With our last blog providing ample evidence for Instagram’s longevity and influence, it is imperative as an SM Manager or Small Business Owner, to know how to leverage the platform for your business.

The creators’ commitment to develop and expand the app’s functionalities and affordances, means attempting to navigate the Instagram landscape is overwhelming, and cultivating skills can seem daunting. To add more fuel to the fire, head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri recently indicated that Instagram is no longer ‘just a photo-sharing app’ and is progressively favouring video content.

Like any social media, there’s no hard and fast rule for triumph on the Gram but we’ve attempted to streamline the path to success through collating 5 new features to leverage.

Read more to become better versed at the other half of Facebook’s metaverse…

1. Be inclusive or be excluded

Similar to many industries, especially in recent years, social media platforms have been expected to develop tools and technologies for their users that are more accessible and inclusive.

Instagram is leading the way in this space for hearing impaired users, through their development of story-auto captions. This feature automatically converts the dialogue of a video to real-time text, so users can consume the media without sound.

2. CSR is paramount
In direct response to the effect of COVID-19 on the economy, Instagram launched a new social fundraising feature. Corporate Social Responsibility is integral to consumer expectations for brands and this new feature allows you to execute it seamlessly.

3. Reels, the new golden child
Like Mosseri has foreshadowed, Instagram is favouring video content, and creators posting this content, are rumored to be organically pushed in the feed. This sentiment aligns with the app’s continual growth and nurturing of their reels feature.
The most recent reels update involves a new way to respond to comments, which is with… another reel. Emulating TikTok’s reply functionality, you can create micro-video replies, heightening the interactivity and traction of your thread.

4. Add yours
Add Yours is a new sticker for Instagram stories that allows users to write any prompt of their choosing and share it on their story. Other users can respond to your prompt when they click the sticker and are given access to all users who have contributed to the thread.
Adding another layer of interactivity to Instagram, this feature demonstrates the app’s desire to become more immersive and a place for digital communities to flourish. It also allows brands to show off their human side, personality, and creativity.
Additionally ‘Ádd Yours’ can serve as an incredible database for marketers, as it grants a direct capture of users in your target sub-set.
Finally, this feature could be perceived as the new-age hashtag, due to its timely value and inherent ability to spark virality.

5. Save the date
Finally, an exciting development to leverage for the more back-end side of Instagram is the Calendar Tool.

Specifically, Instagram will be welcoming an extension of tracking periods on Instagram Insights, from 30 to 60 days. This means that business profile users will no longer have to out-source this functionality to third-party apps, streamlining management duties to a cohesive ecosystem.

With Nike engineering digital clothing to keep up with the growth of digital fashion and the boom of NFTs, all industries are expected to evolve with their corresponding landscape, not just to be number one but to survive.

As marketers, it is our job to evolve our social media strategies to keep up with the evolving ecosystem and with Meta dominating this space, learning how to leverage Instagram is a great place to start.