IS NOW PART OF INSTAGRAM FAMILY

Since GIFs are most used on instagram, Giphy finally joined the fam.

By bringing Giphy on the app, there will be a lot of options and it will become easier for people to find the perfect GIFs & stickers to add to their Stories and Direct.

With these new updates, it seems like Instagram is keeping its audience on the platforms more often and longer.

But well, it’s a win win too for the creators and brands. haha

What do you think of these updates?

GET IN TOUCH – HELLO@JUNEAYE.COM

 

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