The staff at Facebook and Instagram have been very busy this week, and no doubt they’re feeling very proud right now. Firstly, Facebook unveiled a new page layout, allowing for greater scope in posts, profile pictures and cover photos.
On first glance, the Facebook layout is clearer, more tabs are visible, social buttons have moved to a more prominent position and the call-to-action button is bigger. The overall navigation of the page is more user-friendly so viewers of the page may find it much easier and quicker to locate details such as contact information, other social networks, address etc. All in all, these changes could be great for your company page. Brands can now really make a statement and promote new products, services or their app with their cover photo, without having to consider the profile picture.
On a more controversial note, this week Instagram introduced “Instagram stories”, which displays many similar features to the Snapchat story, and it didn’t go unnoticed. Instagram stories will appear at the top of your newsfeed and new, unwatched, stories appear with the Instagram brand colours circled around them. These stories, similar to Snapchat, will last for 24 hours and do not appear on the regular newsfeed or profile page. Once viewing, users can tap backwards or forwards and swipe their way to their favourite user story.
This increases exposure for brands and makes follower engagement more accessible. Basic analytics are provided, based on views and how many times viewers have watched your story. A nice feature that Snapchat definitely could not replicate is uploading your story to your profile. If a particular video or image is gaining traction and you want to capitalize, you can post it to your profile to ensure all followers and visitors to your Instagram profile will see it.
Users can also upload images to an Instagram story from the camera roll. This allows for professional, well planned content that takes users through a journey and display only key messages from your brand. Instagram stories also allow brands and individuals to post regularly to the same platform, without overwhelming the newsfeed.
Instagram is seen as the place to post only your best quality content, however using stories on Instagram reaches a middle ground: your best content is on your profile, but you can show followers the route in reaching the final product on your story.
Behind the scenes snippets, Instagram takeovers and live content will keep your followers interested in what you are up to, almost bypassing the Facebook-like algorithm in the process. Instagram and Facebook both display newsfeeds tailored to content that followers would be “most interested in”, however if your story is kept current and regularly updated, you can generate traffic to your profile even if the algorithm places your posts further down the feed.
