Instagram’s testing a new feed, and it may have a big impact on your business

Since Instagram got rid of chronological feeds back in 2016, business owners and marketers have been eagerly awaiting their return. That day is almost here, but there’s a twist: you’ll now have the option to choose between three different feeds.

These feeds will now be called home, favourites and following. While home keeps the feed we’re currently using (formulated for the photos and videos that Instagram thinks you care about most), favourites and following are a little different. This update gives users the opportunity to pick the consumption method that’s most appropriate for them and allows them to further curate their feeds. A quick overview:

• Home: the feed experience we currently have, with following suggestions in-feed.
• Favourites: a curated list of profiles, that you don’t want to miss content from.
• Following: simply everyone you are following, in chronological order.

So, what does this mean for your business? 

First and foremost, it means you’re going to have to work a little harder for your audience. As always you can do this by creating high quality, valuable content. If you want to be added to their favourites, you want to be creating content that they actually want to consume.

Second, you’re going to want to revisit your audience demographics and posting times. While the current feed allows a little more wiggle room around when you post, chronological feeds rely heavily on both understanding exactly when your audience is online, and the type of content they want to consume at that time. You want to make sure you really understand the daily timings and wants of your current audience, as this in-depth understanding will maximise the chance of your content featuring on each feed.

Third, you may have to incorporate these updates into your post CTA’s. Iterations of “make sure to add us to your favourites!” may become a part of your Instagram strategy within the next couple of months, so it’s something to keep in mind when these updates are eventually launched to the public. 

While it’s still very much in the testing phase, it will be interesting to see how readily users utilise these new features. Both Facebook and Twitter have deployed similar feed features with little uptake, but Instagram users have been pretty relentless in asking for the return of the chronological feed.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on these updates, as we do with all digital updates. If you’d like to know more about how we stay on the front foot of digital marketing, drop us a message.