by Ashley Meyer, Social Media Manager

With an ever-evolving social media landscape, it’s imperative that brands, to remain competitive, stay informed on the new features rolled out with each new iteration of a social media platform. While users adopt the new features, brands should be doing so as well in order to reach and grow their base fully and effectively.
Instagram, one of the top players in social media, has recently implemented dozens of updates and new features. With over 600 million members, according to Statista, Instagram remains one of the most-used social media platforms in the world, providing endless possibilities for brands to reach consumers. We’ve summed up the top three new features that brands should utilize:
Instagram now offers business pages and tools
Instagram has taken a bold step for brands by launching business tools. When a company changes their page from “personal” to “brand” they gain access to analytics like follower demographics and best-performing posts. This important data can help brands become more familiar with who their followers are, what they are interested in, and when exactly they are most active. Top-performing posts can then easily be turned into ads from within Instagram, similar to boosting a post on Facebook.
Moderation is now easier than ever
Instagram has made it extremely easy to moderate comments and eliminate clutter. Not only can banned words and phrases make your Instagram account family friendly at all times, it can also eliminate your social media team’s time-consuming task of sorting through and deleting expletives and harassing messages. This can allow more time to be spent on legitimate comments, concerns, and opportunities. For additional streamlined customer service, brands can now also allow followers to contact them through direct email instead of direct Instagram messages that need to be monitored.
Photo galleries mean more continuity
With Instagram’s developing algorithm, creating interesting and engaging content is crucial to remaining visible. Put simply, posts are no longer shown in chronological order, but in order of relevance. While the algorithm now calls for brands to be more innovative and original with their content, Instragram rolled out a new feature that could help.
Businesses are no longer limited to posting one image at a time. Instead, Instagram announced on their blog in February that users can share up to 10 photos and videos in one post. This allows brands to share more content without spamming a follower’s newsfeed with multiple posts that have the potential of losing context if sandwiched between other user’s posts. Followers simply need to swipe to see more photos rather than continue to scroll. This can increase the quality of content in many ways:

• Rather than posting one new product image, users can now upload a short demo video, and a short video testimonial all in one post, or post multiple product shots from different angles.
• “Before and after” photos can now live in one, cohesive post.
• Recipe instructions can be shared step by step with every swipe.
• Infographics can be broken down for size limitations and shared sequentially in one post.
• Instead of posting several individual posts recapping an event, multiple photos can be shared all at one time, which is especially useful for linear storytelling.

Instagram is continuously improving their platform in many ways that warrant companies to invest significant time, resources, and marketing dollars into their platform. Moms Meet understands the value of Instagram, which is why we stay in-the-know on trends and breaking updates. Moms Meet can help your brand tap into the 600-million monthly active users to drive new followers through our Instagram parties, social media presence, and network of influencers and bloggers.

Learn how you can get your brand seen and products reviewed by influential mom consumers. Contact us at advertise@maymediagroup.com.