Instagram is all over the place. Recently, you’ve probably noticed wild engagement swings, stunted growth, and just weird activity in general. As I’ve mentioned before, this usually takes place when IG is changing its algorithm or making updates to the app. On June 7th, we found out that’s exactly what’s happening. Instagram CEO, Adam Mosseri, just released a video explaining four major updates for Creators. Here’s what to expect:
View this post on Instagram
The Updates
1. 90 Second Reels: Some users already had this update, but most should be receiving it over the coming months. As we mentioned in the 90 second Reel blog, this gives agents more room to post listing videos and market updates. However, the sweet spot for Reels is still 15 seconds or less. People want short-form on IG and “viewer retention” is an extremely important metric when determining the success of a post. It’s way easier to watch an entire video that’s only eight seconds as opposed to one that’s over a minute.
2. The Ability to Pin Posts: You can now pin up to THREE posts to the top of your profile. All you have to do is click the three buttons in the top right of your post and hit “pin to profile.”
3. Import Audios: You can take any song or soundbite from your camera roll and add it to your Reel. This will be great for pauses/transitions during videos, allowing the song to stop and pick up as the Reel changes.
4. Interactive Features to your Reels: Like Instagram stories, you will now be able to add stickers like polls, quizzes, and swipers that allows people to interact with your content on the actual post itself. This will probably help with engagement like it does in stories. Definitely implement this into your market updates so you can poll your audience on how they are feeling.
My Thoughts
These are all great updates to the app, but it’s important to note that TikTok has had all of these features for a while now. Instagram is doing everything it can to compete with TikTok for the loyalty of creators. But, as they continue to update the app and change the algorithm they also keep pushing creators OFF the platform.
Users are getting overwhelmed with the constant changes and are growing frustrated with the app. Also, they are seeing more and more duplicate accounts and are literally getting their own accounts suspended for no reason. IG’s customer support is awful and feels like an unreachable entity that does nothing to help its most loyal users. Instagram usually does a good job at evolving to stay relevant, but the more it attempts to copy TikTok the more it seems to push people off the platform.
If you haven’t downloaded my “Weekly Instagram Prescription” ebook yet, now is the time to do so. It’s literally free.
