With TikTok on its heels, Instagram is quickly launching new features to benefit both brands and creators alike.
These upgrades come as no surprise — especially considering the aggressive nature of social media. However, for marketers, the number of new Instagram features may be overwhelming.
Let’s take a look at these exciting upgrades and how to leverage them in your 2022 Instagram strategy.
10 New Instagram Features For Marketers in 2022
1. Partnership Inbox
Gone are the days of missed opportunities because of a busy inbox. Now, brands and creators can rapidly discover and manage their communications in one location — partnership messages.
Partnership messages is a sub-folder within the Direct Messages tab. These messages skip the request folder and get priority placement — making it easier than ever to dícover and manage branded content partnerships.
2. Story Links
Keep in mind when story links were an exclusive function to these with 10,000+ Instagram followers? Here is some good news — it is now available to everybody.
Regardless of your follower count, you should use a link sticker to direct users to your website, product pages, blog posts, and more. This can be a win for marketers who use the platform to increase traffic.
Here’s how it works — after creating an Instagram story, click on the sticker icon, then faucet the “Link” sticker. From here, enter the desired URL and voilà — you have a story link.
3. Add Yours
You’ve likely seen this function while surfing Instagram stories — however, how does it work, exactly?
Add Yours is a brand new sticker for Instagram stories. It is pretty easy — somebody writes a prompt and shares it to their story. Then other users can reply to the prompt with their own spin. Whenever you click on the sticker, you’ll be able to view everyone who has contributed to the thread.
For instance, if you create an Add Yours sticker with the prompt “Outfit of the Day,” different users can reply to it with a photo or video of their outfit.
This function adds another layer of interactivity to the platform. Because of its shareability, it’s known to kickstart trends and challenges. However, for marketers, it is especially helpful for sparking conversations and showcasing your brand’s creative side.
4. Find Creators
Instagram is officially taking part in the matchmaker. The platform is testing a brand new suite of tools to help brands and creators connect.
Let’s begin on the creator aspect — users can add brands to the most popular brand list. Then, when brand searches for creators to collaborate with, those who have the brand in their list will appear at the top of search results. This makes it simpler for brands to find creators who already show an interest.
Brands can even filter creators by follower count, age, gender, and location — which Instagram believes will help brands “organize shortlists to easily manage a number of campaigns.”
5. Story Auto-Captions
If you’re like me, you hardly ever watch Instagram stories with audio — which is why the brand new caption sticker is a game-changer.
This function automatically converts what somebody says in a video into text so that customers can watch without sound. For some users, this function can also be available on Reels, its answer to TikTok.
Now, audiences can interact with your videos — with or without sound. This function also takes a giant step in making Instagram content more accessible.
6. Social Fundraising
In response to the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Instagram launched a brand new social fundraising feature. Users can create fundraisers for their business or a cause that’s essential to them. According to Instagram, it’s seen “a large wave of digital activism responding to the global conversation around racial justice.”
This function aligns with an easy truth about today’s consumers: they’re belief-driven. Nowadays, consumers are searching for brands that take a stand on the issues that matter to them. Now, it is simpler than ever to create fundraisers immediately on Instagram that benefit such causes.
Remember that all fundraisers go through a review process. Once approved, you are ready to start raising money.
7. Collabs
Instagram is testing a brand new function that lets you co-author content with a fellow Instagram user — that means, whatever you post will appear on both of your profiles. You share likes, comments, and the number of views on these posts.
For brands, the collabs function opens up a brand new way to partner with influencers, boost brand awareness, and interact with another community in a meaningful way.
8. Calendar Tool
Here is some exciting information if you have a business profile — Instagram is planning to double the info tracking interval within Instagram Insights from 30 to 60 days.
Social media marketers can finally ditch the third-party apps that provide a longer tracking period. Instead, this information will be available within Insights. This is a great instance of Instagram listening to feedback from users who have been requesting such an improvement for months.
9. Subscriptions
Instagram launched Subscriptions just this year – a function that enables creators to charge a monthly subscription fee in return for exclusive content and benefits.
Here is how it works — creators set a monthly subscription price of their choice, and a “subscribe” button will appear on their profile. They will offer a variety of advantages to subscribers — like exclusive live streams and Stories.
It is part of a higher effort to help creators make a living on its platform – thus staying active on it. This also lets creators build deeper connections with their followers.
This new function comes shortly after Twitter recently introduced a similar subscription model — Twitter Blue — and we suspect more social media platforms will follow.
10. Visual Replies on Reels
Instagram recently introduced a new way to reply to comments on Reels — with another Reel.
If you create short-form videos on Instagram Reels, you can now make visual replies to comments, which is similar to TikTok’s reply performance. It’s an extremely engaging and interactive way to interact with both followers and leads, and vice-versa.
Final Thoughts
Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. However, the platform isn’t just growing – it’s also evolving. It only makes sense that your social media marketing technique also evolves to leverage these new Instagram features.