Instagram Updates for Businesses and Creators
We get it — it’s tough enough to keep up with running your small business or even your marketing consistently, so we know how cumbersome it could feel to try to keep up with every new update with Instagram.
After seeing countless memes and TikTok videos about the frustration that comes with hearing about “another new Instagram feature” 🙄, it’s clearly a struggle that the majority of us face (including social media marketers).
That’s why we’ve condensed and curated all the Instagram updates that you ACTUALLY need to care about for your business. We’ll be updating this blog post whenever anything changes so be sure to check back here!
To make it even easier for yourself, subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll email you once a month with a full rundown of anything you might’ve missed.
Psssst… New to Instagram marketing and feeling a little overwhelmed by all these updates? Check out Adobe's in-depth guide to Instagram Analytics which will walk you through how to leverage Instagram Insights to fine-tune your content strategy.
January 2023
📰 RIP Instagram Shopping Tab 🪦
January 9, 2023 — If you still see a shopping bag icon on the bottom right of your Instagram interface, expect that to be replaced with the Reels icon tab in the near future. Although Instagram will still have all its Shopping features and functionality, it looks like it’s deprioritizing it on the app by no longer including it in the main navigation.
December 2022
📰 New Account Recovery Tool When You’ve Been Hacked 😫
December 15, 2022 — If you’ve gone through the painstaking process of regaining your account access after getting hacked, hopefully that’ll be the last time with Instagram.com/hacked, their newest feature to help facilitate account access issues.
Our favorite feature? The ability to “choose two of your Instagram friends to verify your identity and get back into your account” if you find yourself locked out 👏
Click here to learn more about the new tool on Instagram’s blog.
📰 How To Know If You’re “Shadowbanned”
December 7, 2022 — Mosseri announced a new “Account Status Update” that will instantly show:
the eligibility status of your account’s content to be shown to non-followers ✅
Instagram’s explanation for why it’s not eligible (if your status is showing as ineligible)
how to fix your content ineligibility (if your status is showing as ineligible)
Too often, we’ve heard individuals blame their low engagement or lack of growth on the mystifying Instagram “shadowban,” which we found problematic because it seemed like it was frequently a convenient excuse to put the blame on someone else rather than to take an honest look at their strategy and ask themselves whether it truly was serving their target audience and goals.
We hope that this new update will eliminate that scapegoat completely if in fact, Instagram’s account status is showing that they’re in the clear.
To check your account status now, go to Settings > Account > Account Status.
November 2022
📰 New Feature: Add Music to Image Posts
November 14, 2022 — An interesting feature addition to Instagram posts, if you ask us. Either way, this update is straightforward: you can now add a musical dimension to your static image posts when composing a post natively within Instagram.
This could be one way that Instagram’s trying to publicly signal their response to public sentiment to keep Instagram true to its core as a photo sharing app, while also trying to innovate to keep up with the macro social media trend toward music/audio.
Watch for a quick explanation of the new feature and 3 ideas you can use to start experimenting with it on your account!
@robeandsignet NEW INSTAGRAM FEATURE ALERT: MUSIC WITH IMAGE POSTS 📌 An interesting feature addition to Instagram posts, if you ask us 🤔 Either way, this update is straightforward: you can now add a musical dimension to your static image posts when composing a post natively within Instagram. 📸 This could be one way that Instagram’s trying to publicly signal their response to public sentiment to keep Instagram true to its core as a photo sharing app while also trying to innovate to keep up with the macro social media trend toward music/audio (cough cough, TikTok). It's always a best practice to experiment with new Instagram features as soon as they're available to your account, so listed above are some easy ways to incorporate this into your content calendar to see how it pans out in your favor as it relates to organic reach and engagement! Have you tried out this new feature on your account yet? 🎙 #socialmediatips #smallbusinesstiktok #instagramtips #entrepreneurtok #smallbusinesslife #nonprofitsoftiktok #socialmediacontentstrategy ♬ Storytelling - Adriel
October 2022
📰 Update: Creator “Media Kit” Now Live
October 20, 2022 — In September, we briefly talked about a Creator “media kit” that was in the works to help Creators stand out to brands in the Creator marketplace.
It’s now live and is actually called a Creator portfolio, which allows Creators to “share an overview of who they are, highlight previous content and showcase their past brand partners.”
Here’s what it looks like:
Creators — you can only access this feature if you’re eligible for the creator marketplace. Here’s a help article from Instagram with a list of steps to determine your eligibility.
Brands — the Creator marketplace is not available to the general public and Instagram is slowly increasing access, so you’ll have to “express interest” here for Instagram to review your account and determine if it’s eligible. If you’re accepted, they’ll email you with instructions on next steps.
📰 In-App Post Scheduling
October 18, 2022 — You can now schedule posts AND reels on Instagram for business accounts! We haven’t seen this feature show up yet on our iPhone, but @WFBrother was able to access it on Instagram’s alpha version on Android. It’s only a matter of time before it rolls out to the rest of our accounts, so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled!
Now you can schedule posts on the Instagram app! ✨
— ㆅ (@WFBrother) October 18, 2022
You can schedule posts and reels by going to Advanced settings when creating new content. #Instagram @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/yJykq108wK
📰 New Instagram Ad Options & Features
October 6, 2022 — Instagram seems to be focused on providing more brand awareness opportunities with its new set of ad options comprised of:
Explore Page grid ads
Profile Feed ads “for non-teen, public profiles”: that means that an ad would show up as you’re scrolling from post to post in a user’s profile. Instagram also confirmed that it’s testing this as a potential monetization opportunity for creators.
Multi-Advertiser Ads: if you interact with an ad in your home feed, Instagram will also suggest a curation of businesses that they think would be of interest to you.
Augmented Reality (AR) Ads: Remember those fun TikTok filters like “Dancing Shrek"? That’s what this placement is for, which is available for both Feed and Stories. Intended to encourage engagement, this is a fun way for you to develop a more memorable brand experience with your target audience.
And last but not least — Instagram is now offering free songs from their Meta Sound Collection library to be used for Carousel or Reels ads.
📰 Testing: Multiple Links In an Instagram Bio
October 3, 2022 — We might be saying sayonara ✌️ to LinkTree very soon with Instagram testing the ability to add multiple native links in your bio.
If this feature rolls out to all Instagram users, the interface will still look similar to what we’re familiar — a singular URL listed in the bio — but you’ll see descriptive text to indicate how many other links are also added (e.g., “and 2 others”). Check out the example below.
Pictured: @sarahpagehair’s Instagram account
September 2022
📰 59-Second Instagram Stories?!
September 23, 2022 — You won’t have to worry about Instagram cutting up your videos into 15-second Stories now with the rollout of longer Stories (under 60 seconds), which may be in an effort to increase user engagement through video… since Instagram’s not doing as hot as the undeniable popular kid in school, TikTok.
📰 In The Works: Creator Media Kit Option
September 14, 2022 — Instagram is building a media kit feature to enable Creators to demonstrate their personal brand value to potential collaborators on the app.
BRANDS — if you’re actively looking for new influencers/ creators to increase brand awareness or traffic back to your account, this new feature (if launched) would significantly streamline your vetting process since all media kits would technically be in one centralized location.
CREATORS — If you’re a smaller creator and haven’t yet developed your own media kit, this feature would facilitate the process with its own suggested content sections. You may also be able to see other creators’ media kits, which could give you ideas on how to improve your current media kit.
📰 Get Paid In Instagram Direct Messages
September 14, 2022 — Businesses that are (1) eligible sellers and (2) use a Professional Account can now request and receive payments from customers within Direct Messages without any added fees from Instagram. Click here to learn more about how it works and how to set it up.
📰 Currently Testing: New “Repost” Feature
September 8, 2022 — Instagram is potentially taking reposting to the next level by testing the ability to reshare other accounts’ posts (that includes Reels) to your own feed, which would show up as an additional tab on your profile.
This may have some correlation as to why Mosseri mentioned in August that Instagram will no longer be including “accounts that repost unoriginal content” in their “Recommended Content” algorithm.
WHY BUSINESSES SHOULD CARE — This would be a great way to include more user-generated content of your product/service in your feed while still attributing proper credit to the original creators and funneling engagement back to their original post.
WHY CREATORS SHOULD CARE — More organic reach obviously leads to potentially more engagement and followers. But this feature could also bolster a creators’ credibility if brands are reposting their content to their profiles, leading to bigger and better brand opportunities for that creator. Hopefully, this also significantly curtails copyright infringement, at least on Instagram.
📰 Buh-Bye, In-Stream Shopping 👋
September 7, 2022 — According to Social Media Today, Instagram is no longer investing its resources into its in-stream shopping program due to a slowing in demand that originally soared due to an increase in pandemic online shopping.
As a result, Instagram’s ‘Shop’ tab “will eventually disappear from the app, with the company shifting to a ‘simpler and less personalized version’ of its in-stream product display (Social Media Today).”
Their new focus? Short-term video. That was explicitly stated. All signs are pointing to the increasing importance of Reels. For those who hate it, it’s not going away anytime soon 🤷🏻♀️
📰 “Add Topics” Feature Testing in Instagram Reels
September 6, 2022 — As a way to potentially improve Instagram’s accuracy with “Recommended Content” for each user, the app is currently testing the option to add topics. Considering that Mosseri (Head of Instagram) mentioned in his last update that mass hashtag use is no longer recommended for organic reach, this new feature could either be taking its place or a tactic to optimize the app’s content curation process.
New! Instagram lets you add 'Topic' tags to Reels
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) September 5, 2022
h/t @TSbyJacki pic.twitter.com/TVqdmH5bNa
August 2022
📰 Recommended Content Updates
August 30, 2022 — Here’s the TL;DR summary on the Head of Instagram, Mosseri’s Reel announcement:
Firstly, what is Recommended Content? It’s any content from accounts that you don’t follow and show up in the Feed, Explore and Reels tab.
How do you become eligible for “Recommended Content”?
Posting “original content”
Mosseri emphasized how they’re trying to do right by small Creators, because they “want to be a platform where anybody can grow an audience and make a living.”
This means that accounts that aggregate others’ content (think meme accounts) will possibly see a decline in reach from this new update (although he didn’t explicitly say that)
Use Reels Best Practices
Optimize For Search: provide written context for your content like captions and A FEW hashtags (not 20)
📰 Potentially More Ways to Control Your Instagram Feed Content
August 30, 2022 — Meta announced that they’re currently testing a “list of controls and methods you can use to see more of what you want on your Instagram Feed”:
CONTENT YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED IN
the ability to mark multiple posts (currently, you can only do so with one post at a time) as “Not Interested”
filter out suggested posts based on the words, phrases or emojis in captions or hashtags that you specify
CONTENT YOU’RE INTERESTED IN
Favorites — any accounts you add to this list will show up more frequently and higher in your general feed.
📰 AND Potentially More Creator Tools…
August 24, 2022 — It appears that Creators will continue to be a top priority for Instagram, with developer Alessandro Paluzzi continuing to uncover clues that they’re developing more tools. Not surprising at all, but we look forward to seeing how this develops. Shoutout to Alessandro for the great detective work 🕵️♂️
#Instagram keeps working on Creator Tools 👀 pic.twitter.com/XW2UhcUqqL
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) August 24, 2022
📰 “BeReal” Inspired Feature
August 22, 2022 — We heard from the Twitter grapevine that Instagram is working on copycat feature from BeReal called “IG Candid Challenges” according to Alessandro Paluzzi.
#Instagram is working on IG Candid Challenges, a feature inspired by @BeReal_App 👀
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) August 22, 2022
ℹ️ Add other's IG Candid to your story tray. And everyday at a different time, get a notification to capture and share a Photo in 2 Minutes. pic.twitter.com/caTCgUPtEV
📰 Feed UI Option Testing
August 22, 2022 — To suit each user’s preference, Instagram’s testing the ability to switch between two feed styles:
TikTok-style, full screen content display feed “which incorporated regular posts, Stories and Reels into a single, TikTok-style display” (Social Media Today)
Current Instagram Home feed with traditional static posts
📰 New Reels Features
August 16, 2022 — Meta shared two new Instagram Reels features:
“Add Yours” Sticker: This was formerly only available on Instagram Stories but has now been rolled out as a sticker for Reels. If you’re unfamiliar with “Add Yours,” it’s a question or topic that you can add to your Reel which invites viewers to engage by creating their own Reel in response to that question/topic (e.g., “share your morning routine”) ⤵️
Crosspost your Reels from Instagram to Facebook: This is a straightforward update that allows users to distribute across another platform for greater reach.
📰 Insights into Recommended Posts
August 12, 2022 — Meta shared a deeper look into how Instagram shares new content to users, which should be encouraging for businesses and creators as they continue to try reaching new audiences.
Why? Because Instagram’s primary goal is curate a feed of recommendations that ✨“feels like home” ✨ which means that they’re trying to expand each user’s experience to include recommended accounts and content that reflect who they’re currently following and the content they’re already engaging with.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
As mentioned above, a user’s activity will influence what types of new content Instagram chooses to suggest to them, including:
content you’ve engaged with (like, comment, save)
the people you follow and the content/accounts that they engage with
FRESHNESS and TIME SENSITIVITY were explicitly mentioned as important criteria to determine whether they’re included as a “Suggested Post.” That means topically relevant and NEW content will be rewarded with greater reach.
Staying true to the “Feels Like Home” objective, Instagram shares a “relatively similar…mixture of media types (like photos/videos/albums etc.)” to that of a user’s Home/ suggested posts.
WHY THIS MATTERS — If you mostly have Carousels and a sprinkling of Reels in your feed, Instagram should technically be suggesting new content that mirrors that content mix. 💡 This may be Instagram’s way of appeasing users' demands for Instagram to stay true to its photo sharing origins and to end the push toward a video app experience.
This should be encouraging for Creators and Businesses to continue to invest their resources into growing an audience on Instagram because their algorithm is geared toward showing users RELEVANT and FRESH content.
🔑 The key here is to ensure that your current Instagram account is consistent with:
content messaging so that Instagram knows WHICH users should be shown your content under “Recommended Posts”
posting frequency since Instagram is more likely to show NEW content to more users organically according to their FRESHNESS criteria
📰 Native Post Scheduling
August 8, 2022 — Instagram is actively working toward allowing users to be able to schedule Instagram posts AND Reels natively within the app (not to be confused with the scheduling capability in Creator Studio).
📰 9:16 Image Post Testing
If you start seeing “tall photos” on your feed out of the blue, it’s because Instagram’s currently testing the inclusion of 9:16 photos on the app to complement Instagram’s transition toward a full-screen video interface.
July 2022
📰 Video-Focused Future
July 26, 2022 — Adam Mosseri confirmed that the shift towards video on Instagram is inevitable due to increasing user engagement with video on the app, so they’ll have to “lean into that shift while continuing to support photos.”
This video update was shared in response to backlash from users and public figures like Kylie Jenner, who shared a post to her Story with the text graphic, “MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN (stop trying to be tiktok i just want to see cute photos of my friends.) SINCERELY, EVERYONE.”
📰 New Reels Creation Features
July 21, 2022 — This grouping of new Reels features has a heavy focus on improving the Reels experience and encouraging more Reels creation, so buckle in 👇
Video Merge — Instagram will now only have one video format for the sake of simplifying the user experience: Reels. All videos shared to the feed moving forward will be Reels.
Reels Templates — You can now make Reels with your own content using the little help of templates, a “format or structure that someone else might have done that inspires or speaks to you” to help facilitate the Reels creation process.
New Remix Features
Remix photos when creating your own Reel
More Remix layout options — green screen, horizontal or vertical split-screen, or picture-in-picture reaction view
Add your clip — This is just like TikTok’s Stitch feature (if you use TikTok). If you want to share your commentary on a Reel, you can record your Reel to play right after that original Reel.
Dual Camera — You can now record with both your front and back camera on your phone at the same time (which apparently is a BeReal copycat feature according to Social Media Today) 😬
📰 New Subscriber Features
July 14, 2022 — New Subscriptions features have been rolled out explicitly as a vehicle for Creators to monetize their content, but there’s no reason why a business couldn’t creatively leverage this based on their financial goals. Watch the video update from Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, below for a full overview
✨ You’ve reached the end! ✨
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