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You’ve likely heard this before but social media is constantly changing. Well, the Instagram Explore Tab just got a makeover to focus more on IGTV, shopping, specific categories, and Stories. Here’s what the changes look like and why all of this is important to your business.
The New Instagram Explore Tab Looks Like This:
According to Instagram, the Explore Tab is used by more than 50% of accounts on network every month.
What is the Explore Tab?
The Explore Tab is pretty much the holy grail of Instagram placement. If you go into your Instagram app and click on the search icon that looks like a magnifying glass, you’ll be taken to the Explore Tab. (https://whitejasmine.com) Here, you can search for people, topics, hashtags, etc. Even more importantly, Instagram also shows you a feed of posts that it thinks you’ll like based on your previous activity and interactions such as which accounts you follow and previous posts that you’ve liked.
Here are three things to know:
- Instagrammers who want to be seen strive to get their posts listed in Explore because that typically means more engagement and more followers since people who don’t follow their page but have similar interests, will see their post.
- Your Instagram Explore feed won’t look the same as mine because it’s personalized. Plus, each time you refresh the page, you’ll see a new series of posts.
- If your account is private, only the people who you have approved to follow you will have the opportunity to see your posts in their Explore feed.
What’s New on the Instagram Explore Tab?
Here’s what’s new on the Instagram Explore Tab: Instagram just redesigned this page to include tabs at the top of the page to help you better find what you’re looking for, this includes a tab for IGTV, which we told you a few weeks back is gaining in popularity, and a shop tab, which if you click allows you to shop by category. To the right of the IGTV and shop tabs, you’ll see content tabs based on topics that Instagram thinks you’re interested in.
Also new, the Explore Tab is now also showing Stories as recommended content. As stated by Instagram:
“Stories is an important way for people to connect with their interests on the platform, and over 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day. To help people experience the full breadth of interest content on Instagram, the redesigned Explore grid will now feature Stories.”
Keep these changes in mind as you plan your content including IGTV, shop posts, as well as your newsfeed and story posts. Combine visuals and written content (caption, hashtags, and alt text) to reach your target audience to give your post or story a better shot at showing as a trending post in the Explore tab.
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