With the advent and disappearance of once-popular social media platforms MySpace, Vine, and Google+, Instagram has sustained its power over the years since its birth on October 6, 2010. By being able to drive better conversions, boost your engagement, increase brand reach, and improve visibility with captivating images, it’s a no-brainer why Instagram continues to be an attractive option for marketers. As Instagram continues to evolve by enhancing its user experience and by giving new opportunities for marketers, it is paramount for them to understand these continuous changes to use the platform to its full potential. 

What’s New?

Since its entrance into the world of social media, Instagram has had numerous updates to its platform. If you have been an Instagram user for a while, you should probably know by now about past huge updates like Instagram Reels and Instagram stories. According to content writer Jimmy Rodela of Vista Social, some of the biggest updates we have seen so far in 2024 have been:

• Algorithm Adjustments to Help Promote Smaller Creators: This update gives smaller creators on Instagram a chance to have their content seen by more users, with the hopes of building their audience. 

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• Business and Shopping Tools: Businesses are now able to include several external links in their bio, which can be great for directing your followers to a specific product or service of yours. They also include promo codes in your Instagram ads, simplifying the customer buying journey. Lastly, businesses are now able to place and oversee orders in their direct messages (DMs), which makes life a whole lot easier since you can take care of customers’ orders all from one platform.

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• Messaging Features: Fear no more the unforgiving typo in your Instagram messages! This update now allows you to edit your message within a 15-minute window after sending your initial message.

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• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Application and Chat Features: Instagram’s AI-driven functionality’s sole purpose is to boost user interaction and content creation. Additionally, Meta AI’s AI Chats allow users to engage with their AI characters to get recommendations, cultivate tailored images, and look up specific requests on the internet.

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Features to Highlight for Marketers 

If that wasn’t enough for your plate, here are a few more features we’d like to highlight for you if you are not in the know!

Clear Mode 

Instagram Reels, which are a great way for marketers to reach audiences who do not follow them yet by utilizing current trends, now have a new update! As of May 2024, Instagram is testing their new feature called “clear mode” on their Reels. This allows users to hide the Reel’s description and user interface (UI) by long pressing on any given Reel. The idea behind this is so that Reel viewers can focus better on the content of the video.

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Text Overlay on Carousel Ads

With this new feature from Instagram, marketers are now able to add text overlays to their carousel posts.

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Wider Array of Countries to Pick Creators From

According to SocialMediaToday, brands now have lots more options to pick from when it comes to choosing a creator to assist their efforts in boosting their messaging to their target audiences within the app. The 10 new markets now include: 

1. South Korea
2. Germany
3. Netherlands
4. France
5. Spain
6. Israel
7. Turkey
8. Mexico
9. Argentina
10. Indonesia

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These are just some of the new features marketers can use in their Instagram social media strategy.  

Comparison with other platforms

Sure, one of the sole purposes of social media platforms is to connect people from all over the world, but what are some of the key differences between a couple of social media platform giants?  

• Instagram vs. Facebook

According to marketing director Vishv Patel’s LinkedIn article, Instagram vs. Facebook Marketing: Which Social Media Platform to Choose in 2024, there are some major differences marketers should keep in mind with the two platforms. 

For instance, to name a few, industries that fall into fitness and wellness, fashion and apparel, and food and beverage tend to perform better on Instagram thanks to the application’s visual nature and influencer marketing network. On the other hand, some industries that benefit from Facebook may include media and print, educational organizations, and neighborhood businesses and retailers. 

• Instagram vs. TikTok

Is one better than the other for your marketing purposes? Well, that is up to you to decide. Adrija Milan of Tagbox suggests that TikTok is more focused on a younger audience, where the app prizes shorter and more music-centric videos, while Instagram’s audience has a bit of a wider age range and generally enables brands to customize their unique approaches.

The following are a few more examples of the main differences between Instagram and TikTok: 

Main Uses

• Instagram: Visual narratives and influencer community
• TikTok: Setting new trends, becoming viral, and challenges

Advertising Opportunities 

• Instagram: Instagram ads on your feed, story, and the “Explore” section
• TikTok: TikTok Ads in your feed, TopView, and Challenges 

Brand Voice 

• Instagram: Via a variety of content 
• TikTok: Using your imagination 

Organic Content Best Practices

In Ry Sichelstiel’s article, 5 Organic Instagram Growth Strategies to Build Your Brand, remember that marketers should focus on (1) the quality of the content you will post, not the quantity, (2) being consistent with your posts to help retain your target audience’s engagement, (3) genuinely engaging with your community, by regularly responding to DMs and comments,  throwing giveaways and contests, and promoting customers’ testimonials, (4) using hashtags effectively to reach a larger audience, and (5) collaborating with influencers, who already have an established presence on social media, are five great considerations when thinking about what to implement in your organic content strategy. 

Paid Content Best Practices

Ever wonder how that restaurant ad targeted you on Instagram? Well, with paid content, or ads, on the platform, marketers can have their ads placed directly in front of their target audience. Benefits of paid ads include trackable return on investment (ROI), which allows marketers to see the results their content is receiving, and advanced targeting, which allows you to choose who sees your ads. (Hint, hint: your target market!) 

Image and Video Sizing

A critical aspect of Instagram that we must know like the back of our hand is image and video sizing. The dimensions for picture, video, Reel, and story post sizes are provided in detail below: 

Images

• Square: 1080px x 1080px

• Landscape: 1080px x 566px

• Vertical: 1080px x 1350px

Videos

• Square: 1080px x 1080px

• Landscape: 1080px x 566px

• Vertical: 1080px x 1350px

• Instagram Stories & Reels: 1080px x 1920px

Best Brands to Follow

According to content writer Nika Prpic at Filestage, as of July 9, 2024, some of the best brands to follow on Instagram include:

• McDonald’s (5 million followers): Provides daily content with memes, themed posts around new products, and trending videos.
• Chipotle (1.2 million followers): Keeps up with social media trends and joins forces with influencers and other strong brands.
• Nike (306 million followers): Showcase world-renowned athletes, and timeless slogans, not to mention, present a sleek aesthetic with their Instagram presence.
• GymShark (6.8 million followers): Bestows challenges upon their followers, teaming up with influencers and gyms, as well as hosting events.
• BMW (38.3 million followers): Beautiful photos of their cars driving in visually appealing landscapes, explainer videos, and creative campaigns. 
• Tesla (9.8 million followers): Tesla provides its followers with extraordinary futuristic posts about its cars and charging stations, in addition to “Tesla Tips” on its stories.

And the list goes on…

Business-to-Consumer Benefits 

For business-to-consumer, or B2C, businesses, a benefit that companies can now use is Instagram’s shopping feature to sell their products that are on their website directly through Instagram’s app. This reduces the time it takes for a customer to move through the customer journey. 

Business-to-Business Benefits

On the other side of the coin, two key benefits Instagram provides for business-to-business, or B2B, brands are as follows:

• Gaining the Trust of Your Audience: By regularly engaging with other businesses through commenting, DMs, and liking posts, it is possible to create trust through these interactions with your customers/followers.  
• Grow Your Website’s Visitors: Using tactics such as “link in bio” in your Instagram posts or stories can potentially lead followers to your website. 

Conclusion 

Hopefully, these new changes, highlights, differences in social media platforms, organic and paid best practices, image and video sizing best practices, who to follow, and the benefits of B2B and B2C businesses gave you a better understanding of how Instagram continues to evolve since its birth in 2010. Have questions, comments, or concerns? We’d love for you to tell us in the comments! 

 

Author: Sam Cuellar

 

Digital Marketing graduate from DePaul University, Social Media Strategist Intern at the National Institute for Social Media, and professional bass player with a passion for music, traveling, fitness, and social media marketing.