The future of Instagram
On June 30th Instagram’s co-founder, Adam Mosseri shared a video outlining what Instagram has been working on behind the scenes to release to the public in their forthcoming updates.
Mosseri outlined the 4 areas Instagram was prioritising building new experiences in, these include:
- Creators
- Instagram wants to offer more support for content creators to “try and help them make a living”
- Video
- With the rise of video-sharing apps like TikTok, Instagram is looking to keep up with the competition and focus more on video content within the app
- Shopping
- Mosseri claims the pandemic has accelerated the shift of commerce from offline to online by a number of years. Instagram is planning to lean into this tread by creating a more shopping-friendly experience on the app
- Messaging
- How people communicate has been changing over the last few years and Instagram wants to support this with more messaging features to keep connected
This next part is BIG…….
Mosseri said “We are no longer a photo-sharing app – or a square photo-sharing app. The number one way people say they use Instagram is to be entertained. So people are looking to us for that… What are you going to see over the next couple of months really is us starting to experiment more in the space of what we call recommendations, so showing you things in feeds that you may not be following yet”
So, what do these changes mean for you?
Well, the shift in Instagram could be very beneficial for many brands. The ability to be put in front of people that aren’t currently following you is a game-changer. Currently, it’s difficult to grow your following organically, but these updates are looking to support your efforts by presenting your content to a whole new audience.
This is a great opportunity to look at refreshing your content plan and posting schedule to see how your business can fit into these new Instagram changes once they’re implemented. It’ll be a bit of trial and error as businesses adjust to these changes, but finding what works best for your business is essential. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to social media!
If you read between the lines it could also mean that brands producing photo content could see a drop in growth, as Instagram looks to preference video content. Watch this space for more info!
Facebook Business Suite
You might have noticed Facebook’s Business Suite has had a facelift over the last 12 months. Facebook has turned its Business Suite into a one-stop-shop to manage your activity across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger from the one place.
Business Suite is a free tool that lets you manage your accounts in a single place, with the aim of the suite to save you time and simplify how you connect with your customers. It can be used on the Facebook desktop version or within its dedicated app on mobile. It’s home to your business page’s notifications and messages and it also allows you to create or schedule posts, stories and ads for your business. It provides helpful insights to optimise your marketing efforts as you go.
Facebook describes Business Suite’s key features as:
- The ability to schedule and publish feed and story posts across both Facebook and Instagram without having to switch apps
- Reply on both Facebook and Instagram as well as create automated responses for faster customer communication
- Boost posts or create ads
- Track insights and trends to see how your posts are performing
- Easily review all your business activities and create a to-do list to prioritise unread messages and comments
- And, easily access helpful tools like ads manager, commerce manager, business settings and more
If you’re not already across Facebook Business Suite we recommend checking it out for yourself. It’s full of helpful resources, tips and tricks to help support your social media marketing efforts.
Need a hand navigating these changes? Get in touch with us today and see how we can help!
