Instagram Bolsters User Engagement with Exciting New Stickers Ahead of Holiday Season

Instagram is doubling down on enhancing user experience on its app, parallel to its expansion of features in Threads. The main app is slated to offer a plethora of new, exciting, engagement-fuelled stickers primed for the holiday season.

Taking the lead, Instagram is refining a new “App” sticker, appearing as a user-friendly means for Instagram users to promote other applications in their Stories.

Discernible in this example shared by app investigator Alessandro Paluzzi (who uncovered these novel stickers under testing), the App sticker facilitates the promotion of another application, enabling easy link navigation for viewers. It's ideal for showcasing special deals, items, and efficient creation tools, among others.

Should it go live ahead of festive times, numerous retailers would likely engage Instagram influencers to use the sticker in promoting apps and special offers, especially in the run-up to major sales.

Marketing teams should keep a keen eye on this development.

Instagram is additionally experimenting with a unique “Secret” sticker, visible exclusively to viewers who interact with a Story through a message.

Assumably, this could provide creators with the power to grant or deny user access to the secret, potentially stimulating direct response and higher engagement.

The social media platform is also testing further musical interaction with the "Music Pick" sticker, permitting respondents to share their current favorite tracks.

Essentially, this could enable a collective and dynamic music playlist creation, although varied music preferences, even in close-knit circles, could present a minor obstacle.

These engaging stickers come in addition to Instagram's latest feature updates from its NYC "Instagram University" event, such as audio Notes, close friends groups, and new birthday reminders.

Instagram birthday reminders

Most of these tools support intimate group interactions, aligning with the shifting usage trend on Instagram, from public posting to smaller-scale chats with friends.

As Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, revealed in July last year, user behavior now heavily leans towards “posting more to stories, and sending more DMs, than they post to Feed”. This evolution is driving Instagram's expansion focus, spotlighting popular, primarily video content in the main IG feed while shifting social interactions away from public view.

For some, the shift in Instagram's platform feel has dampened engagement, but for many, it has escalated platform utilization despite a smaller number of personal posts.

Given the holiday season, when users typically spend more time on apps, Instagram's plans aim to maximize engagement and content sharing, helping to retain users and prevent them from migrating to platforms like TikTok.