We’re changing things up a bit today with a tech post – #spreadingthegoodstuff for some recent changes to Instagram that we’re loving and which will hopefully make life a lot easier for those of you out there playing in the social media space. And let’s face it, these days that’s pretty much everyone in business – or at least it should be.
Firstly let’s talk Auto Publishing.
This week Later released an exciting new feature allowing users to auto publish – which means you can now schedule posts directly to Instagram – no notifications required!
This is a game changer for businesses managing their own socials, and for people like us who do it for them, because it means we no longer have to interrupt our work rhythm to post to Instagram. We can simply schedule the posts and let Later do the rest!
It’s available now on Later’s free plan, and you’ll need an Instagram business profile to access the new feature. And just so you know, while this feature is pretty awesome, at this stage you can only schedule single photo posts.
Story Highlights
Now this feature was introduced a couple of months ago, but lots of people are still catching up.
Instagram now lets you highlight your favorite stories permanently on your profile. With stories highlights you can group old stories together in a new section that sits below your Instagram bio.
All you need to do is tap the ‘new’ button in this area of your profile, choose a story from the archive, select a cover for the highlight, and name it. When you’re finished, the highlight will appear as a circle on your profile and will play as its own story when someone visits your profile and taps it. And best of all, instead of disappearing after 24 hours, highlights remain on your profile until you choose to remove them, and you can have as many as you like!
Hashtag follow tool
Again, this was a tool introduced in recent months, but if you haven’t heard about it, it’s worth doing your research.
Instagram now allows users to follow not just people and business accounts, but also specific topics, no matter who posted the photo. The hashtag follow option allows users to get photos into their feed not because of who shared them, but because of that hashtag.
You can follow a hashtag by searching for the tag and then accessing the page full of all the tagged posts. At the top of that collection of posts, there’s a follow button you can click on.
You won’t see every single post with the tag (thankfully), as the Instagram algorithms will come into play, but posts with the most interactions using that hashtag, will be most likely to show up in your feeds.
This new feature has the potential to help business pages with a public account grow, because if you’re using the right hashtags, your photos might just start getting a larger reach beyond just your own followers.
Our Top Tip
If you’ve been following us for a while now, you’ll know our number one rule when it comes to communicating with your clients is to be positive! Anytime you’re posting content across any of your social platforms remember to be kind and to use your words for good.
Happy posting crew.
X Lee
#spreadingthegoodstuff
