Instagram Features to Up Your Marketing Game in 2023

More than just a photo-sharing site, Instagram has evolved into a social network that businesses and brands are hopping on for outreach and to engage with their fans. With as much as 2,000 million monthly active users worldwide, it should come as no surprise that Instagram is rapidly rolling out new features that businesses can effectively utilize to generate brand awareness and drive sales. While it may seem daunting, let’s take a look at these five exciting features and how your brand can leverage on them for your 2023 strategy.

1. Instagram Reels

Unlike Instagram Stories but very much like the social media giant, TikTok, Reels is a feature where you shoot, edit and share 15 to 30 second videos. It is an all-in-one editing tool, with video-processing features, music overlays, special effects, texts and more, all available in one dedicated page on Instagram.

Since its official introduction in August 2020, numerous brands and creators have jumped on board to create their own Reels content. This is a new and exciting approach to build their communities and flex their creative muscles with their viewers. If big names like Sephora and Louis Vuitton have been using Reels since day one, why not let your brand give it a go?

Additionally, Reels are the perfect online video format – short and sweet. With the average human attention span being about 8 seconds, attracting followers is a transient process and should be treated as such. For brands looking to stay ahead of the curve and remain inventive, Reels will be the way to deliver your campaigns to new audiences in completely new ways.

2. Add Yours’ Story Sticker

If you’ve been active on Instagram, you’ve most probably seen this new ‘Add Yours’ sticker in action. As the name implies, this new, interactive feature brings together a collection of stories on a common topic. It is perfect for creating viral chains of contents, a great opportunity for driving community engagement. With an added layer of interactivity and shareability to Instagram Stories, it is known to kickstart trends and challengers.

For brands and marketers alike, it is especially useful for sparking conversations and exhibiting your account’s creative side. When participants add on to their stories to your brand’s sticker, the original creator’s name shows up on every participants’ shared sticker. This is huge for brand exposure as hundreds and thousands of accounts can see your brand’s ‘Add Yours’ sticker and discover the profile.

3. Partnership Inbox

Gone are the days that brands miss out on a partnership opportunity because of a busy inbox. With Instagram rolling out the Partnership Inbox feature, brands and creators will be able to easily find priority messages, connect with each other, and collaborate on future campaigns. Brands are also able to filter out the creator’s details (using Instragram Data) like their follower count, location, gender and age range. This way, brands are able to organise shortlists to manage multiple campaigns and creators all at one go. 

Partnership requests or communications are stored in a sub-folder under the Direct Messages tab, bypassing the request folder and receiving priority placement. While this service is still in its early stages of development, it hints at how Instagram intends to expand their marketplace.

4. Instagram Story Caption Stickers

If you’re someone whose phone is on mute 24/7, this new caption feature is the game-changer! With the introduction of the ‘Automated Close Captions’ sticker, users will be able to view a narrative without having to turn on the sound.

It’s also critical for a brand to remain as inclusive as possible. This new feature would not only make it easier for users who have difficulty in hearing, but it will also provide a convenient option for those who do not want their sound on.

It’s quite likely that readers will scroll away if they’re reading without context or sound. Audiences can now interact with your brand’s videos – with or without sound – thanks to the addition of closed captions. This also represents a significant advancement in making Instagram content more accessible.

While the technology gives marketers new ways to reach out to a wider audience and ensure that their stories are understood in both sound on and sound off scenarios, the automated captions aren’t ideal. As a result, before posting the content, the brand will need to review it. It’s still unclear whether Instagram will allow users to alter text directly within the app.

5. Collabs

Organic reach rejoice! Open up your brand to a world of collaborations through Instagram’s new collab feature, allowing you to partner with influencers, fellow brands, boost brand awareness and engage with another community in a meaningful way.

Collabs allow your brand to co-author a post with someone on feed or reel, so essentially your content gets to be shared with your co-author’s followers. This way, you’ll be able to share views, likes and comments, allowing the brand to leverage and engage with each other’s communities.

This feature is a great step-up from its other features, enabling big and small brands to gain more exposure and visibility in a crowded marketplace.

Conclusion

To conclude, social media is quick to evolve to keep up with consumer demands and competition from the other platforms, and Instagram is no exception. Your best bet to stay afloat as a brand is to stay informed of these new features and focus on how your brand can benefit from them.

Afterall, the best marketing shouldn’t feel like marketing.