Instagram updates March 2023 - How to get verified on Instagram, Notes feature, before and after stickers and reactions in reels!
Mar 01, 2023
What a crazy couple of months its been since we entered into 2023.
As we expected there have been tonnes of updates and new features happening and were here to bring you up to date with a few of our favourites that you may have spotted…or maybe not!
Lets take a look.
Verification
The biggest talking point I think has been the new verification feature.
This is what Instagram have to say...
- A verified badge
- Access to account support for most common issues
- Active impersonation monitoring for accounts
- More visibility for Meta Verified subscribers across Instagram, in search and comments on other people’s photos and videos
- More visibility for Meta Verified subscribers as suggested accounts to follow
- More recommendations in places like Explore and Reels on Instagram
- Exclusive Stickers in your Instagram Stories
For me this screams play to play more than verificiation...I would love to know your thoughts?
Shop button has disappeared!
You may have noticed that the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen has changed and the shop button has now gone. This has been replaced with a create (+) button so you now have 2 places ( top and bottom of the screen) to add your content. You can still use the shop function but the way you access this has changed.
ABILITY TO SCHEDULE POSTS AND REELS
This update happened early on in 2023 and was an update that I had predicted way back in 2022.
This new feature means that you can now schedule your posts and reels to be shared automatically, natively in the Instagram app, which means you no longer have to use a 3rd part app like Later or Hootsuite, however they do have their advantages.
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QUIET MODE
Self-explanatory. This new feature allows for you to limit the notifications that you receive from Instagram. Instagram suggests that the feature is particularly aimed at teenagers.
“Teens have told us that they sometimes want to take time for themselves and might be looking for more ways to focus at night, while studying, and during school,” reads the blog.
The feature is customisable, which means that users can set the hours they want to be undisturbed. A summary of notifications that users may have missed during their quiet time will be delivered to the account once the feature is turned off.
HIDDEN WORDS
Instagram have now also extended the ability to hide content containing specific words to recommended posts across Instagram. The ability was till now available only for comments and DMs. Users can create their own list of words in the Hidden Words section of Privacy settings. Instagram won’t show them content if the mentioned words are in captions or hashtags.
NOTES
With Notes, users can update their friends using just text and emoji, adding a different format for social updates beyond the images and videos Instagram is best known for. Similar to Facebook or Twitter status this allow you to share a thought with your audience that they can then view above their own private direct messages.
This is a great way to stay connected on a personal level but notes are also a great way for you ro get peoples attention on what it is you have to shout about. Think about your note as a headline, how can you stop people from scrolling and get them to read and reply?
Think about how you can add value, are you offering free delivery? Do you have a sale on? Do you have a free download up for grabs? Using the notes feature is one more way that you can share content albeit text with your Instagram followers.
MORE CONTROL OVER EXPLORE PAGE CONTENT
In the last few weeks Instagram has released a new way that you can make your explore feed even more personalized to ensure that you are seeing more of the content that you want to see and less of what you don’t. When scrolling the explore page, when you come across a post that you don’t want to see simple long tap on the post and then select not interested. This shows the algorithm that this is not the sort of content you want to see and will also not show you content made by other creators that is similar.
What to expect in the next few months
More carousel posts in your feed
As we left 2022 we were a mid a flurry of excitement as Instagram Reels were really starting to help users reach a wider audience and were becoming a firm favourite with business owners and creators however news on the grapevine is that carousels are also now going to be given more air time when it comes to Instagram. Another great new feature that many people will be glad to hear about is the functionality to remove one image from a carousel post instead of having to take down the whole post!
Gifts in reels.
Users can now buy stars on Instagram which they can then use to buy gifts to give to other creators which they can in return swap for real cash…now Im not sure at this point how much each gift is going to be worth or when this will hit the UK but it is something Ive mentioned in the past and so thought you guys might like a recap!
Before and after sticker in stories
Another great feature Im really looking forward to. This is currently being beta tested and isn’t out yet but I predict this will be a feature a lot of user are going to use. A great way to show how you create your products if you are a product based business and a great way to show results if you are service based.
Channels
Broadcast channels are a public, one-to-many messaging tool for creators to directly engage with their followers at scale. Creators can use broadcast channels to help followers stay in-the-know with the latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments using text, photo, video, voice notes and polls. Followers can react to content and participate in polls, with more features coming soon.
Reaction in reels
Another one feature that is self-explanatory. Reactions in reels will work the same as it does in stories and will be another way for you to react easily and quickly to reels. Watch this space for when this drops!
So there we have it, a quick little round up of whats been happening on the ‘gram since the start of 2023.
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