Social media is constantly in evolution, and Instagram is no exception. With 5 million active users in Australia* today, Instagram is one of the most powerful social media channels businesses can leverage for serious marketing results. With frequent updates, staying on top of Instagram’s latest changes can feel like an impossible task. So, we’ve rounded up four key changes on Instagram to help you maximise your social media engagement.

We explain the benefits of polling your audience on Instagram Stories, how to create polished images on Instagram Stories, what new controls you have over who comments on your content and why threaded comments are essential to fostering great communication with your audience.

1. Poll your audience on Instagram stories

This year, we’ve seen huge growth in the presence of Instagram Stories. Situated at the top of the Instagram feed, these Stories only display content posted in the last 24 hours, requiring users to update regularly to remain visible to their followers.

The latest update to Instagram Stories allows users to create polls and receive immediate feedback from their audience. By asking a simple question in 27 characters or less, these polls enable businesses to increase engagement with their followers and generate useful metrics directly from audience opinion.

Experiment by asking a range of different questions to your followers. Try asking fun questions like which colour of a product they prefer, or consider polling about their interest in your upcoming Ebooks, blogs or video content. Remember to keep questions short and simple to increase the likelihood of your audience participating.

2. Create polished images on Instagram stories

In addition to polls, Instagram has now updated its Stories interface to encourage more advanced design overlays. The latest update now offers alignment tools and colour pickers to help users create more visually appealing images and video content.

When adding text, graphics or illustrations to your Story, blue lines now appear to help centre design elements. This tool indicates if your design elements will be cut off on someone’s screen, thereby assisting in the creation of more polished and professional Instagram Stories. Along with a constantly evolving selection of eye-catching graphics, stickers and text overlays, this feature encourages users to get creative with visually rich images on Instagram Stories.

Along with this, the colour picking feature automatically detects and recommends the best shades to suit the colour scheme of your story. A fantastic tool for those creating high volume Instagram content, this update guarantees your stories will look cohesive and aesthetically pleasing every time.

3. New commenting management controls

Community engagement is fundamental to social media. Inviting your audience to respond and comment on your content is essential to building loyal and lasting relationships with your followers.

Like all social media platform, Instagram is no stranger to Spam as well as negative and offensive user comments. In their latest update, Instagram has revealed new comment moderation features that allow a range of new filtering possibilities.

Public profiles can now block comments containing offensive terms and phrases in 5 languages using Instagram’s updated filter system. What this provides is a newfound sense of security, and ensures your feed always remains Spam free.

4. Introduction of threaded comments

It might seem like a minor change, but the introduction of threaded comments can produce significant results for engagement on Instagram. Essentially, this new feature allows you to reply to user’s comments individually, enabling organised and cohesive conversations in the comments section of your content.

The result of this means businesses can answer their follower’s questions directly, and their engagement with specific users will be done in more meaningful ways. The experience proves more pleasant for all involved and has the potential to foster stronger customer loyalty to your brand.

*Source: 2017 Sensis Social Media Report

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Chronicle Republic Communications is a boutique Sydney marketing consultancy for real estate, property and interiors professionals. We specialise in social media, content marketing, email marketing, blogging, search engine optimisation, social media advertising and much more!

If you are looking for social media for real estate, property or interior design our digital marketing experts can help you bring your brand’s story to life.

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