Image source: Michael Kwan via Flickr
While Facebook gained most of the headlines (and Congressional attention) lately, its image-centric Instagram app has quietly introduced features to improve its service for both users and brands.
Instagram’s anticipated “regram” feature may be the most important update. Now testing the update with a select group of users, Instagram is expected to soon introduce the feature to all users.
Sharing on Instagram
Instagram has lacked a feature analogous to Twitter’s retweet or Facebook’s share. Although users can share posts with a third-party app and share screenshots, the process is much more difficult than sharing on other networks. In addition, sharing screenshots of other users’ content opens the door to posting without proper attribution, notes Albizu Garcia, CEO and Co-Founder of GAIN, in Social Media Today.
The new regram feature lets users add commentary and imagery to posts they share and adjust the content within their Story posts, explains TechCrunch. Users who don’t want their posts to be “quote-Storied” can turn off the option in their settings, and only public posts can be reshared.
The regram feature enables brands to:
- share user-generated content, a powerful marketing and PR strategy,
- more easily provide proper attribution to the content creator,
- gain new followers and customers when current followers share their posts.
The regram feature offers brands a potent new marketing tool, writes Brian Killen, founder and CEO of visual content performance platform ShareIQ, in Adweek. The update may provide Instagram an edge over Snapchat and help it encroach on Pinterest’s position as the leader of brand content discovery.
The update will lead to greater investment in Instagram for marketing and PR, but it will also complicate monitoring and measurement of social media marketing even more, Killen predicts.
“As recent news like the “fake followers” scandal has shown, it’s all too easy to get lost in the woods without the ability to track visual content and how it’s shared, reshared and moves between social media networks,” he says. “Now it’s even more imperative that marketers track where their content goes, who engages with it and what value is created.”
Following Hashtags on Instagram
Another Instagram update marketers likely appreciate is the ability to follow hashtags. Content associated with hashtags that users follow will automatically appear in their feeds. They can track trending hashtags to receive curated content that’s relevant to their interests.
Business owners and marketers will be able to more easily monitor their brand’s hashtags, monitor competitors’ activities, and determine the types of content that produce the most engagement. Brands will be able to significantly expand their organic reach, but only if they post high-quality posts, warns Forbes contributor Kristopher Jones, founder of LSEO.
Attempts to hop on trending hashtag bandwagons will flop. Attaching hashtags to irrelevant and spammy posts will build negative sentiment toward the brand and may make it harder for future posts to appear in feeds.
“Just like with every machine-learning protocol, Instagram’s algorithm will see that your brand’s account produces historically thin content and will be less likely to give any of your posts much organic reach in hashtag follow feeds,” Jones explains.
Influencer marketing will become more competitive, he predicts. Because users can view posts without following influencers, influencers will have to work harder to gain exposure and followers. Influencers (including brand influencers) who post compelling content can increase organic reach through hashtag campaigns and significantly increase their follower base.
Bottom Line: Instagram’s recent updates make the image-centric app a more attractive marketing platform. Brands can drastically increase their organic reach to gain more followers and customers. But they’ll need post high-quality, relevant content in addition to taking advantage of Instagram’s new features.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
