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In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, influencers and content creators often find themselves facing unexpected challenges. Recently, our team at Simply Social Media has encountered a recurring issue with Meta, Instagram's parent company, removing sponsored content published by the influencers we work with without clear explanations. After numerous frustrating experiences and extensive research, we've identified a common thread – alcohol.
Imagine a future where Instagram releases features that actually help your posts get seen. A future where instead of battling the algorithm, you can increase engagement and audience reach with minimal effort. Hold on tight friends, this isn’t sci-fi, this is actually happening! It’s all possible with Instagram Collabs!
The new Instagram Collab feature allows you to co-create a piece of content with another account. That means that both accounts are listed as publishers of the post, and the post shows up on both account feeds. Just like that, you get twice the audience!
You can use the Collab feature on images and Reels so you aren’t limited in the type of content you create. You can keep doing your thing, but now you get to rock it with friends! We have a handy video on our Instagram page that shows you how to do it, but essentially all you have to do is toggle to the “Tag People” section and invite a collaborator when creating the post. That person accepts the invitation, and then it is published on their feed as well. Easy!
Currently, you can only “Collab” with one other account but we hope they expand this soon. If you’re someone who partners with brands or businesses, this is going to be an incredible feature for you! Giveaways, for instance, just got exponentially easier—no more tallying entries from multiple posts, now it’s all in one place. Creator, business, and personal accounts can all access this feature, so it’s accessible to everyone on Instagram.
In the spirit of collaboration, we took a much-needed break from our laptops to get outside and get creative. After using Lightroom for editing our photos and Google Keep for drafting up our caption ideas, we created a post on Instagram. For this experiment, Caitlin was the originator of the post, meaning she started the post then invited Amy to Collab. All she had to do was tag Amy in the post, and then the option to invite her to collaborate popped up. Exceptional ease of use!
We learned a few important lessons when it comes to using Instagram Collabs. Here’s what we found:
It does matter who originates the post. Only the originator can edit the post after it has been published, and the collaborator will not be automatically notified of any changes.
In addition, whoever starts the post will be the first name in the byline, regardless of where you’re viewing the post. In the area by the caption, only their name will appear.
Yep, still talking about the originator: while both accounts can see the specific post insights, only the OG gets “credit” for it in the overall Insights.
While the reach, impressions, and engagement are calculated from both accounts, “profile insights” are limited to what happens on the OG’s profile. These include new followers, email button taps, and profile visits.
Given this info, it is super important who you decide to collaborate with! Do think carefully about who you partner with as you don’t want to lose control of your aesthetic and voice.
If you are using this feature for a brand partnership, you must still use the branded content partner tools and FTC language to disclose the relationship.
How will YOU be using the new Collab feature? We’re excited by the endless possibilities and the opportunity to have some creative fun that also boosts engagement and reach!
Instagram trends come and go but the giant square grid trend on Instagram is one we wish would disappear and NEVER come back!
What is a giant square grid?
The giant square grid is when one square photo is cut into nine individual segments and each one of those squares is its own photo to post on Instagram.
Why do people like it?
When these posts are planned out into an Instagram posting strategy, they look like giant photos when you are viewing that user’s profile.
Why do we not recommend it?
First, when these separate photos get posted to Instagram, it is nine photos posted back to back within a few minutes. We do not recommend posting more than one time per day. Posting nine photos in one day is not ideal.
Second, your followers are not going to see these images in order on their feeds. What they’ll end up seeing is a random order of posts from the nine, intermingled with posts from other accounts that they follow.
Third, photos that do not make sense as standalone pictures will not get good engagement and therefor bring down the potential success of your other posts. Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing but what seems to be consistent is that posts that are performing better will be shown to more people. This could negatively effect posts you do after the grid.
Fourth, if you want your feed to look good all the time, you’ll need to be extra aware of the content you schedule and make sure to time the posts in numbers of 3.
Here is an example from the grid above. If you saw this photo in your feed, would you like it? Probably not.
What should you do if you have giant square grid posts on your account?
This is completely up to you! Depending on how long ago you posted these images, they may not be delivering to your follower’s feeds anymore with the algorithm. If you added hashtags or a geotag to your posts, they may still appear when searching through a specific hashtag or geotag, depending on how popular that tag is.
Our recommendation would be to archive or delete these posts. When you archive a post, it is not visible to anyone other than you and you can only see it when viewing all the posts that have been archived.
To archive a post on Instagram:
Tap the post you wish to archive to view it full screen.
Tap the three dots ( . . . ) in the top right corner of the post.
Choose “Archive.”
There are very few exceptions!
There are accounts who utilize the grid strategy well. An example is to use the giant square grid to create one cohesive image when you view their feed. This account then does not post more photos to their Instagram account. Instead, they utilize Instagram stories exclusively while maintaining a visually beautiful feed.
