Instagram July Updates: Exciting New Features to Boost Your Business!

July has been another month of amazing updates from Instagram, many of which can help you grow your business. I can’t wait to share a few of my favorites with you!

Add Notes to Your Posts or Reels on Instagram

Instagram now allows you to add one note per post or reel, which you can share with your mutual followers (followers you follow back) or your Close Friends.

How to Add a Note to a Post or Reel:

1. Tap the “Share” icon on a post or reel.
2. Tap “Add note…” and type a note up to 60 characters.
3. Choose to share your note with mutual followers or Close Friends.
4. Tap “Share” in the top right to post your note.

Your note is visible to you and your chosen audience for up to 3 days.

Important Things to Remember:

- People can like or reply to your note.

- Replies start a private chat between you and the responder.

- Others cannot see who has viewed, liked, or replied to your note.

- To delete your note, tap on it and then select “Delete note.”

- The author of the post or reel can see and delete your note if they are part of your selected audience.

- Notes cannot be added if the author has disabled notes or if the feature is unavailable in their area.

- Notes must follow Instagram Community Guidelines.

- Reported notes are subject to review, even after they are no longer visible.

How to Leave a New Note:

To replace an existing note, tap on it and select “Leave a new note…” Enter a new note up to 60 characters, choose your audience, and tap “Share.” You can also choose to stop allowing others from adding notes to your content on Instagram.

Why This Update is Exciting:

This new feature provides another opportunity to grab your audience's attention. Think of it as a quick CTA before people even get to read your post. Find out more about how you can boost your engagement with this feature inside my private Facebook community, The Instagram Gang 

LIVE account links in posts.

Have you seen that you can now tag other accounts in your posts and the account tags are clickable? This is great news for small businesses who work along side clients and collaborators. Now when you mention another user, viewers will be able to directly click on the account link and go straight to the account. A really simple way to help to drive traffic to other accounts.

Perfect for those of you that are collaborating or running a giveaway too!

You Can Now Edit Your Instagram DMs

Worried about a typo or something not quite right in your message? Instagram now lets you edit your messages up to 15 minutes after sending. To edit a sent message, press and hold the message and then select “edit” from the menu that appears.

New font styles inside stories.

Have you seen that Instagram have now given you even more ways to get creative with your Instagram stories. In July they launch more than 8 new font styles as well as including animated text to help grab your viewers attention.

Add Multiple Audio Tracks to Your Reels

Instagram now allows you to add up to 20 audio tracks to your Reels. This means you can sync different audio to the text, stickers, and clips in your Reels, making for an even more creative video.

How to Use This Feature:

1. Hit the new “add to mix” button in Instagram’s video editor.
2. Choose the tracks you want to include, select the portions of the songs to use, and decide where to place them in your video.

After you post a reel, other users can see all the tracks included in it and will see a button to “use audio mix” in their own videos. This feature gives Instagram a creative edge over TikTok, where users still need a workaround or third-party app to add multiple songs to their videos. You can learn more about Insta Reels inside the Members Area 

Add a Collaborator AFTER Posting

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that you can now add a collaborator to a reel after you post it. This is great for repurposing old content with new collaboration partners.

Features and Updates to Look Out For

Super Likes!

Shares are one of the most important metrics for Instagram content distribution, and now there's talk of a new feature called "SUPERLIKE." This could become the new hot metric, so stay tuned!

New WhatsApp Sticker in Stories

A new WhatsApp sticker is reportedly coming to Instagram Stories. Keep an eye out for this little gem! Don’t forget, you can learn more about IG stories in our "Selling through Storytelling" challenge, starting 1st August. Join our Facebook group, The Instagram Gang, for more details.

Pics Please Sticker

This upcoming sticker will make it easy to create user-generated content (UGC) that helps market your business without you having to create the content yourself. Learn more about using UGC in your Instagram Marketing strategy inside the Members Area, where I’m joined by Bethan Thomas, co-founder of global tea brand Hot Tea Mama. She shows just how powerful UGC can be for sales, brand visibility, and trust.

Shared Access to Your Account

This feature will be a game changer for small business owners with a team. You will be able to allow shared access to your account, enabling others to post content and manage messages without sharing your password. Invited users won’t be able to disable your account.

So there you have it—my monthly roundup of all the latest Instagram updates and features you need to know about, plus a few to look out for in the future. I’d love to hear if you have spotted any of the new features or how you’re finding using them. Share your thoughts in your stories and tag me @estellekeeberofficial . If you’d like more Insta tips and tricks direct to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter here