What’s New on Instagram: Top Must-Know Updates & Features

Do you love using Instagram too? Are you aware of the latest features and updates that the app has rolled out recently?

Social media platforms grow so rapidly, especially Facebook and Instagram, who keep introducing new updates every now and then.

Keeping a tab on these enhancements play a vital role in helping you stay ahead of your competitors and enabling you to connect with your target customers purposely.

Instagram has made several new features available on the app this month and is conducting new tests that can influence the way brands, and the users are reaping benefits from this platform.

In this blog, we will discuss all these new features and updates in detail. So let’s dive!

New Tools for Shops & Increased Checkout Released

Instagram is now focusing on enhancing its in-app shopping features. Instagram’s new in-app checkout feature will be made accessible to all the eligible US businesses and creators with a shop in the next couple of weeks.

The checkout is sleek and modernized and utilizes seamless and secure Facebook Pay for safe transactions.

Apart from these, the app has rolled out some other great features too.

To begin with, companies will be able to open their Instagram Shops with the checkout feature easily using the app’s Commerce Manager or via an alliance with partners such as Shopify and BigCommerce. The app is planning to support more platform partners in the coming time.

This was created with the aim of making the whole selling procedure on the app more efficient and simplified.

Moreover, content creators will be able to tag your products on their Instagram posts to drive more on-platform sales.

Considering the current rough economic landscape, Instagram has decided to waive all selling fees for businesses and creator accounts using the checkout feature throughout this year.

With the release of this checkout feature, brands will be able to make the most out of Instagram Shopping to drive brand awareness and all transactions in one place. Meaning the customer won’t have to leave the application at all.

Users will be able to see more comprehensive insights in Commerce Manager and measure their results better.

Instagram is also introducing Live Shopping soon, which will let users buy products in real-time that they see in a user’s live video. Meaning if a creator’s video content influences a customer during their live, they can purchase a particular item from there itself.

These new features will provide businesses with more enhanced control over the branding and promotion of their shop. These features also include new layouts to highlight their individual and sets of products in their Shop and show a real-time preview of their product collections.

Instagram Is Paying Users to Deactivate Their Accounts Temporarily

Facebook and Instagram are currently carrying out in-depth research to analyze and better understand their impact on the much-debated US elections in 2020.

While both platforms have been motivating their users to register themselves for voting or check their voter registration status, they have also approached several users with an exciting offer that if they deactivate their accounts temporarily till the elections are over, the apps will pay them.

Facebook is offering to pay $10-$20 weekly to users who willingly take part in this research. However, participants who do not deactivate their accounts after pitching in might opt in to view content unlike what they usually do.

The idea is to see the influence social media has on voter tendencies; therefore, it isn’t valid for external researchers.

This is going to be super exciting, and we cannot wait to see its results. Perhaps this study will shape the future policies of both Facebook and Instagram.

Automatic Closed Captions Coming for IGTV Videos

When it comes to social media videos, especially marketing videos, closed captions are an excellent resource. They let you engage with your audience more efficiently and effectively.

A lot of users like watching videos with the sound off, and that’s how usually it starts off on auto-play. Similarly, there are a lot of users with hearing disabilities, and closed captions can help them connect with the content.

Among the new updates, Instagram is rolling out closed captions for IGTV videos. Users will be able to use “auto-generated captions” by enabling a toggle bar while uploading their videos.

Now we are not saying that Facebook’s and Instagram’s caption transcribers will be 100% accurate, but it will be more precise than the rest of the solutions out there. Plus, it’s going to improve the overall content accessibility too.

Moreover, to enhance the accessibility of your Instagram content, make sure to include alt text in your photos as these can be utilized by users with screen readers to improve their experience on the platform too.

The Rights Manager Is Now Available on Instagram

Facebook’s Rights Manager tool is created to help users search their copyrighted content that they have submitted for protection on the platform and then manage them appropriately. It lets users control when, where, and how their content is being shared across the platform.

Now, with the latest update, Instagram has introduced this tool to the platform too.

This tool utilizes visual search features to discover any content that matches yours across the particular platform and then warns the publisher of the potential copyright infringement.

Every user on Instagram can take advantage of this tool; content creators such as food bloggers, meme pages, photographers, and designers will benefit the most from this as, typically, they are the ones whose content gets used by other people without their consent most of the time.

The New Apple iOS 14 Update Could Impact Ad Targeting

The new IDFA (identifier for advertisers) changes proposed by Apple could prove to be a challenge for advertisers.

These changes will induce the users to opt into data tracking for every app rather than letting this happen automatically or requiring people to opt-out actively.

We are expecting these changes to arrive with the new iOS 14 update, and this will significantly influence the marketers utilizing mobile-based retargeting and tracking. This comprises SDK tracking and Facebook Audience Network.

It’s quite evident that if turning off data tracking is easily accessible to people, and it is of great importance to them, the majority will go for it. Considering the privacy concerns of people today and how most of them have no idea how pixel tracking works, this has become especially true.

Therefore keep an eye on your campaigns and be ready to adjust them if things go in the lateral direction after Apple’s new update is launched.

Conclusion

This year has been the most challenging one in every aspect. While the traditional businesses were among the most affected ones, the digital world has been their knight in the shining armor. Since most business is happening online now, the next best thing we can do is make the most out of social media platforms to merchandise our brand, especially when they are rolling out such exciting updates and features continuously.