Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
Episode: 9 NEW Instagram Features That Actually Help You Grow - 857
Host: Brock Johnson
Date: November 3, 2025

Overview of the Episode

In this value-packed solo episode, Brock Johnson runs through nine of the latest Instagram updates and features that are genuinely useful for brand and business growth. With Instagram’s constant updates, this episode gives a practical, clear, and hype-free look at what really matters for entrepreneurs, creators, and social media managers aiming to grow, engage, and make smart use of the platform.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Removal of "Share to Facebook" & View Count Changes

• Instagram has quietly removed the automatic "Share to Facebook" option for reels.
• Major impact: Many creators see drops in reel views, as views are no longer combined from both platforms.
• Creators must now manually download reels and upload separately to Facebook.
• Brock’s take:

  “This is a pretty big change that has affected a lot of creators, and we haven’t had any official announcement from Meta in regards to this change.” (01:00)

2. Massive Instagram App Redesign

• The most significant interface change in 5–10 years, rolling out globally.
• New top navigation:
  • Upper left: Plus (+) button for creating Stories, Reels, Lives, or Posts.
  • Center: Instagram logo with dropdown to choose feeds: Home, Favorites, Following.
    • Following = chronological feed, rarely used but highly requested.
  • Upper right: Heart icon now only for notifications—DMs have moved.
• Bottom navigation overhaul:
  • Leftmost: Home
  • Second: Reels (not just reels—carousels with music show up too!)
  • Center: Direct Messages
  • Fourth: Explore page
  • Rightmost: Profile
• New swipe navigation: Users can swipe between tabs, not just tap.
• User adaptation:

  “It’s probably going to be confusing, it’s probably going to be overwhelming… but after the first few days, it actually becomes more intuitive and easier to use.” (09:38)

3. Stories: AI ReStyle

• Stories photos now have a “paintbrush with sparkle” icon.
• In-app Meta AI can restyle your image: change outfits, add effects, and more—similar to other AI image tools, but native to Instagram.
• Brock’s verdict: Not a “views gamechanger,” but convenient for quick in-app edits.

4. Automated Welcome DMs for New Followers (via ManyChat)

• Now possible (and Meta-approved) to automatically send a DM to every new follower using ManyChat.
  • Great for starting conversations and building relationships.
• Key advice: Avoid hard-selling in the welcome DM. Use it to say thank you or share value without pitching.

  “If when someone follows you, you instantly send them a message… that’s going to get you a lot of unfollows and not a lot of customers.” (14:38) “It begins that conversation.” (15:25)

• Insight: The follow moment is the peak of their engagement cycle.

5. (Maybe) Scheduling Instagram Stories In-App

• Instagram is testing an in-app scheduling feature for Stories (conflicting statements from Instagram Head Adam Mosseri).
• Scheduling Stories is possible via third-party tools, but many creators want the native feature for reasons like coordinating launches or brand deals.

  “The purpose of Instagram stories is not to preplan… but I can imagine examples where scheduling would actually be very helpful.” (17:23)

6. Reels: AI Translation & Dubbing in Four Languages

• Automatic translation and dubbing for reels in English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese.
• Includes AI voice dubs and lip synchronization—your voice, another language.

  “It will actually use AI to edit your video ever so slightly… so that it looks like you are speaking Spanish and the audio is in Spanish and it’s your voice speaking Spanish.” (18:44)

• Strongly recommended for those targeting international audiences.

7. Carousels: More Than 20 Slides

• Old limit: 10; extended to 20 in 2024; now testing up to 24 or more.
• Not officially announced, but some users and Adam Mosseri have posted longer carousels.

  “Very soon we might be able to post more than 20 slides in our carousels, which is pretty crazy.” (19:45)

• Brock’s plug: Two recent videos with 16 creative carousel ideas.

8. Stories: Start Shared Reel at Any Point

• Soon, when sharing a reel to your story, you can choose its starting moment instead of defaulting to the beginning.
• Useful for teasing key points and driving story viewers into the reel.

  “You can select an exact moment within your reel that the story will begin playing… I think it’s going to be a very useful tool for increasing engagement on our reels.” (20:26)

9. Clickable Links in Reels

• Game-changing feature in testing: Add clickable links in reel captions or via a clickable button at the bottom.
• First time Instagram would allow actual clickable links, not just plain text.

  “For over 15 years… when you put a link on your post… it’s not clickable. And so it sucks. And so don’t do it.” (21:00)

• Would make moving audiences to landing pages, YouTube, etc. dramatically easier.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On DMs at peak engagement:

  “The moment that someone follows you is usually the peak of when they are most engaged, most attentive to and most interested in your account.” (15:07)

• On the learning curve of the new app design:

  “It might be a little bit jarring at first, but hey, if you want to swap into a chronological feed, you can do that at any time using that feature.” (08:01)

• Analogy for DM automation:

  “If you’re a single looking to date… you don’t walk over and get on one knee with the engagement ring… you introduce yourself and say ‘hi, nice to meet you’—but you don’t launch right into the wedding, you don’t launch right into the sale.” (15:38)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–01:50: Removal of Share to Facebook, impact on views
• 01:51–10:51: App redesign—new navigation, feeds, and workflow
• 10:52–12:20: AI ReStyle in Stories
• 12:21–15:55: Automated DMs for new followers (ManyChat), best practices
• 15:56–18:38: (Possible) Scheduling Stories natively
• 18:39–19:55: AI dubbing and translation for Reels
• 19:56–20:38: Carousels with more than 20 images
• 20:39–21:11: Sharing reels to Stories—choose start moment
• 21:12–21:26: Clickable links in Reels

The Bottom Line

This rapid-fire update episode spotlights nine concrete changes (live and in testing) that matter most for creators and entrepreneurs looking to make the most of Instagram’s evolving tools—from interface tweaks and AI-powered enhancements, to long-awaited features like DM automations, clickable links, and flexible content sharing. Brock’s advice is practical, cautioning listeners to use new features wisely for genuine engagement (not just quick wins), and to stay tuned for more updates as Instagram continues to roll out changes.

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