Instagram has had a busy year with several updates and new feature releases. In the past month alone, Instagram hosted 7 Days of Updates, where they were releasing new features each day. Phew, how is one supposed to stay in the know? Well, you have us of course! The Crystal Media team of experts has been tediously staying on top of these updates so we can bring you the latest news, tips, and tricks.
Implement new features into your social media posts and watch your engagement and community grow! Using new features is proven to help rank posts higher in the algorithm, while showing Instagram that you’re loving the new features they worked hard to release!
In this blog, we’re rounding up 10 of Instagram’s new features and sharing some tips for how retailers can use these features to level up their social media marketing strategy.
1. Text to Speech in IG Reels
If you have a fear of talking on camera, this new feature is for you. When you add copy on to your Reel video, you now have the option to convert the copy into speech. There are two voices (similar to Siri) that will read your text out loud in your Reel.
To do this, click the triple dots on the top right of the text bubble at the bottom of your Reel. then select “Text-to-Speech”. Choose a voice to read your copy out loud and now you have audio without ever having to say a word!
2. Link sticker available to everyone
The Swipe Up function was previously only available to businesses and creators who are verified (or have a follower count of 10,000 or more), but now the link sticker is available to all Instagram users. It can be found under the sticker icon when editing your Story, along with the other engagement stickers like polls, the question box, and GIFs.
Instagram’s new link feature works very similarly to the Swipe Up function. Once you click it, the link will bring you to the page, and you can exit out of the linked page to go back to the original IG Story.
3. Instagram Video
With Instagram Video, IG merges its video channels ( IGTV and Feed Videos) into one, easy-to-locate place. Instagram Video shows up under a new icon on an IG user’s profile that looks like a Play button.
Instagram is discontinuing the 15-second video preview a user gets in Feed, and now expanding this preview to 60 seconds long (exempting monetizable videos). Users are now able to trim the video (similar to IG Reels), add filters to uploaded videos, and upload captions to their videos.
4. Instagram Collaboration
Instagram Collaboration is the latest and greatest feature for growing your community. An Instagram Collaboration allows two accounts to share the same post—collecting and accumulating the likes, comments and engagement from both accounts on a single post.
To learn how to create an Instagram Collaboration, read our blog post, “Instagram Collaboration Is Here (And It’s Time To Grow Your Account)”, with easy-to-follow instructions.
5. Instagram Reel Effect 1: Dynamic Lyric
Among the new Instagram features, some effects were released to elevate Stories and Reels. One of the effects was “Dynamic Lyric”; this allows an IG user to select a song and the effect adds the song lyrics to the screen in a captivating and visually entertaining way!
6. Instagram Reel Effect 2: Superbeat
Another great effect released by IG was “Superbeat”, which allows an IG user to film an in-app video with a background song, then Instagram adds in effects like bouncing, flipping the camera, multiple screens and more to match the beat of the music. This effect adds exciting movement to your video without any extra work on your part.
To try out the “Dynamic Lyric” and the “Superbeat” effects, send us a message on Instagram and we’ll send the effect directly to you to use!
7. Trending Audio
Trending audio on Instagram is one of the key factors to going viral. When an account uses an audio clip in a Reel (from a song or another account’s original audio), the new Reel will show up on the IG Audio Page, along with all the other Reels using the same audio. Instagram has added a small icon beside the audio name to indicate if that audio is going viral. Keep an eye out for a tiny little arrow icon beside the audio at the very bottom of a Reel video.
Want to create your own trending audio? Follow the easy instructions in our blog post, ”Create Your Own Trending Reels Audio On Instagram”.
8. High-Quality Uploads
There’s a new setting in Instagram that’s compressing your photos into a lower quality! You may have noticed that the photo in your camera roll is much better quality than the one you post to Instagram. That’s because the IG app compresses the JPEGS to make them as small as possible to take up less room.
To switch on high-quality uploads, follow these 5 easy steps in this Instagram post.
9. Delete a Single Slide from a Carousel
The most recent feature announced, Instagram users are now able to remove a single image from an Instagram Carousel, making this post type much more forgiving.
This feature would be beneficial if a sale has ended and you want to remove the carousel image that shares the sale prices. Or maybe a relationship with a past employee has gone south and you’d like to remove them from the staff carousel image. No problem!
To do this click “Edit” on your post and scroll to the photo in the carousel that you want to remove. Click the trash can icon on the top left of the photo to remove the individual image from the carousel.
10. “Add Yours” Photo Sticker to Stories
There’s a new engagement sticker that’s been gaining popularity quickly. The “Add Yours” allows a user to create a sticker with a theme, with a button allowing viewers to replicate the sticker and add in their own photo to go with the theme.
Popular stickers have been “Show me your pet”, “a photo of your best friend”, etc.
Tip: Retailers could consider using this sticker to ask their audiences to show off the items they’ve purchased from their store.
What I Want You To Take Away From This Blog:
- Use Instagram’s latest features to rank higher in the algorithm.
- Grow your community with engagement stickers and effects.
- Create entertaining content to raise engagement.
Okay, over to you…
Constantly changing and new Instagram features may seem daunting to try out, so just choose one or two of your favorites to implement each week. New features will still be plentiful on your page!
If you’d like further training on new features, tips and social media updates, consider becoming an Insider member and access a library full of training videos!
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