Well, I’ve talked about how journalists should use Twitter as a tool, but how about Instagram? From what I’ve read, Instagram is another valuable tool that they can use. Most social media influencers are on Instagram, and when you think about it, journalists are sort of like influencers. They essentially inform readers, and can easily influence them.
Instagram vs. Snapchat and TikTok
Social media apps such as Snapchat and TikTok are great for overall content creation, but for journalists, Instagram seems to be the best fit. You can do a lot more on Instagram than Snapchat and TikTok. On Snapchat, you can DM your friends and create stories that include links, but it’s only available for 24 hours. TikTok can mainly do one thing, post videos (up to 1 minute). Instagram has the same features as both apps and even more. On Instagram, journalists can create posts, videos (up to 10 minutes), stories, and reels which is like TikTok videos.
In terms of engagement, a report found that Instagram Stories have higher engagement rates than Snapchat Stories. Discoverability using hashtags is also a huge plus on Instagram. Snapchat doesn’t have that feature but TikTok does. The downside for the hashtag search on TikTok is that it only shows the top TikToks not the recent ones, like on Instagram. Popularity can also be a downside of Instagram since is a lot of posts aren’t seen but you can put your post on your Story.
Instagram as a Journalistic Tool
By creating engaging posts, they can be easily shared on other platforms and can be DM’d to your friends. Stories are another huge plus because you can share your post as a story so it can be seen by your followers.
There are also different types of Stories you can add like Feature Stories, which contain appealing images and data that will get users to engage with your content; News Summaries which include top articles on your news site that gained a lot of website traffic with an accompanying image or design as well as a link; and Specials, which uses the live stream feature on your IG Story to stream special events. Always remember to add an image and link on your stories, when applicable.
Hashtags is another feature you can include on your posts and stories as well. As I mentioned before, IG hashtags are easily accessible, so try to add relevant hashtags on your posts.
Conclusion
Just like Twitter, Instagram is another tool journalists can utilize. I wouldn’t rely on only using Instagram, but it’s good to use different social media apps (like Snapchat and TikTok) to post your content.
Angelina's Angle 