Marketing Trend Tracker - Series 2

June 6, 2023

Welcome back for this month’s edition of our new series … The Trend Tracker! This blog post focuses on all things Instagram as the media giant rolls out significant changes to their platform. Read on to discover what’s new on the image sharing app!

Product Guides: A Thing of the Past

In 2020, Instagram launched their innovative feature called Guides. The tool allows users to collect content that has already been shared on Instagram and compile it into a guide format. Guides bring together written and visual materials, giving viewers instructions, explanations, and recommendations. Guides are quick, simple, and easy ways to promote products, posts, and places. 


As of June 2023, product guides will no longer be an option on Instagram. Fortunately, post and place guides will still be available. Furthermore, all previous product guides posted will be removed. Users have the option to save a copy of their existing product guide by downloading a copy of their Instagram data before June. 

The Latest Carousel Craze

Since Instagram’s carousel ad feature came out, it has captured the attention of advertisers everywhere. The feature enables users to consolidate up to ten photos or videos into a single post. Carousel’s popularity has continued to grow, especially with advertisers, as it increases engagement and interaction with viewers. 


Recently this year, Instagram ramped up its carousel feature with a new option to turn carousels into Instagram Reels. Image content from carousel ads will be converted into content for a video Reel. However, the Reels will not have music and can only be up to 10 seconds. Carousel ads are automatically qualified for this option when you select Automatic Placements. If the Reels option isn’t right for you, you can choose to do Manual Placements and deselect the feature. 


You might be asking the question “How do I know if carousel ad Reels are right for me?” This feature is only relevant for the following goals: reach, brand awareness, traffic, video views and app installs. If those are not your purpose, then this new offer is not for you. The ads will be available in every country that has organic Reels. An important note is that this is a brand-new feature. Carousel ad Reels are not yet offered to all advertisers. As the feature continues to roll-out, more people will have the opportunity to try out this feature. To learn more about carousel ads in Instagram Reels, check out “About carousel ads in Instagram Reels”.

It’s About Time, Instagram 

In less cutting-edge news, Instagram now offers the opportunity to comment on posts using GIFs. On May 16, 2023, Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri announced that GIFs can be used in comment sections. While this is a new feature for Instagram, for many individuals the thought “well, finally” comes to mind. This new move feels old and dated; like it should have been done years ago. On Instagram, users have already been able to reply to stories with GIFs and use GIFs within stories. Instagram trails behind other competing social media apps that have offered commenting with GIFs long before. Even though this feature isn’t brand-new in the social media world, it was still a necessary advancement by Instagram.

At SparkShoppe, we never miss a beat when it comes to keeping up with the trends. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help your company stay ahead of the times with our expert team of marketers!

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