Have you been prompted to download the Instagram update on your phone yet? You might want to hurry and do it to take advantage of the biggest change to hit Instagram since Facebook bought the platform in 2012!
Instagram Allows Vertical Photos
You can now post vertical photos to your Instagram account! That's right, the days of being forced to shoot your photos in a boring square are now over. The update was rolled out on 26 August and has been making international business news on popular websites such as Time.Only time will tell if people start flocking to the new vertical layout, or if it will feel too unlike Instagram for it to catch on, but one thing is certain: with Pinterest's natural inclination to portrait style photos (read why portrait photos work best on Pinterest), and now Instagram's adaptation of this layout, portrait photos will become increasingly important for marketing.
Schedule Your Instagram Photos
Scheduling both blog posts and social media posts is the number one way to stay on top of blogging and social media marketing. Whilst I've gotten away from scheduling content for Anyonita Nibbles, it's a habit I'm well versed in and use every day for my job as a marketing manager. To put it simply, not matter how much time you spend blogging or promoting your blog, you cannot be on every platform at once and you cannot blog around the clock. Scheduling your social media posts is like hiring a VA (except it's much better!). You don't have to teach someone your style of promotion; you don't have to wonder if they're actually doing their job or just skiving off. You don't have to go through the hassle of paying anyone either.Programs like Schedugram have been around for a while for scheduling Instagram posts, but this week Viraltag, most bloggers's favourite Pinterest scheduling tool announced that you can now use their platform to schedule photos for Instagram! Result!
 |
| Photo Credit: Viraltag. Click the photo to read Viraltag's post |
Move Over Pinning; Everybody Wants to Save
This next update came as a bit of a shock and I have to admit it's not one that I completely agree with. In an odd shift, Pinterest has removed the word 'repin' and its conjugations (repined, repinning, repins) from its terminology and has instead replaced it with the word save.Where other Pinterest users would repin your pins, they now save them to boards. It's a slightly confusing and jarring term, especially when you consider that the platform is called Pinterest, but a representative from Pinterest UK stated this in a closed Facebook group for top pinners that I belong to:
She said: Hi guys this has to do with helping people to understand the product. Not everyone gets what a Pin is but they use Pinterest to Discover (search), Save (Pin/rePin) and Do (Click through). We're just trying out some new terms to see how it helps people to use the product. :)
From that comment it's not 100% clear if this save terminology will stick and be the way forward, but for now it's the new normal.
The Pinterest thing just sounds bonkers to me! I've been using Pinterest for years - long before it became this massive thing it now is. To me it was just like a giant virtual pinboard to pin all the things I loved to - saving them yes, but ultimately pinning them somewhere virtual. Not sure why they are feeling the need to change the terminoligy - unless they're going to change it to "Discosavedoterest" Catchy!
ReplyDeleteFeatured, Anyonita. Thanks for the info. Linda @CRafts a la mode
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly! Haha Maybe it won't stick?
ReplyDelete