March was a big month for Instagram and its users. The app received numerous new updates within the month, all of which are being praised by its loyal users. These updates aren’t your average updates- they’re high tech and complex, showing just how much Instagram cares about its users.
The first updates come in the form of multiple video and image posts. These multiple posts are also known as “carousel posts”. These posts allow users to post more than one image or video within each post (up to 10 at one time!). Other users who stumble upon the post can scroll through each posted image in order to see them all. This update has been popular among everyday users, but businesses, however, are less enthusiastic about it.
Although big businesses aren’t thrilled about the update, they should be. Posts like this could make it easier to showcase a variety of products in one post, which would be good for advertising and sales (especially in the case of online stores). Restaurants could also benefit from these posts. They could show the progression of a four-course meal, or show how a particular dish is made. Artists could also use these posts as timelines by showing step by step guides of how a work is created.
The next update was story ads. This update allows businesses to run ads within Instagram stories. The main objective of story ads is known as “Reach” which essentially means “to reach as many users as possible”. Pretty fitting, if you ask me.
Story ads can be created through Power Editor or Ads manager. Once the appropriate creation tool is opened, it only takes a few simple steps and design decisions to create a story ad that is worthy of thousands of views.
Introducing Instagram Stories, a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day https://www.downloadmessenger.org/more-ads-within-instagram-stories-good-or-bad?xurl=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FgwcwjunXl4
— Instagram (@instagram) August 2, 2016
Both of these updates have a lot of potential and could really make a difference for large businesses and individual sellers who want to gain exposure and boost sales.
Not only are these updates useful to companies, but they’re also useful to all other Instagram users. They allow users to express themselves in new and creative ways, and create a name for themselves among other users. The updates are fun to use, easy to master, and fun to look at.
What do you think of the March 2017 Instagram updates? Will you be using either of them?
