One of the most recent additions to Instagram is the Notes feature. This new addition was brought in December 2022 to select countries and then opened globally by January 2023. The feature doesn’t seem like much, but it’s more important to building your audience than you might realize.
Instagram notes are like little post-its that you can leave for people to see. They have a limit of 60 characters and emojis (we called them little Post-its, didn’t we?) and they can only be seen in the messages section. They are found above your direct messages in the inbox.
You can also put a looping video as your note. This would replace your profile picture above the inboxes. The video can only be two seconds long, so make the most of it.
These notes can be seen by either followers that you follow back, or your “Close Friends” list. These notes are only visible for 24 hours, just like Instagram stories. However, unlike stories, they don’t stack. Posting a new note will erase the old one.
What Are Instagram Notes Used For?
This new feature has become quite handy to businesses and creators on Instagram. These posts don’t give notifications and are hidden in the inbox, so many users overlook them. However, there are a lot of reasons to post some notes for your followers. They include:
- Announcements: Businesses can use notes to post announcements, and they are perfect for that. Notes appear at the top of the messages section, so they can grab attention. They also don’t get lost in the myriad of stories that pop up on a user’s feed.
- Questions and polls: Creators can use notes to take polls for important issues related to their brand. For instance, “Would like to start posting longer videos. Any thoughts?” is a good note to get your followers’ thoughts on a new content style you’re working on.
- Teasers for new content: You can use the video-sharing capabilities of the notes to post a snippet from some upcoming content. This could be anything from a product to a new project. You can build the anticipation with this feature.
- Special offers: The notes are only visible to a curated subset of your followers. This is a great way to relate with your highly-valued customers, giving them exclusive offers of your products or other opportunities.
- Simply share what’s on your mind: Finally, you can post whatever you’ve been thinking about lately. This is perfect for influencers and other creators, as it can lead to some great results. Spark up some conversations with your audience and get them engaged.
Conclusion
Notes are a great way of passing bite-sized information to your audience, and they can be used in many different ways. It’s not really a game-changer, but you can leverage its capabilities for good use in your journey on Instagram.
If you haven’t tried it before, we recommend checking it out. Ensure to follow Instagram’s community guidelines as you post your notes, but above all, have fun.
