This year, Instagram has released a multitude of features that you can leverage in your marketing campaigns in 2023 and beyond. Let's briefly round up the novelties that can do good for Instagram marketing next year.

Pinned Feed Posts

This summer, Instagram introduced feed post pinning to let you keep important posts without getting lost in a content grid. To pin a post, press the three dots at the top right corner of the post and find 📌 Pin to Your Profile.

Choose a post with your special deal, payment and delivery details, or any other vital info and pin it to your grid. Thus you'll make sure your followers won't miss it.

💡Plan Instagram posts with Combin Scheduler. With this completely free Instagram content planner, you can be sure your posts will be live right on time even if you have no access to your phone, desktop, or Instagram account. Simply add a post to Combin Scheduler, and the app will do the rest.

Music in Feed

In November, Instagram introduced the ability to add music in feed images in addition to already existing music for stories and Reels.

As per Instagram, 'The ability to add music to photos in Instagram Feed provides creators with more tools to bring their content to life and express themselves! No matter which format works best to tell your story, you can now add a soundtrack to your favorite photo moments to bring them to life!'

You can now use this functionality as well to bring more engagement to your feed content.

Updates to Account Status

Instagram expands Account Status to help people with professional accounts understand if their account’s content may be eligible to be recommended to non-followers and what they can do if it’s not.

To check your account eligibility, i.e. if it can be recommended to people who don't follow you, visit Account Status by tapping SettingsAccountAccount Status.

This feature helps you expand your audience and get discovered by those who don't follow you. If your account is eligible, it can be recommended to non-followers in placements like the Explore page, Reels, and feed recommendations.

If the account isn't eligible, you'll find a list of recommendations on how you can improve your account.

💡Check our guide on how to grow your reach on Instagram even if you're not yet eligible for recommendations to non-followers.

Reels Updates

Though Reels were introduced by Instagram in 2020, the platform constantly rolls out updates to Reels that make short videos more engaging and draw attention. Voiceovers, various transitions, templates, closed captions, a plethora of filters, stickers, and editing tools will help you take Reels to the next level.

💡 We're going to release a piece on excellent Reels features soon, so stay tuned.

Creators Marketplace

In June, Instagram launched a place where brands and creators can find each other and make fruitful collaborations. This is how the marketplace works:

1) Creators indicate their interests and select brands they’re interested in partnering with.

2) Brands easily discover, connect, and collaborate with creators.

3) Brands pay the most strategic creators for their branded content partnerships.

💡 You can leverage the marketplace for your influencer marketing efforts and find the right influencers for campaigns.

Instagram Live Updates

Live broadcasts haven't been left without updates, either. Starting with 2022, you can now assign a moderator for your live stream and highlight a scheduled live event in your grid.

A moderator helps you keep a friendly environment during the live stream, and the scheduled event reminder lets your followers know of the upcoming stream as well as subscribe to further notifications. The scheduled event reminder appears in your bio, so people will be able to tap on it and set a reminder for themselves to make sure they don’t miss it.

Message to Instagram Posts

Yet another new Instagram feature that is available to business accounts only. It lets you motivate people to contact your brand. To see how it works, just add a message button to your post, which will be placed under it, thus allowing your audience to send you a DM.

Instagram Posts Collabs

Instagram now allows you to create joint posts, which means that the post will appear on your feed as well as on the feed of an Instagram user who you're collaborating with.

To create a joint post, start making a regular feed post or Reel ➡ click on Tag people Invite collaborator.

Visual Replies on Reels

This feature is inspired by TikTok and works pretty much the same: you can comment on someone's Reel with a Reel. This is a truly engaging feature that will bring communications with your customers to the next level.