New week, new Instagram update! In the ever-changing world of the Internet, we can always count on our favorite social media platforms to be at the forefront of creating new features that leave users coming back for more. Last week, Instagram started testing new features that will affect the way both your average user and advertisers use the platform.

Check out these new Instagram updates and how they will affect users and advertisers below!

Remove Followers from Your Profile

Looking for more control over who gets to see your feed? Instagram has you covered. If your Instagram profile is on public, the app will now allow you to remove followers that you don’t want to see your content (users with private profiles have had this functionality for some time). This means, of course, that these users could still look up your public profile using the search function, but it will not show up in their news feed. As brands cannot put their profiles on private mode, there has not been a way to remove followers.

Image via Matt Navara. 

Why would a brand want to lose followers, anyway?

Two words: engagement rate. Instagram’s algorithm favors content that has better engagement rates with users. By being able to manually delete followers, brands can artificially increase their engagement rates, allowing their content to be more likely to be shown on the news feed.

Limit Stories by Location

This is a big one for advertisers, especially those that only sell products or services in specific locations. Noticed first by Matt Navara, this feature allows users and advertisers to choose the countries in which their Instagram stories can be viewed. While currently, it is only in testing, this could be a game changer for global brands. It would allow them to create content specifically for each country they distribute their product or service in, personalizing with language and imagery that resonates best with that audience. Not only could this increase consumer loyalty but it could also attribute to an increase in engagement rates. 

Check out what this feature looks like below.

Image via Matt Navara. 

Want to learn more about recent updates in digital marketing platforms? Check out our New This Week series.