How to increase your reach on Instagram by using its new features
Instagram has been adding features more regularly than any other platform of a similar size in the past couple of years. Not only do these include great improvements to the platform, but they also provide great opportunities to those adopting them into their posting strategy early on. From Reels to brand new story stickers, these are only a couple of examples of some of the better-known features that Instagram have been releasing…
Why bother using Instagram’s features?
I know what you’ll be thinking as you get further down this list. I’m sure a few of you who already used Instagram extensively in the past feel that it’s no longer “a photo-sharing app” and that it’s becoming too much like Tik Tok. I bet my mention of Instagram Reels has already made a few of you cringe at the idea of having to dance to a trending song and post it on your business profile! Trust me, you don’t need to do that…but you should definitely consider using some of these features in different ways.
Instagram, like all other social media platforms, aims to keep as many of its users online for as long as possible. This means that they can show them more ads and therefore make more money whilst you use the platform for free. All the features that Instagram has been bringing out have been developed for this purpose. To incentivise you to start using these new features, Instagram will give your account a major boost in terms of reach. This way you start posting more of the content that they want you to, your followers stay on the platform longer, you stay on the platform longer and Instagram makes more money.
It’s a huge win-win situation for those willing to put the time in to learn how to post for these new pieces of content! So where do we start?
Instagram Story Stickers
Story stickers have been around for a while now but over the last couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in the diversity and utility of different stickers available to us. Some of my own personal favourites, along with their different uses include:
“Add yours” sticker – This allows you to start a community of photo sharers that all link back to you. Anyone who comes across your “Add yours” sticker in your story can easily add their photo to it and share to their story allowing you to reach potentially thousands of people!
Custom Links – This sticker allows you to link to your website or any link really. It’s a great way of engaging your followers and immediately converting them by taking away the barrier of having to go to your bio to find a link for your website.
Poll stickers – Updated from previous versions, the current version (at the time of writing) allows you to leave multiple choices for your followers to click. This sticker allows you to immediately engage your audience with next to no effort required on their end.
Collaboration posts
In a world of social media influencer strategies, a great way to take advantage of this on Instagram is to do a collaboration post! This allows you to collaborate with someone else with a business account on the platform and share your post on both your and their timelines. This type of post is particularly effective with influencer strategies, guaranteeing your post gets seen by more people organically.
Favourites feed
When Instagram first started, its feed was completely chronological. This has since changed in recent years with many people campaigning for it to be brought back. Despite rolling this feature out rather quietly, Instagram’s new option for users to switch their feed from a regular to a chronological feed of all their favourite accounts presents a massive shift in the way that users could use the platform. While not the same as before, this new feature has been well received by users.
It also presents a great opportunity to guarantee the continued engagement of your most loyal followers. Ask your followers to add your account to their favourites list and, as long as they regularly use this feature, you’ll see more consistent engagement from them as your posts will always show up on their timeline.
But you can’t get on to your follower’s favourites list if you don’t have any. And you can’t get more followers without posting more! But what if you’re too busy to grow your Instagram account effectively? Check out our small business digital marketing packages! We can help grow your social media accounts while you work and all for a great, affordable price.
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Autus provide Revenue Growth Platforms, Marketing & Sales Automation and Digital Marketing services to help sales and marketing personnel and teams build efficient and effective sales and marketing best practices and automate their marketing and sales processes by leveraging personalised content, various digital marketing tactics, segmentation and behaviour of their prospects and customers.
Autus recommend various products for automation, such as Active Campaign, Hubspot, Mailchimp and SharpSpring…it will vary on your requirements and budget the best option for your business.
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Our founder, Tom Berry, also provides selective fractional CMO services and is a member of some client boards.
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If our team at Autus can help advise further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our founder, Tom Berry.
