Instagram has unveiled so many new features in the past few weeks that you may have missed a few. Here’s everything you need to know about its latest offerings plus details on how incorporate them into your marketing strategy.
Comment Filters
Instagram has made a major step in combating bullying and abuse by allowing comments to be disabled and allowing the use of filters to block comments using predetermined keywords. This is a great way to safeguard your followers from any abusive comments on your feed.
Comment Replies
In the very near future, Instagram will make it possible to like and reply to the comments beneath your images. This will be a huge help in improving user engagement. Even if your business has a small or moderate following, you’re aware of the hassles of trying to type the right usernames to reply personally to comments. It’s even more complicated for accounts with upwards of tens of thousands of followers! The new system will allow you to make a single click to like a simple comment and you can reply back to the right user with ease, by clicking reply which will automatically generate their tagged username for an error-free, quick and easy experience.
Instagram’s algorithm favors accounts that engage with the users that comment on their posts. To add, users are much more loyal to accounts that respond to their replies as it shows mutual interest and simple respect for their time.
Profile Tagging in Instagram Stories
Now you can tag the accounts of any person or business featured in your Instagram Story! This is an excellent feature if you work with influencers or if you feature a public figure in a special Story campaign. Each tag links directly back to the users account. Besides you tagging or being tagged by an influencer, there is also the opportunity for everyday users to tag your account if their post happens to feature one of your products, services, locations…
Saved Posts
The new “Saved Posts” feature gives Instagram many of the special benefits of Pinterest. This should be especially exciting for those of you with product-centered businesses. If a user saves one of your posts, it will go from being engaging from a few seconds or minutes to having relevance for possibly months at a time. This extends the lifecycle of every post you share on Instagram and greatly increases the chances of making the sale.
Instagram’s user base continues to climb and the new features continue to debut. Which features are serving you best?
