Changing the way we use social media in order to make it more friendly and responsive is how they get to stay in the preference of users, which although it is complicated, is the only objective they have in mind.
Although Instagram struggled a little to make a reputation, it slowly evolved to get where it is now; among the first three most downloaded social networks in the world.
After a while, due to the nature of this network, it became a sort of promotional showcase for products of the most popular brands, leading the creators to look for simple solutions for that demand: people wanted to buy them.
This is how the purchase tags were born, the swipe up, the shop now and finally the @shop account.
Everything is negotiable
Just as in the beginning people did not wanted ads in this photography network, there were a few who refused to turn this space into an online catalog.
But online purchases are growing and brands want to sell, so the complaints were sidelined and the e-commerce was put to test.
Finally, people gave in to the comfort of being in our homes watching Instagram and buying the item that we liked directly in the application.
First, the labels on the product helped us to go to the advertiser’s site to decide whether we wanted to buy or not.
However, not all advertiser publications had the purchase tags and to simplify the work, nothing better than an exclusive account to sell.
In this account, the user will find a normal account with photos, videos, and gifs, with a small change: everything can be purchased.
This account is looking to give thrust to small businesses that want to succeed in the world of e-commerce.
More stories for everyone
With the pass of time, we have seen the stories format becoming more popular even than feed posts; people are more interested in small moments than in a static piece of memory.
However, the need to discover is present at each login, so Instagram is looking for ways to renew the way we discover new accounts and tastes.
First, the explore tab was renewed, with new buttons at the top that help us filter the search for more effective navigation.
Through these buttons, we can go to a specific sector where we can find both interesting publications, as hashtags to follow or products to buy.
Since many people use explore to get to know new accounts, and the stories are a sample of what a profile is publishing, Instagram has decided to include stories in the explore tab.
This is an effective way to thrust new accounts through more personal content.
Stories do not get likes and used to be presented only to people who follow the account.
Hand in hand with this change, in the buttons mentioned above, IGTV and Shop will be included by default in our searches, so Instagram gives us an idea of what they want to become: a bit of everything.
If we want our stories to be considered in explore, it is recommended to publish videos, very visual stories with little text and finally, stories that have to do with what we post on our profile. (A kind of visual SEO for stories)
Why so many changes?
As we mentioned at the beginning, the only thing that social networks want is to position themselves in the top of users preferences and try to dethrone the giants.
Instagram, being one of the great networks do not need to make so many efforts, does it?
We’ve talked before about Tik Tok and how its popularity has grown so much that they decided to experiment with ads
People who use the network regularly, have noticed that indeed there are ads, however, they are not invasive and are totally skippable.
The content of this network feels more sincere and less prefabricated to sell, gifts that networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat lost some time ago
For this reason, more people (especially from 16 to 24 years old) prefer to download Tik Tok and devote more minutes of your day to discover content.
Maybe the way to position products in this network is through the “tiktokers” that are similar to the influencers, however the guidelines would change because the tiktoks are not shown one after another in the feed even though they can be from the same creator.
To watch other stories, we need to enter the profiles of each of the creators and navigate.
Today we have the possibility to choose online channels for different things, and it is important to learn to identify what each one can offer to us.
The reality is that, whatever the network may be, when we are thinking of announcing ourselves, the more honest and less intrusive our material is, the more acceptance it will have among our target audience.
Sources
www.techcrunch.com
www.emarketer.com
www.digitalinformationworld.com
www.firstpost.com