Instagram Just Gave Businesses Another Way to Showcase Customer Content

If you run a small business, you probably already know that getting customers to post about you on social media is a great thing.

Someone shares a picture of their backyard after you installed an awning. A client shows off the results of a service you provided. You might share that post to your Stories, but for the most part, it lives on their profile.

Instagram just changed the game. 

Users can now choose to add posts they’re tagged in to their main profile grid, giving businesses another reason to pay attention to the content their customers are creating.

Q: What exactly is this new Instagram update?

When someone is tagged in an Instagram post, they’ll now see an “Add to grid” option right from the post. If they click it, that post will show up on their main profile alongside the content they posted themselves. Instagram will mark those posts with a tag icon in the corner, so profile visitors can tell what’s tagged content.

That’s really it. This isn’t a complicated new feature to learn or another dashboard for businesses to manage.

Q: Why should a small business care?

Because customers are already creating content for you! And sometimes, that content is more convincing than anything a business could make itself.

A business can tell people its offerings are worth trying. A customer posting a photo with a positive review is a different kind of endorsement. People trust other people. Seeing an actual customer using a product or service can make a brand feel more real.

Q: Can a business just add a customer’s post to its own grid?

Only if they are tagged. A business can’t simply grab a customer’s post and put it on its own grid through this feature.

So if you want more customer content, start by making it easy for customers to tag you.

You can remind people to tag your account when they share something. You can also keep doing what you’re probably already doing with good customer posts: sharing them to Stories, responding to them and, when appropriate, asking permission to reuse the content elsewhere.

The more natural those interactions feel, the better.

Q: Is this part of a bigger change happening on Instagram?

We think yes. Instagram has spent the last few years giving people more ways to create content with other people rather than always posting on their own. IE: Collaborative posts and being able to repost Stories that you’re not tagged in. 

This new feature fits right in. Social Media Today also points to something else worth considering. Reels now account for roughly half of the time people spend on Instagram, which has made video a huge part of the platform.

That’s great for discovery, but Instagram still needs people to feel like they’re actually interacting with other people and communities. That piece is harder to replicate on a platform where you’re simply watching one video after another.

For businesses, that matters because not every useful Instagram post needs to be a Reel.

Q: What does this mean for customer content?

If customers are already tagging your business, keep an eye on what they’re posting. You may find some of your most useful content sitting in places you weren’t looking before.

Maybe it’s a customer showing off your business’s home improvement work. Maybe it’s someone posting about a great experience with your team. Maybe it’s a photo from an event you were a part of that you never would have thought to take yourself.

Those posts give potential customers a look at your business from the outside. And that’s valuable.

For a small business that doesn’t have an endless supply of time or resources for content creation, customer posts can also help fill in some of the gaps. You still need your own content, of course. But your feed doesn’t have to be made up entirely of things you produced.

Q: What should businesses do with the update?

First, make sure customers can find and tag your account easily. Then, keep an eye on your tagged posts tab.

If someone posts something great about your business, engage with it. Share it when it makes sense. Thank them. And if they’re comfortable with it, ask whether you can use the content in other places, too.

This is an opportunity to encourage and leverage user generated / collaborative content vs. trying to manufacture every piece of content yourself. 

Sometimes the best thing you can put in front of a potential customer is another customer saying, “I went here, and I liked it.”

Bennington Brookstone helps businesses build social media strategies that make room for both branded content and the conversations happening around their brands. Call, DM, or email us at sbellem@brookstone.com to get started!