“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Oscar Wilde
Lately, we’ve noticed a lot of platforms gunning after one another’s unique social media features, and Instagram is not shying away from this visibility tactic. Just in August 2016, Instagram launched their Stories function, and then followed up in December 2016 with Snapchat-like filters and Instagram Live (mimicking Facebook’s live feature).
Now Instagram is allowing for users to add up to 10 photos and videos as one swipeable carousel. “You no longer have to choose the single best photo or video from an experience you want to remember,” Instagram writes.
What’s the difference between Facebook Carousel posts and Instagram Carousel posts? Let’s break it down.
Facebook Carousel posts present themselves with the option to click on each individual frame and the ability to modify the headline and URL link description of each post, which is important when maximizing clickability for your fans. Instagram, on the other hand, is purely visual and only aims to tell a specific story. Which makes sense, because that’s kind of their deal.
According to TechCrunch , “If Instagram can take the pressure off posting one perfect photo through Stories, the algorithmic feed, and these new carousel posts, it can lure in more content to satisfy its voracious 600 million monthly users.”
And, because we’re on top of our social media game, we recently tested out this new feature. Our client RiNo Art District has a thriving, image-driven audience, so it just made sense that we would use the new functionality to expand their fan base. And it did! With more than 100 likes, this carousel of images helped RiNo obtain more visibility on Instagram. We’ve seen subsequent spikes in fans and interactions with other client carousels.
Ideally, this new feature will benefit businesses using both Facebook and Instagram by normalizing the behavior of swiping on posts. If users feel they can tell a story better by utilizing Facebook and Instagram’s platforms, it could limit the continued popularity of Snapchat; a platform with a primary age demographic of 18-24 year olds, which has just gone public in a big way.
Are we predicting Snapchat to go the way of Vine and MySpace? Kinda. The tipping point here is to remember that Facebook owns Instagram, which allows them to work together seamlessly. They aren’t recreating the wheel, they’re just making it roll with ease and grace, so discovering creative ways to utilize the platforms together will become beneficial when connecting to your audience online (we’re finding integrated ad campaigns to be particularly effective). This is just one more reminder that Facebook and Instagram together can be powerful platforms for B2C and B2B outreach.
Do you have a sophisticated Instagram strategy, which includes a creative content and image posting method combined with sophisticated targeting? If no, we can help. Drop us a line at info@widefoc.us today.
By Carrie Gottschalk
Carrie is Senior Strategist at WideFoc.us, and excels at creating effective social advertising campaigns for our clients. In her free time, she’s an avid traveler, a Denver foodie, and she dedicates her marketing and PR prowess to the nonprofit Denver Active 20-30 as a board member.
