In its ongoing battle against its competitor Snapchat, Instagram's been introducing tons of new features lately.
For marketers, the means new opportunities to reach potential customers.
Two that stand out are extended stories and shoppable posts.
Instagram introduced Instagram Stories to compete with Snapchat's similar features.
Ever since then they've been one of the most popular ways for brands to get audiences engaged with unique, interesting content.
The new Extended Stories mean you can upload content outside of the original one day time limit.
This keeps your Stories active longer and gives more people the opportunity to see them.
Shoppable posts, another recently added feature, make it easier than ever for consumers to make a purchase from brands they follow.
In a recent blog post, Convince & Convert goes over the details of these promising new tools.
1. Extended Stories
Engagement remains king on Instagram Stories, just as it was on Snapchat.
Instagram understands its marketing userbase and continues to add features that appeal to both consumers and brands, like Extended Stories.
Extended Stories boosts engagement by allowing Instagram users to upload content from beyond the typical 24-hour window used by Instagram and Snapchat.
This allows marketers to pull content created days earlier and post it to their main story.
Although not out to the masses yet, a few lucky people are already playing with it, and early results are promising.
For brands and influencers, more control over Stories equals more opportunities to boost engagement and strengthen marketing narratives.
2. Shoppable Posts
Instagram now allows e-commerce brands to link out to their products with links and buttons in posts and Stories.
While this gives brands an easy way to drive conversions, consumers also love it: 72 percent of Instagram users claim to have purchased an item they saw on the platform.
With 62 percent of Instagram users following brands they love on Instagram, it makes sense for marketers to monetize—either through the app itself or through useful tools that help create a more shoppable app experience.
You can find out more about Instagram's new features — along with its benefits over its prime competitor, Snapchat — in the full blog post from Convince & Convert.
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