INSTAGRAM’S FAB NEW FEATURES FOR 2017

For all you Artists Makers and Handmade Entrepreneurs out there who use Instagram to market your brand, you’ll be happy to hear that Instagram is all set to smash 2017 out of the park with a slew of new tools that you can use to customise your posts and stories and organise your account. From stickers to storytelling, and even a shopping feature (yes, that’s right—your followers will soon be able to buy right from your feed!), these are some great additions that will help you take your brand and business to the next level.

INSTAGRAM’S FAB NEW FEATURES FOR 2017

Instagram Stories

 

Instagram Stories has already been out for a few months, but there have been a few recent tweaks that make the storytelling experience even breezier. First of all, Instagram has added Stories to your insights so you can see how well your Story has been performing over the past 24 hours. Secondly, they’ve added hands-free recording, so you can just tap the button and then get painting, stitching or making whatever it is you’re into without having your hand glued to the screen. And now you can also save your Story to your phone so it doesn’t disappear into the mist after 24 hours.

Read: What Are Instagram Stories And Why Should I Use Them?

 

Instagram Stickers

 

Another great tool that Instagram is rolling out is a sticker feature where you can add your location, the time, weather, emojis or seasonal graphics to your Story. To access the stickers, take a photo or video and then tap on the smiley face icon at the top to see all the options. You can add a location by clicking on the location sticker and then typing in any location in the world, choose whether you want to show the temperature or weather forecast, and opt to show the time on an old-timey alarm clock, an analog clock or a digital display.

 

Instagram Save

You may have noticed the new bookmark icon on the far right of your feed and underneath photo and video posts. Well that’s Instagram Save, a new feature that allows you to save your own posts, as well as posts from other feeds all in one place. Only you can see the posts that you save, so it’s kind of like having a private Instagram scrapbook where you can organise your most popular posts or compile other posts that inspire you. This is also a great place to collect posts that you may want to regram later.

 

Instagram Shopping

 

And last but definitely not least is Instagram Shopping, a super sweet feature coming out later this year that will allow your followers to click on products in your posts to see detailed views of the products and info including price. If your followers like what they see, they can click on a Shop Now button that will take them directly to the check-out page for that product on your website. Instagram is currently testing out the Shopping feature on 20 US brands including Kate Spade and JackThreads, and should all go well, we’ll all have access to it soon!

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