Social media platforms evolve with each day: some offer interesting updates, others are more contradictory than useful, but every step is an important stage that enhances our user experience and a fruitful ground for new undertakings, which can help you scrape up a fortune. Yes, here they are, Instagram channels. They may not steal the limelight from Twitter, but they do deserve some proper inspection. Let’s take a closer look!
Modus Operandi
Instagram already has a vast list of features that help creators interact with the audience: you can find posts, stories, live broadcasts, and reels. The platform, though, doesn't plan to stop right here: in mid-February, the developers introduced another interesting method for effective communication between content-makers and their fans — broadcast channels. Let us tell you more: we can smell the scent of benefit there!
Just like Telegram channels, Instagram channels let creators communicate with their subscribers: content-makers can send text or voice messages, share photos and videos, and even take polls. However, the communication doesn’t quite go both ways: the followers can read and react to the posts and polls they come across, but they cannot write their own messages or express their own opinion. In the future, Meta promises to expand the list of options available to content-makers: they want to add collabs and Ask Me Anything forms. Followers will also receive a set of features to enhance their user experience, but the developers aren’t going to elaborate on the topic just yet.
Channel Creation
Currently, broadcast channels are being tested with a select number of creators, but here's your sneak peek at how this feature is going to work.
First off, grab your smartphone and go to the messenger tab. When there, press CREATE in the top right corner, and choose the option create broadcast channel. Give your newly created channel a name, and you're good to go!
After you send your first-ever message, every subscriber receives a message with an invitation to join the channel. Subsequently, to attract the audience, you can attach a Join the Channel sticker in your stories or pin the link in your bio. By the way, your channel may be either free for everyone, or you can arrange limited paid access.
So, if the channel is free, your followers click the invitation link, and voilà! Congratulations, they've joined the channel. From now on, they can see all the existing messages.
Newcomers, though, will have to follow you — the creator — first. Then they enter your channel and press the Join the Channel button. Appearance-wise, it won't stand out: the messages will look the same.
As usual, subscribers can leave the channel whenever they feel like it; if they think you're being spammy, yet nonetheless interesting, they can set silent notifications or turn them off completely,
Can I use the feature?
For now, Instagram channels are only available to a handful of users in the US. Among them, you can find rapper and basketball player Flau'jae, meme creator Tank Sinatra, media personality Josh Richards, and a dozen other creators and athletes. Ah, certainly, Zuckerberg himself — for the obvious reasons. He announced the launch of broadcast channels on his Meta Channel, available on mobile devices only.
This is what Zuckerberg's channel looks like. Feel free to check it out yourself. Scroll a few posts up to understand the principle (which, by the way, is not too different from any other channel idea.) Then, if you smash the name plaque above, you will see the invite link, which can be sent to a friend. One step back — and under the name of the channel, you can spot the number of participants. On the information page, you can set notifications, see all the media shared by the creator, or just leave the chat.
DMs or Channel
All the channels you join are displayed in the messenger tab, right where you normally talk to your friends. However, such channels have nothing to do with personal correspondence, and they have to be moderated according to the rules of the platform. Thus, all inappropriate messages are to be deleted immediately.
If you wondered if you could spot the channel in your message list: yes, there is no camera icon opposite the name.
Broadcasting Affiliate Marketing
As the new feature hasn't been officially launched and is only available to a limited number of people, ads aren't on the agenda, but we sure can assume that in the foreseeable future, affiliates will be working in tow with influencers: this technique has been popular for quite a while, and it's still gaining momentum.
Broadcast channels, as the name implies, are created to reach out to the audience, and it is highly doubtful that bloggers are going to miss this opportunity.
There's always a chance that the public will admire the new feature, and in this case, the Telegram funnel technique may work: an affiliate warms up their subscribers with a stream of posts and then subtly directs them to an offer. In fact, it may even become a channel of shareware traffic.
Stay Posted
Instagram channels are very rare at the moment, so it is unclear whether they are indeed a thing; there's no way to predict if they're going to be popular. However, keep yourself in the know in case they suddenly make a hit. We've told you everything we knew, so now it's your turn to act!
