Have you been away from Instagram for a while now and have come back to practically a whole new platform but have no idea what’s going on? Do you want to know what all of the various different features are the Instagram has to offer now and how to use them?
Instagram is by far one of the biggest social media platforms on the planet right now. Launched in 2010, it has since managed to amass over 1 billion active monthly users, and is also a place where millions of businesses have started moving their marketing to. However, this was not without a massive effort on their half. In order to keep their users engaged and interested for such a long time they had to keep up with the demand and the ever-changing technology. This is where the introduction of a multitude of different features came in.
Instagram Is no longer just a platform where you can only post photos to your timeline. You can now post both photos and videos in various different ways on features such as stories, reels, IGTV, and even live videos. Anyone can use trending hashtags to discover all of this content and grow their account. These new additions are a creative way to post your content for other people to see.
Stories
One of the most unique features to be added to Instagram and also probably the most popular feature to be added to the platform, is stories. This feature is fantastic because it keeps people coming back for more with the fear of missing out. Essentially what stories are, are videos or photos that you can post that will only be available for people to see for 24 hours.
One of the biggest benefits of making use of stories is that they are fantastic for user engagement and audience participation. They allow for you to add in polls, yes or no questions, and even questionnaires which other users can interact with. Another great thing about stories is that they are all in the moment and incredibly authentic, so posting multiple stories in a row is not seen as overkill, like would be if you posted multiple times to your feed.
When it comes to stories, we tend to post different forms of content. The best influencers try to mix and match it up by posting a bit of philosophical quotes using the best stock photography backgrounds. They usually use the backgrounds and fill them up with interesting quotes. On other occasions, they tend to share their newest posts (static or videos) and often share a snippet on their stories. The more interesting you make it, the better will be the engagement.
Reels
The most recent addition to Instagram, has also quickly become another of the most popular features on Instagram. This could be because of its likeliness to another incredibly popular and new social media platform, TikTok. This feature is reels. The idea behind reels is that you can post soft form videos that are authentic and in the moment. They are a great way to market to a much younger audience because of the demographic that they reach too.
By far on of the best things about reels is that, through the algorithm, Instagram will just let you scroll through endless reels of both people you follow and people you don’t follow but have content that you are almost definitely interested in. this is great because not only does it allow for you to discover new accounts that you might like, but it is great exposure for businesses and brands trying to get their name out there.
IGTV
While this feature is slightly less popular than the other feature that have been added to Instagram. It is still well used and many people enjoy the content that is posted here. Essentially what IGTV is, is a place where you can post much longer videos, almost like YouTube videos, that will allow your audience to get a better understand of who you are and you can have a lot more freedom when creating your content.
Live
One thing that has become quite popular in recent years among many different niches, is live streaming or lice videos. Instagram quickly caught on to this and introduced their very own live video feature. This feature allows you to live stream your videos directly to your audience and get their responses in real time.
One of the biggest benefits of live video is that you don’t have to spend time editing your footage and making the perfect piece of content. It is all about being in the moment and your most authentic self.
Photos and videos
Last but not least, you have the good old feed. This is the original feature that Instagram offered to its users and is still going strong as a popular feature today. This allows for massive growth in followers and engagement. Here you can post both photos and videos, and one of the added benefits is that you can include a caption with content posted to your feed where you can communicate with your audience and engage with them.
