What’s new? Keeping up with social media changes

Social media platforms are constantly changing and evolving, so every so often it’s good to check for new features, and make sure we’re still posting in the optimum way. Here’s a few things we’ve spotted that Facebook and Instagram have recently updated:

Hashtags

Instagram’s advice on the number of hashtags to use per post is currently between 3 and 5, not more! Even though up to 30 is allowed, they say it won’t help you get additional reach. Some limited accounts are also seeing a new feature where previously used hashtags are saved, but it’s not widely available yet and may just be a trial run.

Polls

This one has been around for a few months now, but many people haven’t yet sat down to think about what it really means. At the end of every Instagram caption as you’re creating it there’s now the option to add a poll. Of course it’s not necessary to do so each time, but it points to the fact that Instagram is pushing hard for audience interaction. Comments may have as much or more of an effect on the algorithm than likes…

Reels

Facebook has started prompting accounts to turn posts with multiple images in them into a reel instead. Again, you don’t have to do this, but it demonstrates that reels are still a major thing for Meta, and although individual reels are not generally seeing the big viewer figures many of them did at first, accounts that use them regularly are likely to perform better overall.

Topics

When sharing a reel on Instagram, you can now select up to three topics from a given list to help you reach the right audience. For example, if you’re a wildlife artist, you might select ‘painting’, ‘crafts’ and ‘wildlife’. Have a browse next time you share a reel and see what you can find.

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