Instagram Live suddenly went from an “ehh I think I’m gonna skip past that” feature to one that everyone is using to get live entertainment from home during COVID. It’s a hit among young millennials and gen Z’s. And especially for music fans – have you seen how many hip hop versus there have been the past year? Well Instagram is seeing that people are noticing Live’s value, so they decided to up the game a little bit.
Now, on Instagram Live, you can invite up to 3 guests to hop up on “stage” with you. Before this update, you could only have one other person join you – so this doubles the possibilities. Instagram said about why they decided to make this upgrade: “We hope that doubling up on Live will open up more creative opportunities.”
People are already using Live for so many things. Whether it’s just someone wanting to talk with their friends and followers, an influencer hosting a Q+A session, a fitness guru leading a class, or a brand live streaming a product launch – everyone’s getting in on the action. Some of these live shows may have been limited with the 1 guest limit, however. This opens up the possibility for more engaging live panels or similar activities.
Instagram also announced that we can look forward to additional features for Live – like moderator controls and audio features – in the next couple of months.
I’ll admit, we have been pretty critical of Instagram in the past for being very not-customer-centric. But this seems like a move in the right direction. Instead of trying to push a feature on people, they are instead amplifying a feature that users are already loving. This is how you earn loyalty.
The importance of expectations
Instagram is staying ahead of users’ expectations as live video streaming continues to be a part of everyones’ everyday lives. This is one of the best strategies to running a sustainable business. Want to know more about how these customer expectations can impact your customers’ experiences? Tune into our webinar here.
Hannah Michelle Lambert is the Digital Marketer at Worthix where she leads all things social, conversion, and nurture. She cut her teeth at the intersection of Customer Experience and SaaS technology and is passionate about innovative, customer-centric marketing strategies. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and current resident of Atlanta.
