Instagram: Top 10 Instagram Features

Instagram was originally differentiated by allowing the content to be framed in a square aspect ratio is 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. In the year 2015, these restrictions were increased to 1080 pixels. The service also added a new messaging feature, which has the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and there is a Stories feature which is similar to its main opposition app Snapchat which allows its users to post their photos and videos to a sequential feed, with each post access by others for 24 hours each. As of January 2019, the Stories feature is used by 500 million or more users daily.

There are many interesting features of Instagram. Instagram features allow you to express yourself and connect with the people you love. It helps to easily create fun, entertaining videos to share with friends or anyone on Instagram.

Instagram’s Top 10 features

1. Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is very interesting feature of Instagram. Stories let Instagram accounts post short videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours of posting insta story. Stories were launched in August 2016, and now more than 500 million or more Instagrammers use stories daily. If you have ever thought about experimenting with stories to boost your reach or Instagram, now is the perfect time to reach out.

How to use Instagram Stories Instagram Stories appear in the bar which is placed at the top of your feeds and all Instagram users will be able to share stories, from your best friends to your favorite popular users' accounts. When there is something new to see, there is a profile photo that will have a colorful ring around it. When you want to view someone’s story, then you simply tap on their profile photo, and their story will appear on full-screen and show you all of the content they have posted in the last 24hrs, the content will play in chronological order from oldest to newest posts.

Once when you are viewing a story, you can tap to go back and forward or swipe to jump to another person’s story. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments.

How to post Instagram Stories

When you want to create a story on Instagram, you have to click on the camera icon at the top left-hand corner of the screen, or you can reveal the story camera by simply swiping left if you want.

Once your story camera is open then you can take a photo or record the video by holding the click button, as you would normally on Instagram. After you have recorded your video or taken a photo, then you can use the range of filters and also add text and drawings to your content if you want.

2. Instagram hashtags

Instagram has gone through a lot of changes since 2010, but instead of all, one thing that has stayed the same: is the importance of Instagram hashtags. In 2021, using relevant and targeted hashtags on your posts and stories is one of the best ways to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram and this can translate into more followers, more customers, and more engagement, for your business.

Instagram hashtags work by categorizing and organizing photos and videos. If you have a public Instagram account and add a hashtag to a post, then that post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag.

Hashtags are used with the aim to discover the content, the correct hashtags can put you in front of your audience, even if they have not connected with you before it.

Some important things to keep in mind:

• When the people of private profiles tag posts, they would not appear publicly on hashtag pages.
• Numbers are allowed in the hashtags. However, spaces and special characters, like % and $, would not work.
• Users can only add hashtags to their own posts. They cannot tag other people’s photos/videos.
• Users can use up to 30 hashtags on a single post and 10 hashtags on Instagram Stories.

3. IGTV

IGTV is one of the important features of an Instagram. It is Instagram TV, which we all know as IGTV, it allows users to upload high-quality, vertical, long-form videos. IGTV allows Instagram users to create channels on their accounts where they can post videos between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long. Large accounts can upload videos that are up to only 60 minutes long. With the help of IGTV, users can create more compelling content to engage their audience.

There are a few differences you can find in IGTV videos. Originally, Instagram has an IGTV button that users could access from their home screen. However, Instagram determined that few people were actually clicking that button so they removed it in early 2020. The IGTV channel in Explore, creators’ profiles, and the standalone app. Very few are clicking into the IGTV icon in the top right corner of the home screen in the Instagram app.

4. Video Features

Instagram Video posts, almost all Instagram users are familiar with this feature that these videos are like regular photo posts, but they allow for the video up to 60 seconds long. You also can add a filter, and a caption, and tag your location before you share that post. Videos posts generate more user engagement than photos on Instagram.

This is very huge for brands who are looking to win with Instagram’s new algorithm which can track the user engagement in your posts to determine whether or not to display your content.

5. Instagram Live Video

Instagram Live Video feature is different from Instagram Video because well, it is life. Here are some steps that how it works:

• Firstly followers get a push notification telling them you are going live.
• Then the followers can comment or like your Live Video stream in real-time.
• After that the video is gone after you end it (but it does not save in your account).

This is a way for marketers to build their brand transparency and authenticity – both being important with Instagram’s latest algorithm update.

6. Instagram Favourite Filters

Instagram, there are 40 Instagram filters for users to get creative with when they are posting new Instagram videos or photos but, as a business, you are going to want your content to be consistent in terms of brand image and style.

If you have more than one person managing your Instagram account, it can be hard to keep your look and feel faithful. Instagram allows you to manage your favorite filters by clicking the gear icon at the end of the filter list.

It is very easy to access your Instagram Story filters. Here are some Instagram instructions.

1. Firstly click on the camera to create a new Story.
2. Then swipe left at the bottom of the screen and pick an effect that you want.
3. Now keep swiping to test all the filter effects until you find the one you want to use.

Now you can keep swiping left to pick the one you like most. Once you have picked the filter, click on it to take a photo or hold it to take a video. You should be able to see the filter that you have chosen.

7. Instagram Geo-Tagged Content

Instagram Provides three types of geotagging contents:

1. Posts
2. Stories
3. Hashtags

If you are adding your location, which makes it easier for other people to find you, but it will also help your content to show up in more searches. So, according to Simply Measured, posts with a location tagged in them received 79% more engagement than those without any.

Using Geo-tagged content for marketing purposes can be extremely valuable, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. So, if you have got Geo-tagging turned on, even photos or videos that you did not tag can display the exact street where you posted the photo to Instagram(ig). You might want this if the content you post is around the location of your business. On the other way, if you are a social media agency or manager, you want to watch where you post and ensure those geotags are removed.

Now you can easily do this: Just select the location icon then click on "Edit" in the top right corner and select as many images or videos as you want and remove the geotags.

8. Push Notification

Instagram has added a new Push Notification feature that is an important tool for your brand which helps to increase its engagement with the followers on Instagram. The push notification feature sends a push notification to the users when posts go on life. This will grow the chances of your followers who are actually engaging with the photos rather than scrolling past them in their feeds like they normally would. Here are the ways the brand can successfully use this feature easily.

The peoples who connect with your brand on Facebook and Twitter, are more likely to follow and subscribe to your posts on your Instagram account but, Some people are unaware of Instagram’s new feature so promoting it across other social media platforms will help increase your brand’s chances of your followers turning on notifications for your brand’s Instagram account.

When you get the push notifications for someone you follow on the Insta account, then open their profile page and then tap on the triple-dot option in the top-right corner. Then from the menu, tap on "Turn on Post Notifications". now You will know it worked when you see "Post notifications on" at the top of your screen. Now, when that account posts a photo, you will be one of the first to know that to get notified.

9. Group messaging

Instagram has just introduced its first-ever feature that provides users and brands to start a group chat with their followers. It’s a new Stories sticker known as "join chat" and it is already making waves in the NapoleonCat office.

We all have heard about Facebook’s latest strategic direction branded "the future is private" which helps to put private messaging at the heart of its platforms’ for further development. The Instagram stories are definitely at the front of how social media users like to communicate with 500 million or more daily users .

This new "join chat" feature is very important in Instagram Stories and seems to be doing just that. It gives users to have a discussion on a topic without having all of Instagram’s community as its witness.

Some of the uses are:

• Friend groups: Friends making plans and get new ideas around them.
• Influencers: The detailed feedback on their content, competitions
• Brands: Employ new product reviews, competitions, and new crowdsourcing ideas.

10. Instagram Location Tagging

Instagram location tags, or geotags, are accurate longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of physical locations which you can add to your post or a story. These areas are identified with the help of GPS on your mobile device which can either be geographical or a business.

If you have added to a post or Story on Instagram with location tags that act as a housing, content library, where all media is geotagged to a specific place where you locate. So, it is a way to put up your brick-and-mortar business on the map. If you have an Instagram account Business Profile and you have already connected with your Facebook Business Page, your specific location will automatically populate within the Instagram app.

So, if you don’t see your business name, then you can create a custom Instagram location tag.

• It helps to Increase brand awareness: The Posts and Stories with the location tags show up in Explore pages or location-based Stories, increasing the visibility among your target audience.
• It helps to Increase your engagement: A comment acknowledging your users who tagged the posts adds a personal touch to their experience and can lead to higher engagement with your brand which you want.
• Helps to drive social proof: Here Potential customers rely on a social proof when they are making decisions, such as lively photos of other users tagged at your place of business.