Have you checked your instagram grid?

In the constantly changing landscape of social media, Instagram has recently updated its image and sizing guidelines. Although this change might seem minor, it can greatly influence how your business is perceived and how it shares content. If you're a small business, keeping up with these updates is crucial to maintaining a professional appearance, engaging your audience, and maximizing reach.

the big change:

FEED POSTS - The Ideal size is now a 4:5 ratio (1080 x 13500 pixels) for portrait images, ensuring your post will engage better as the consumer scrolls their feed. This new ratio gives you more real estate space!

REELS/STORIES - These are still optimised at 9:16 ratio (1080 x 1920 pixels)

CAROUSEL POSTS - If your using portrait images, then go with the new 4:5 ratio, but landscape carousels will always look better using the square format. Keep in mind how your grid will look however.

why does it matter?

Understanding and using the new sizing updates can enhance your content strategy and also boost engagement:

1. Better visibility - Instagram always prioritises high-quality, optimised content in the algorithm so using the correct sizes ensures your posts aren't cropped awkwardly or blurry and makes them more attractive to the viewer

2. Improved Aesthetics & Brand Consistency - A professional Instagram profile will build trust with your customer. Ensuring your images and videos fit correctly will make your brand look polished and cohesive. We want you to stand out! Using the correct aspects will show your image or video in the best possible way.

3. Increased Reach with Reel optimisation - Did you know that Reels are Instagrams top performing content format - make sure when you are using this format that your clarity is enhanced and take up the full screen to capture your audience

4. Advertising - If you run Meta Ads, proper sizing means your visuals appear correctly across the Instagram placement. Having the correct sizing is imperative to your ad and will create higher click-through rates!

5. Carousels - Using carousels will get you higher engagement rates than single images, but they only work if the images are not awkwardly cropped. If you are using the 4:5 sizing, you will enable seamless swiping experience for the viewer.

HAVE You checked your instagram grid layout recently?

If you check your grid layout - you may see some awkwardly cropped images. The grid will now display the new 4:5 ratio meaning, your images have been automatically cropped to fit this feed. This may have taken your profile from wow to blah. Don't worry - we have some hints to fix it!

NEW POSTS - Using tools like Canva or Adobe will have pre-set Instagram templates to ensure you are using the correct sizing.

OLD POSTS - You can easily update your past posts to fit the new guidelines and show a fresh, professional look on your Instagram grid:

1. Go to your grid - select a post that has been cropped and lost its wow factor.

2. Click the 3 dots on the top right-hand side and then click 'Adjust preview'

3. You can then resize the look of your grid for that post. There is a 'fit' option at the bottom should you post need to stay in the square format.

Instagram's new sizing updates provides a fantastic opportunity for small business to level up their social media presence with little effort. Keep followers engaged and increase conversions with these simple changes.

Need help adjusting your Instagram feed or content? Let's chat!

Monika

How to stand out on Instagram