INSTAGRAM CONTINUES TO PROVIDE UPDATES IN 2019
Did you know that Instagram continues to provide updates for 2019? The Story Chat Sticker, Ad placements in the Explore section, and longer content storage will make it simpler for marketers and advertisers to perform their daily tasks.
INTRODUCING INSTAGRAM STORY CHAT STICKER
The new Instagram Stories Chat Sticker is the ideal way of continuously connecting with your followers in 2019 though this update. This will build an engaged community, you can start real dialogues and eventually can gain you more followers! Instagram just rolled out a Chat sticker that will open a group chat with your followers directly from your Story.
Here’s how it works:
When someone puts the chat sticker on their Story, users can tap on the sticker to send a request for joining the group chat. Then, the admin can handpick and accept who they want to include in the new chat. The private group chat can add up to 31 followers and the conversation can be ended at any time.
This is particularly great for brands who want to create a stronger connection with their followers, as this can build a real-life community with selected people.
So how can marketers incorporate this in their strategy?
Let’s say that you’re a company who wants to launch a new product/service targeted to a specific group of people. The Chat Sticker could function as a focus group to gather feedback or reviews of this target audience. Or do you want to surprise your followers with a coupon code to stimulate buyer interest? Invite followers to join the Instagram Stories chat if they would like to benefit from a shopping promo code. This will give a sense of exclusiveness to your brand and reward your most loyal followers. And what about hosting a special in-store event, conference or meeting? The group chat can bring the community together while answering people’s questions about the launch.
AD PLACEMENTS IN EXPLORE SECTION
Instagram has announced it will put ad placements within the Explore section of the app! This means that ads will appear in more places on Instagram.
The Explore page is where users discover and look for new content which they are interested in. This is dictated by Instagram’s algorithm which is based on the user’s activity while scrolling through their feed. The ads appear once the user taps on an Explore post. Following that, similar posts will show up in the discovery feed just like in a regular feed (see the video below).
Yay!
The provided Instagram update on having more ad placements is excellent news for advertisers. “Instagram advertising is very popular and Explore will open up a pipeline of valuable new ad inventory” eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson says. The new ads will come out over the next few months, as Instagram just started working on selecting the right partners. The ultimate goal will be to open Explore ads to everyone.
LONGER CONTENT STORAGE PROVIDED IN INSTAGRAM STORIES
The small but significant new update lets you make photos or videos with the Stories camera while giving more time to save your content. At the moment, it is only possible to store a photo or video taken with the camera for 24 hours – even if you didn’t post it. Brands experienced the struggle of getting the right timing of posting content while risking losing it. This small adjustment will make it possible for users to save everything captured with the Stories camera for seven days without deleting it.
New! Instagram will now save everything captured with the Stories camera in the app for 7 days
You can then visit ‘Recents’ to share your favourites later
h/t @giuseppe_twt pic.twitter.com/TIvtY38ASC
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 20, 2019
Anyway…
This will make it easier for users to time when to post its content rather than be pressured to post something immediately – which will make it more convenient for brands and advertisers. The 2019 updates will open the possibility for you to create more content in advance, which will make the social media management and creation process go a bit smoother. The new feature has not been announced by Instagram yet but it is expected that it will roll out soon!
TO WRAP IT UP
Instagram has always been up to date at a fast pace when it comes to providing new changes onto its own platform – whether the features are small or large. The major announcement of the Instagram provided updates for 2019 has to be the opening of ad placements in the Explore section which will add more opportunities to access new users. While chat stickers and an improved camera storage will serve as a new functionality that makes it easier for marketers and advertisers to perform their job.
What do you think? Which feature will you definitely use for your brand? Visit our social advertising page to find more about outsourcing your social advertising activities here.
