Social media managers all over the world have had a reason to celebrate this past week. Instagram has made several substantial changes, and we are living for all of them.
Most importantly, Instagram finally has given users the ability to schedule Instagram posts. With the new Instagram scheduling API and Facebook’s algorithm change, Instagram is emerging as a new home for brands.
#EarlyGram – Instagram’s New Scheduling Capability
Before Instagram unveiled their API change, social media managers only had two options for Instagram: to remember to post at certain times or to use third-party tools that sent push-reminders that it was time to post. Both of these processes were disruptive and not very effective because they still required you to be available to manually post at a specified time.
The new Instagram API update now gives third-party tools (Hootsuite, Tailwind, etc.) the ability to actually schedule posts for Instagram business accounts ahead of time! The feature will eventually be rolled out to non-business accounts.
This update will radically change how social media managers operate, but there are a few things that will need to be kept in mind:
- Photos need to be filtered prior to scheduling. Since the new API update will allow users to schedule posts in advance through a third-party tool, the filtering options will not be available (or at least – are not currently available). Your photos will need to be edited prior to scheduling.
- Commenting hashtags will become a thing of the past. Many Instagram users and social media managers have adopted the practice of posting a comment containing relevant hashtags immediately after posting an Instagram to avoid making the caption too busy. With the new scheduling feature, it is likely that we will see fewer hashtag comments and more captions containing carefully selected hashtags.
The Instagram scheduling option is currently available for posts only and has not been rolled out to ads – but Instagram has also unveiled a new ad capability.
Instagram Story Carousel Ads
Advertisers have long asked for this capability, and the wish has finally been granted! Before, Instagram story ads were limited to one video or photo per ad – but thankfully that is no longer the case! Instagram has announced that they are bringing carousel ad functionality into Stories.
Instagram story ads can now feature more than one piece of media. Story ads give advertisers and brands a larger platform to tell a story, and this new feature will give them even more room to do so. Messages will be able to breathe and will no longer be rushed or squeezed into one piece of media.
This feature is being tested with some of the bigger brands, such as Gap, Coca-Cola, and Paramount – but we can expect that it will be rolled out to other business accounts before too long.
Text-Based Stories
With the rising popularity of Instagram Stories, it is not surprising that Instagram has continued to build on the popular feature.
Instagram Stories can now be published without photos or video – making text the star of the story. Users can post messages with a variety of fonts and backgrounds. Here are a few examples:
The new font options are also available for use with stories that include text and videos.
Staying Up-to-Date on Social Media News
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