The Best Instagram Updates of 2022 and How They Can be Used to Help Market Your School

Instagram has been a busy place so far in 2022 with a constant stream of updates and new features which has often been hard to keep up with. It has been so busy in fact, that Instagram even backtracked on some of their proposed changes (we’re looking at you, 9:16 images!). But, in amongst all these changes, there have been some great updates that are super useful for schools on Instagram, helping to get more eyes on your account, more website clicks and more enquiries. Let’s dive into 6 of our favourite Instagram updates from this year and how you can leverage them to effectively market your school.

1. Link Stickers

Possibly one of our favourite new features of 2022, link stickers for stories have been a game changer. Gone are the days of striving for 10k followers so you could have the elusive “swipe up” feature to drive traffic to your website, now accounts of any size can add a link to an outside source. Use it to direct people to your school’s blog, prospectus download or event registration page.

2. Pinned Posts

We love this update! You can now pin up to three posts (including reels) to the top of your page to save them getting lost down your page as you post new content. Think of your pinned posts as an extension of your highlights and a great opportunity to increase the chances of people seeing key information about your school. You could pin posts about events you have coming up (recruitment days for example), important school news, a special achievement or a reel that gives a tour of your campus. Make sure you review your pinned posts regularly and keep them up-to-date.

3. Reels Stickers

We all love story stickers, they are a fun way to engage with your audience and boost engagement and now, four of our favourites are available on reels. You can now add a slider, poll, add yours or quiz sticker to your reel to make them more interactive and increase your engagement. Try the quiz sticker to share a little known fact about your school or the poll sticker to get your audiences opinion on a topic.

4. Chronological & Favourite Feeds

Remember the days when your Instagram feed showed you posts from accounts you followed in chronological order with the most recent at the top? Well, this became a thing of the past a few years ago when Instagram developed its infamous algorithm. The algorithm changed the look of our feeds by ranking posts and showing us content based on what it thinks we will be interested in (in no particular order). But, after mounting pressure from users, the chronological feed was brought back this year. Well, with a catch…you have to tap on the “Instagram” at the top of your newsfeed to find it. From there, select “Following” and you will be shown a feed of accounts you follow in chronological order. You can also select “Favourites” which will show you a feed with content from accounts you have favourited. Why not encourage your audience to add your school account to their favourites to make sure they don’t miss any content from you?

5. Reels Templates

Another reel update… This one is a good one though, we promise. Have you ever spent ages trying to recreate the timings of someone else’s reel to the beat of an audio? We’ve all been there! Well, say hello to Reels Templates! Reels Templates allow you to use the same music and timing as anoriginal reel, replacing the photos or video clips with your own. A great way to share clips of a tour of your school, an event or a sports match to a trending or catchy audio. Note that templates are only available for reels that include music and at least 3 clips, look for the “Use Template” button above a users name on their reel.

6. Keywords

Instagram has been working hard this year to enhance their search functionality on the app so people can use it to help find businesses, people and places. It has therefore never been easier to be found by your target market on the platform IF you have an effective SEO strategy (yep, that’s a thing!) and are using keywords throughout your content. Make sure to include keywords in your bio, captions & hashtags to help users find you (this also helps Instagram categorise your content and understand who to show it to). The “name” section of your bio is also searchable so make sure you pop keywords and even a location in there to help you come to the top of searches for schools in your area.

There you have it! Our run-down of the 6 best Instagram updates of 2022 (so far!). Instagram can be such a powerful marketing tool for education brands and schools and a great way to showcase what you have to offer if it is being used in the right way. Want to learn more about how to use Instagram to get more eyes on your school? Sign up to our 4 week Instagram for Schools Course where you will learn how to harness the power of Instagram alongside other like-minded education marketers. You can find out more about the course here or follow us on Instagram for regular tips to help you market your school on social media.