October has been a big month for Instagram updates. The social media platform has rolled out some excellent new features to help improve the experience for businesses, marketers and users alike.
Here are some of the important features that have been launched or updated this month, that could help take you or your business's Instagramming to the next level.
Instagram stories for desktop
Until now, Instagram Stories has strictly been a mobile-only feature, until now. Stories will soon be available for the desktop and web versions of the photo-sharing platform. A select number of users may already see this feature, otherwise there's expected to be a wider roll out over the next few weeks.
Polling stickers launch
Polling stickers – as the name suggests – allows you to ask a question and provide two answers that users can choose from. The default is 'yes' and 'no' but you can edit these to your own option, for example, a nude or red lipstick?
Users will tap on the answer of their choice and you can see the answers in real time. Tap the sticker button on your Story and you'll see the 'Poll' option towards the top. A great tool for engaging users.
Story's creative tools update
Instagram is now providing users with some helpful tools to ensure their stories look perfect. The first of these is the alignment tool. When adding text, stickers or other design elements to your story, you'll notice blue lines that appear as you move them around the screen. These will help center the design elements and indicate if any of them will be covered up when someone views the story.
There are now also now colour pickers for text and brushes that automatically detect colours that work well with the tones in your story.
What about that sparkly filter?
While Instagram isn't actually responsible for the fabulous shimmering filter, it's unavoidable and we consider is an important update in the world of IG Stories. The twinkle factor can be credited to Kirakira+, an app that has seven sparkle modes to accentuate anything that emits light or a reflection. Here's to star-studded eye-shadows and glitter-coated cheekbones.
Everything you need to know about banned hashtags
Instagram is currently cracking down on hashtag usage due to the prevalence of pornographic images sneaking into innocent hashtag streams. According to Instagram scheduling platform Plann That (which now has auto-posting, and is an all-on-one social media scheduler for Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram Reels and TikTok), there are up to 60,000 banned hashtags in total including (you won't believe it) #sallyhansen. What's even more alarming; using one banned hashtag in your post currently makes all of your hashtags (on that post) undiscoverable.
If you've noticed a drop in engagement, this could be why.
Unlike permitted hashtags which reveal all the public posts using the hashtagged word, a banned hashtag will show the following message when clicked on:
“Recent posts from #[insert banned hashtag here] are currently hidden because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram’s community guidelines.”
Unfortunately it's impossible to remove a hashtag on a past post. The best thing to do is make a note of banned hashtags that might slip your mind and avoid them at all costs going forward.
For more information and a comprehensive list of banned hashtags, take a look at this HuffPost article. Plann That have also created a 2017 list of banned hashtags.
