To provide easier and better opportunities to users and
businesses, Instagram has made a lot of changes to its platform this year. From
adding a check out button to facilitate e-commerce sites to adding donation
stickers to help people raise money for a cause, the site has gone through a lot of updates.
Have you already gone through these updates? If not, then
you need to get familiar with them as they might affect your marketing efforts.
To help you out, here’s a list of 6 Instagram updates that
every social media manager or marketer must be familiar of.
1 1. The New Explore Tab
Instagram has expanded its explore tab giving it a new and
attractive look. Now you can easily access new content with the Shop, Food,
Animals, Photography and IGTV tabs.
This has narrowed down search for users. For example, if
they click on the beauty tab they’ll only be shown posts uploaded under that
category. This way, brands have a better chance of gaining attention from a sea
of posts.
2 2. Donation Stickers
More than 500 million people upload stories every day, and
to make the stories feature more useful Instagram has introduced donation
stickers. This allows users to raise awareness and money for a cause they
support.
3 3. The Following Tab no longer exists
Instagram has removed its ‘Following’ tab that showed people
the activity of the people they follow. According to Instagram chief Adam
Mosseri, a lot of people did not even know about the feature and that Instagram wants to keep the app simple and focused on the main functions people use.
1 4. @shop Launches
Instagram has started a @shop page on its platform that gives
businesses and creators limelight by featuring inspirational stories and
content from business owners.
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5. Instagram may remove Likes
Instagram has tested out removing the likes feature to
reduce the societal pressure on users. However, the feature has not been
removed from the site yet. The social media platform says that it wants people
to focus on uploading quality content without the pressure of gaining more
likes.
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6 6. The Checkout Feature
The is good news for brands that wish to sell their products
online. Users will now easily be able to shop for what they want through in-app
purchases. When someone taps on the product they like, a “Checkout on Instagram” button will pop up, giving users a chance to purchase the item without
switching to a different app.
Another good thing about this option is that, after the user enters their information, it is saved for any use in the future. Out of all the updates, this is one of the best and is likely to become more popular in the upcoming year.
There have been plenty of changes made to Instagram and we
can expect many more in 2020. With people continuing to pour in at large
numbers every day, Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform. This
makes it a great place for brands to connect with potential customers and expand
their business in the upcoming year.
