Welcome to the latest Instagram Frequently Asked Questions for Business and Marketers.

We're tackling the most frequently asked questions marketers, businesses, and content creators have about leveraging Instagram for their marketing efforts.

Before we dive in, there is an important point to keep in mind:

We've carefully curated this content to focus on updates that we believe are most impactful from a marketing and business perspective. 

Our goal is to save you time by highlighting the changes that really matter to your Instagram strategy.

To enhance readability, we've occasionally paraphrased Mosseri's statements, ensuring the core message remains intact while making it easier to grasp quickly.

We recommend bookmarking this page and periodically checking for the latest insights and answers.

The answers provided in this article are curated from authoritative sources, primarily from insights shared by Adam Mosseri, the CEO of Instagram. 

This approach allows us to offer you insider knowledge and align our advice with Instagram's current direction and best practices.

While we strive for comprehensiveness, we're only human – some updates might have slipped through our net. 

For the most detailed and up-to-the-minute information, we recommend checking out Instagram's official blog and Mosseri's personal accounts.

Now, let's get started and explore the burning questions that are shaping Instagram marketing in 2024 and beyond. 

Whether you're a seasoned social media marketer or just starting, you're sure to find valuable insights in the following Q&A.

Debunking this big misconception: Instagram do not downrank content which is marked as sponsored. 

It helps Instagram ecosystem to understand and know what is sponsored

And it's important for creators to feel comfortable to mark things as sponsored, without the fear of downranking, so that they can comply with local laws all around the world. 

It's important to understand that broadcast channels are a way to reach your most passionate followers.

Not everyone who follows you, but the people that are most interested in what you have to say.

Try and design your content in a way that it embraces that reality because it's a direct line to the people who are the most excited about what you do on Instagram.

Tips: Name the channel and post about the channel (through stories or elsewhere) in a way that makes it clear of what people are going to get, out of the channel if they sign up.

Instagram is launching the ability for people to reset recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start when the patterns is not your interest anymore.

Once you reset, your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new related content based on the content and accounts you interact with. 

Profile --> Settings --> Content Preferences --> Reset Suggested Content. 

Note: it's a big thing to do, make your Instagram much less interesting at first, it will take time to learn what to show to you. So Mosseri does not recommend doing this all the time. 

One big misconception you hear is that sharing videos created on third party apps will hurt your reach - this is not true.

That’s not accurate, but what is true is that no matter what app you use, if there’s a big watermark on top of that video the whole way, that will affect (reduced) your reach.

So, feel free to use third-party apps; just make sure you either don’t include or remove any watermarks, and you’ll be fine!

Effective video hooks:

1. The opening 3 seconds of a reel are critical - a.k.a the 'hook'. (It doesn’t mean you need to trick viewers or create a cliffhanger, but you do need to capture attention because as users scroll, you only have a brief window to get them to stick around.)

2. Add text whenever possible, as many people start watching with the sound off.

3. Set clear expectations upfront, so viewers know if they want to keep watching.

Try these approaches, and see how experimenting with different hooks affects your reach.

2 main reasons:
1. Multiple pieces of media means more interaction with the carousel post, means more reach, on average.

2. If some one sees and do not swipe the carousel post, Instagram will give the carousel post a second chance and automatically move to the second media for the viewer.

Quick Tip: 
-> Add music on carousels and photos now makes them eligible to be shown on reels tab, which can help with reach. 

Choosing carousel post over photo will definitely help with more reach. 

No, using your own logo, you're good to go. What is not recommended is reels with logo from other apps.   

Best way to maximize reach is actually to post Reels or Carousels to Feed, but Stories are an important way of engaging accounts that already follow you. 

Stories don't really help you get new followers or reach accounts that don't follow you yet, but they deepen your connection with people who already have decided to follow your account 

Data shows that creators who post to stories often see less unfollow than those who don't.

Tips: Use stories to post about what's going on in your daily life, with your family, behind the scenes or travelling. These tend to do well in stories. 

Don't force to post right away. 

But in general, it would be good to post relatively sooner, within the next day or two. 

This way you can capitalize on the momentum because you get many people who are now expressing interest in your content. 

These people are more likely to see what you post next.

Why should you use audio when posting reels, photos, or carousels on Instagram?
Here's the explain how it boosts engagement:

1. Audio makes content more immersive.

2. About half of Instagram users have the sound on when they browse, which grabs attention and leads to more likes, comments, and overall reach.

3. With Reels, you can appear on audio pages, where people often search for inspiration. This can further extend your reach and help your content get seen by more people.

Try adding audio and see how it impacts your content’s reach!

In fact, they do. But only in a small way.

A good cover photo helps users know what to expect when they tap on a reel, but most of your reach doesn’t come from profiles or explore pages.

Reach primarily comes from feed and recommendations.

So while having a good cover photo can help, it’s only a minor factor in overall performance.

Truth is, Instagram is in the intersection of those 2 ideas.

Instagram is not the best place to message a friend, it should be WhatsApp instead.

And Instagram is also not the best place to be entertained like if you're tired and just want to chill for a few hours, probably people would just go to Netflix.

But you can use Instagram to talk to people you care about, about your interest.

And that's Instagram identity - Connecting over Creativity.

That's why Sends is an important metrics in ranking.

That's why you have content notes, and reply model for Stories are based on DMs.

That's why you can re-share the reels to others through messaging, instead of reposting it to feed.

Instagram are always looking for ways for people to connect around over their interests.

You can actually delete a photo in the middle of the a carousel after you post it but you can't reorder it yet after post.

However, this is a good request and they will look into it.

Overall YES.

In general the ranking system biases more towards the original collaborator than the person who accepts it.

But it shouldn't matter right now because if the original creator has a larger following account, that would help on the margins.

Yes. Posting a reel to your stories will help "A bit" in reach according to Mosseri.

Your feed posts will have more reach than your stories because there're tonnes of inventory and competition in the stories space relatively to the feed post.

So, it is a good practice as long as it doesn't annoy your followers.

Templates are a great way to start if you're aren't sure where to get started.

Here's how you can find reels template.

Go to create (+) --> Reel --> Scroll to right --> Click on 'Template' to browse --> Use as Template & edit accordingly. 

Before view, there was impression on photos and plays on videos, but no more.

From reels, photos, carousels and stories will only use one primary metric, and that is "View".

Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram stated that views is just the piece of content on the screen and let someone see it.

It is the "new impressions" applies to all types of post to make it easier to understand across the board.

In his caption, he wrote:

"We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels. "

Historically we’ve shown different metrics for Reels vs other posts, but we want to evolve this so it’s easier to understand how your content is doing regardless of the format. We’ll roll this out over the next few weeks."

Quick answer, both are important according to Mosseri.

Which one is more important will be depending on the creator.

Most creator will reach far more with the accounts that they're connected (followers) compared to non-followers, but both are equally good to have.

Mosseri said to look at these insights and see what's work best for you.

You don't need to post everyday to start a broadcast channel.

Start a broadcast channel if you have a strategy for it.

A channel is a sub-set of your followers who are really passionate about you and to allow you to message them whenever you need.

Yes, you heard that right, you can add up to 20 media in 1 carousel post.

Instagram actually values both in ranking but primarily in sends because Instagram would like to inspire creativity that brings people together.

Instagram are always focusing on social experience instead of solo experience (such as browsing on search engine).