Small But Impactful Instagram Updates: How These Changes Can Increase Your Engagement

Or: April Instagram Changes Bring May Followers!

We’re sorry for the dad joke but it’s true: Instagram recently released a bounty of changes that, according to our social media expert Melanie, can help you move the needle on engagement. Read on for Melanie’s full rundown.

Reorder carousels after publishing

Before, if you wanted to change your carousel order or cover image, you were out of luck. You could either:

  1. delete the post and start over (fun!) 
  2. go through a complicated archiving loophole, which only worked 50% of the time (also fun!) 

Now, you can reorder your carousels in the app without losing engagement. The only catch: you can’t add new content to the carousel once it’s live.

Tag affiliate links in Reels

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced that they will slowly roll out the ability to tag affiliate links in Reels. This change will allow creators to earn commissions when people shop their content. It removes the friction of having to ask followers to either visit “Link in bio!” or leave a comment for a ManyChat DM with the product link.

Schedule Trial Reels

Trial Reels are generally available to public accounts with over 1,000 followers. These are a great way to test content performance with non-followers before sharing that content with followers. Trial Reels can also grow your account by reaching new audiences. 

Previously, you could not schedule Trial Reels, so you would have to post them in real-time. Now you can schedule them in-app like other posts, allowing them to fit more seamlessly into your content strategy.

Access scheduling and analytics like the pros

Previously, insights, trending audios, and content scheduling were available only for Professional accounts. Now, Instagram is allowing users with public accounts to access those same features to help them grow their channels. (Certain features, like monetization and ad tools, will remain available only to Professional accounts.)

Have questions about social media? Tired of coming up with content ideas every. Single. Month? Chat with our expert team and learn how we can take this never-ending task off your plate.