Playing with Instagram’s content strategy: A brief discussion of the charm of “limited time updates”
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[Last time](https://medium.com/@yachuh/%E5%85%A7%E5%AE%B9%E9%A7%AD%E5%AE%A2%E8%AC%9B%E5%BA%A7-1-%E5%8F%83%E5%8A%A0%E5% BF%83%E5%BE%97-21b7d772ac30) participated in the “Content Hacking Lecture”. When the lecturer Fabius shared the content marketing trends in 2018, he specifically mentioned that “more limited-time content” is one of the nine major trends for next year.
This “burn after reading” trend started by Snapchat was loved by young people in Europe and the United States as soon as it was launched. Although this trend has not spread to Asia at the time, it does not mean that Asians are not keen on this kind of sharing method (just because no one around them is using Snapchat!). In 2016, Instagram launched the “Limited News” function with the same concept as a “tribute” to Snapchat and continued to vigorously promote this new feature. In just a few months, the number of active users of “Limited News” surpassed that of Snapchat (https://business.instagram.com/blog/bringing-insights-and-ads-to-stories?locale=zh_TW) , many companies have also begun to pay attention to how to catch this trend and take advantage of this wave of traffic dividends.
As a marketer (who promotes glasses) and an Instagram addict (yes, I open Instagram more times than Facebook! Also, not to scare you, I’m only mildly addicted compared to my friends (a.k.a. my stratosphere)!), I wanted to share some of the practices I’ve seen from my limited-time feed.
P.S. There are many Instagram limited-time dynamic publishing methods and different functions. If you just Google, there will be a bunch of instructional articles with pictures and texts, so I won’t go into details in this article.
Just post a post, why do you need to post a limited time update?
In addition to posting posts, posting limited-time updates can bring several additional benefits:
1. Posts may not appear, but limited-time updates will definitely
Just like the golden age when Facebook used to promote fan pages in the early days and made every fan page post a frightening reach, now it is Instagram’s promotion and encouragement to use the “traffic bonus” of limited-time dynamic updates.
In addition to the obvious placement, every limited-time update will appear in front of users intact. I remember that every post on Instagram would appear on the follower’s dynamic wall, but now it has been submerged in the vast algorithm!
In the same way, it is important to post on brand accounts and maintain fans, but it is also important to use limited-time updates to increase your presence in a timely manner! Therefore, everyone must grasp the traffic bonus of limited-time updates now. Maybe in the near future, limited-time updates may not 100% appear on followers’ graffiti walls! (Whispered: In fact, there are more accounts for limited-time dynamic posting now, and the chance of being seen is much smaller than at the beginning…)
2. Expand potential followers
Not just posts, you can click on the relevant tags (”#”, hashtag) to view limited-time updates with the same tags. In addition, in the “Explore” area, Instagram also has a section for recommending stories, which undoubtedly provides another opportunity to expand potential followers.
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Use ”#” (hashtag) in limited-time updates to increase account exposure opportunities
3. More diverse and real-time interaction methods
Compared with posts, stories have more real-time and rich publishing methods, including built-in live broadcast, BOOMERANG, reverse, super zoom, stop-motion animation, picture-in-picture, etc. In addition, limited-time updates also encourage more diverse interaction methods, and a “voting” function has recently been added.
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Finally, shopping guide is available!
Not to mention, the inability to block links (call to action) in Instagram posts has always been a headache for companies/marketers. After all, I have been running a community for a long time, just optimizing the number of likes and interaction rate of each post, but there is no way to bring about “clear and trackable” conversions like Facebook posts, but I will be scolded by my boss.
Fortunately, in order to find another way to squeeze money out of businesses (incorrectly), Instagram has also been working on adding many tools that are beneficial to businesses.
finally! Users who have been authenticated in the limited-time news or by placing advertisements can [add a link] (https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/691455604353423?helpref=hc_fnav) in the limited-time news. When watching the limited-time news, followers can swipe up or click “View More” to go directly to the website.
Supplement: It is no longer unusual to simply put links. The battlefield for many brands has shifted to racking their brains to create various eye-catching animations for call to action buttons.
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4. Human nature is mean.
I don’t know if you or any of your friends around you feel itchy every time you see a little red dot (unread message, notification) that lights up on an app, and you have to click on it to take a look?
According to my inaccurate observation of the usage habits of myself and my friends, Instagram limited-time updates can also cause obsessive-compulsive disorder. To open Instagram, you have to click through all the latest limited-time updates before you can start sliding posts. Also because of the 24-hour automatic deletion and never-to-return mechanism, people are even more diligent in finishing the limited-time updates one by one because of the “fear of missing something” before giving up.
When to use limited-time dynamics
After all, general posts and limited-time updates are slightly different in terms of graphics, functions, interactions, usage habits, and readers’ expectations. And limited-time updates, as the name suggests, emphasize more immediacy. However, when is the right time to use limited-time updates?
1. New product release
Think of limited-time updates as a marquee or bulletin board, allowing followers to get your latest news in real time, calling followers to go to designated links, or click on your brand account to view more. For example, many YouTubers will use limited-time updates to announce the release of new videos, or reveal an exciting trailer first.
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The Ellen Show uses limited-time updates to preview new videos
2. Market research
Using the real-time dynamic “voting function”, you can test the market reaction first. For example, favorite product colors, visual effects, etc. can not only gather popularity in advance, but also use the results of the survey to determine future promotional materials.
3. Limited time activities and promotional messages
For some limited-time messages (such as limited-time sales and discounts), on the one hand, we hope to achieve maximum exposure and a more direct call to action in a short period of time, but on the other hand, the post will lose its meaning once the period is over, so this type of message is very suitable for being placed in limited-time updates.
Moreover, because of the mechanism of “only keeping 24 hours” and “burning after reading” of limited-time updates, marketers no longer have to choose between “fear that users will miss out without seeing the message” and “fear that users will get bored seeing too many repeated messages” when promoting limited-time events.
4. Increase your presence
As mentioned above, with the change of Instagram’s algorithm, posts are no longer guaranteed to appear on every follower’s dynamic wall. Even as a user, I am sometimes troubled: Why haven’t I seen posts from XXX (maybe a friend, or maybe my favorite brand account) for a while? What’s more, I can’t remember those accounts that I have followed (I didn’t mean to become a zombie fan, sorry!)!
Therefore, it is also necessary to increase your presence and attract followers to return through limited-time dynamic placements in a timely manner!
5. Tell a good story with continuous limited time updates
In addition to single limited-time updates, you can also try to use continuous updates to create continuous stories. Using storytelling methods can make people unknowingly want to continue watching. After all, it’s not easy to stand out among the many limited-time updates!
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Airbnb’s continuous limited-time updates not only make people curious, but also interactive
6. Any time it’s fun!
That’s right! Compared with ordinary posts, there is more “baggage”. Limited-time updates are designed to allow you to pick up your phone anytime and anywhere and share everything that happens within 24 hours. Putting aside the above-mentioned gorgeous post-effects and the baggage of the brand, treating the readers as friends, treating the brand account as the editor’s personal account, and sharing a day with the brand actually feels particularly close!
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Strategy first, grasp the traffic dividend
As Fabius said in [Content Hacking Seminar](https://medium.com/@yachuh/%E5%85%A7%E5%AE%B9%E9%A7%AD%E5%AE%A2%E8%AC%9B%E5%BA%A7-1- %E5%8F%83%E5%8A%A0%E5%BF%83%E5%BE%97-21b7d772ac30) mentioned that this is an era in which “strategy is the first priority and content is the supplement”. Adapting to trends and arranging content distribution channels and methods is as important as focusing on good content.
As consumer behavior continues to change and new contact methods and technologies continue to emerge, marketers not only need to defensively prepare countermeasures in advance, but also actively seize the traffic dividends of various media. And limited-time updates are just one of the trends, there are also AR/VR, Chatbot applications, live streaming/audio/video⋯⋯
Further reading
- Use the content calendar (with template) to find direction for your content strategy
- Former “Health” magazine editor-in-chief Huang Huiru talks about the writing method of long articles
- Former “former health” magazine editor-in-chief Huang Huiru talks about how to write concise essays (content input)
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