NEW Organic Growth Opportunities [Instagram Updates]

Instagram has announced NEW ways to create with music and collaborate.

So, we are going to dive into those Instagram updates and what they mean for business owners marketing on the platform.

New Instagram Updates For Organic Growth

Instagram Update #1: You can add a soundtrack to your carousel posts now.

We’ve been able to add music to singular image posts for a while, but now you can also do it with carousels.

“Whether you’re sharing a collection of summer memories with friends or moments from your camera roll, you can now add music to your photo carousels.

Building off our launch of music for feed photos, anyone can add a song to capture the mood and bring their carousel to life.”

This is great news for us because if you read our post on why short-form videos are failing, then you know these videos aren’t doing so hot these days, and carousels are.

This means you can get the same reach as you do with reels through the song on your carousels.

And if you’d rather have an expert digital marketing agency handle all of your social media marketing so you don’t have to worry about it, we do that for small businesses every day.

So if you want a free, custom marketing proposal and quote to go with it to see how we could help you scale, reach out to our team today.

Instagram Update #2: You can invite your friends to collab on a post or reel.

Instagram said, “We’re opening up more possibilities with Collabs: now, you can invite up to three friends to co-author a feed post, carousel, or reel.

Once they accept, the content will reach each collaborator’s audience and appear on each account’s profile grid.

Have a private account? No problem — both private and public accounts can be added as collaborators on a post or reel.

If your account is private, you can start your own post or reel and invite a collaborator as long as they follow you back.”

So, obviously, if you’re a small business owner using social media to grow, your account isn’t going to be set to private.

But you can still utilize the collab tool to create collab posts with:

• Influencers
• Other non-competitive thought leaders
• Friends and family sharing your product or service
• OR even your own personal account if you have a pretty sizable following or are a personality.

And Instagram already shared what the benefits of that include- it means your reel is going to reach your audience AND theirs. Organically.

Plus, not to mention the social proof that comes along with that when followers see multiple people all posting out and vouching for the same product or service.

So definitely take advantage of that even if it’s just like we said your business account collaborating with your personal account or friends and family, etc.

If you want to know how to create your own influencer marketing strategy but don’t know how to get started, you can read this post next.

Instagram Update #3: Join in with your favorite creators and artists on reels.

Instagram said, “With the Add Yours sticker, a creator or artist can invite their followers to join in on a fun prompt or challenge they create on Reels…

…and then hand-pick their favorite submissions to celebrate their fans’ creativity.

Anyone can create a reel to put their own spin on an Add Yours prompt for a chance to get recognized by its creator.

You’ll get notified if a creator chooses your reel as one of their favorites…

…and others on Instagram can watch your submission when tapping on the Add Yours sticker if your account is public.”

So this is a great way to grow your social media engagement. Let’s look at some examples of Add Yours ideas.

Let’s say you sell honey, you can do an Add Yours sticker like, “Add your favorite recipe using our honey.”

Let’s say you sell clothes, you can do an “Add Your Sunday fit to see how people are styling your clothes.”

Let’s say sell something specific, like ice skates, you can do “Show us your best spin to see people skating in your boots.”

And the ideas are endless. The goal here is to move people further down your Instagram sales funnel because the more engaged someone is, the more likely they are to become a customer.

Insight Into Potential Future Updates

Instagram also gave us a little insight into potential future updates. They said, “Music is a key part of how people express their creativity and interests on Instagram.

We’re excited to bring our music library to more countries over the coming weeks.

We’re also partnering with Spotify in Mexico and Brazil to feature 50 of the most popular songs from Instagram Reels with a new Reels Music Chart on Spotify.

We’re always working on ways to improve your Instagram experience. We’ll continue to build features that make it easier and more fun to create and share on Instagram.”

So we’ll see how THOSE updates go because if you’ve used Reels music for any amount of time, you know how finicky it can be.

One minute it’s allowed, the next you’re getting demonetized for it, the next the song is not even in the Reels music library anymore, it’s a mess.

So if you want to hear about any Instagram updates as soon as they drop, make sure to bookmark our blog.