The Latest Instagram Features: What Businesses Need to Know

If it seems like Instagram is turning into a one stop shop for everything ranging from entertainment to socializing to actually shopping, you’re not wrong. Facebook who owns Instagram has been rolling out new features and updates like there’s no tomorrow. But while the pace of the rollouts, and the work of keeping up with them, might seem overwhelming to folks trying to run a business, most are features businesses stand to benefit from if they adopt them early and creatively. This is not to say every new feature introduced by Instagram is a must for every business, but rather that each feature is a new opportunity to put your business in front of potential customers. In this post, we’ll cover some of the most important new Instagram features. Take a look and decide which of them will best fit your business.

Keyword Search

The Keyword Search feature allows users to search for things usings specific keywords, in addition to the existing hashtags, account usernames, and locations search options. Keywords Search resembles the Pinterest keyword feature and it’s a smooth way for businesses to get found by potential customers. A quick way to optimize for Keyword Search is by using keywords that relate to your business in your bio and your posts. This way, when someone searches for, say, bakery, Instagram surfaces a number of posts it deems most relevant to the user containing that keyword. While the feature has not yet rolled out worldwide, we anticipate it will be available to everyone soon enough.

Instagram Reels

The Instagram Reels feature has been out for a while now, however, it’s not available worldwide yet, so in that respect it’s going to be new for many users in the foreseeable future. Similar to the uber popular TikTok, Reels allows users to create and post creative, oftentimes just plain silly videos up to 30 seconds long. In the last month, Instagram has added some new creative tools, and needless to say, it’s heavily promoting the consumption of Reels content as you’ll notice by the number of views you’ll get compared to the views you get on Stories. Click here to learn how to use this feature!

Instagram Guides

Guides gives creators and brands the opportunity to create a concise folder-like recommendations on their Instagram. The feature even has its own tab, in addition to the Feed, Reels, IGTV, and Tagged tabs. You’ll see this new tab appear as soon as you create your first Guide. The Guides feature is available worldwide, so everyone in every country can take advantage of it. By going to your profile and tapping the plus icon on the top right hand corner of the screen, you will see an option that says “Guide.” Instagram provides you with 3 Guides options: Places, Products, and Posts. For brands and businesses, Instagram Guides can be used to share tips and tricks about a specific brand, product, collection, recipe etc.--the options are endless.

Instagram Shop

The addition of the Shop tab has created a more convenient way for users to shop. Instagram created a menu shortcut for shopping and it has since used it as a way to streamline the shopping experience. It allows users to stay inside the Instagram app when buying things from their favorite brands and creators. Instagram has also added recommended items to users, thereby creating another way for brands to get found by potential new customers. The Instagram Shop is open to all users, however, the pay inside the app option is not available worldwide yet.

Hashtags

Having at least one hashtag boosts Instagram engagement by about 12.6%. Needless to say, using hashtags that are relevant to your business, and which your potential customers are using to find content, can put you in front of your target audience, leading to more potential followers. To ensure you’re taking full advantage of the hashtag feature, make sure you know your target audience. This means you have to research your customer and your competitors to gain a better understanding of what hashtags will get you the desired outcome. If you’re a local boutique, for example, you want to include hashtags that contain your location and the product/brands you’re selling.