Instagram is filled with features and settings that might seem overwhelming at first as a new Instagram marketer. However, these features let you set up your account to match your needs and goals. Understanding how notifications work on Instagram can help you get a feel for how the platform works for your audience.
Notifications keep your followers in the loop of what’s happening on Instagram, giving them a way to personalize their accounts and the information they see regularly. If someone follows you, they might get notifications when you go Live, post new products, or reply to their comments.
Instagram notifications can keep your audience engaged with your content. Let’s learn how they work.
Types of Instagram Notifications
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Knowing what types of Instagram notifications the platform offers in a user’s settings can help you tailor your Instagram marketing strategy to your audience. There are four primary types of notifications on Instagram.
In-App Notifications
In-app notifications show up within the Instagram app when a user taps on the heart icon on their home feed. Here, Instagram lets users know when they receive a new follow, get a like or comment, or receive a reply or like on one of their comments. Instagram also alerts users when people they follow start following another account.
Push Notifications
Push notifications send straight to a user’s mobile device. Depending on their device’s settings, these notifications might show on their lock screen, home screen, or both. Push notifications can help get Instagram users back into the app when someone likes or comments on a photo, messages them, goes Live, and more.
Instagram also provides push notifications to let users know when they have suggested accounts to follow or someone they follow starts a fundraiser.
Email Notifications
Instagram users might opt for email notifications in place of push notifications, as they’re less intrusive. Instagram allows email notifications about the platform’s tools, news, feedback, and support. Instagram users can also get notified by email when they leave something in their shopping cart on Instagram.
Shopping Notifications
If you use your Instagram account to sell products or services, you should know about shopping notifications. Users can get notified when accounts they follow add new products to their Instagram shops and when they have suggested shops to follow or products to browse.
Instagram Notifications Settings
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Any Instagram user with a personal or business account can control their notifications in the app’s settings. Here’s how to do it:
- Click on your profile picture on the bottom right of the app.
- Tap on the three lines at the top right
- Tap Settings, followed by Notifications
- From here, browse the settings for push notifications and other notification types to allow or disallow notifications
When Instagram users turn off all push, email, or shopping notifications, they may still get in-app notifications from Instagram.
What Are Instagram Reminders?
Rather than focusing on Instagram notifications to help you market your business on the app, lean more toward Instagram Reminders. This feature is relatively new, rolled out by Instagram in January 2022. Adding a Reminder to an event post lets your followers get an alert when an event is soon to start.
Let’s say you are launching a new backpack in a week. You might have a series of Instagram posts that promote the backpack with a plan to have an Instagram Live two days before its full launch. You can create an Instagram Reminder post telling people about the upcoming Live that will include an icon that users can tap to get Reminders. The feature can be helpful in reminding your followers to tune into important events with your business.
Creating Instagram Reminder Posts
Instagram users with a business or creator account can make Reminder posts. To make one, take the same steps as you would to create a regular in-feed post. From the New Post page, tap Add reminder. Then, set the reminder name, date, and time, up to three months from the current date or one hour from now.
Although you can’t currently use Reminders when creating a Story, you can share your Reminder post to your Story, and it will include your Reminder.
Optimizing Instagram Reminder Posts
There are a few ways to help your Instagram Reminder posts do their job effectively:
- Point people to the Reminder button in a clear way using a CTA. Your call-to-action can be something simple like, “Hit the bell to get a reminder 1 hour before we go Live!”
- Think about the name of the event carefully. When people get a Reminder, they’ll see the name that you chose for the Reminder. Make the name as detailed as possible so that your followers remember what they’re getting alerts for.
- Make more than one Reminder post. Not everyone is going to see just one post, so having a few leading up to your event can get more eyes on your event and more sign-ups.
Now that you’re up-to-date with how Instagram notifications work, continue growing your Instagram followers on the platform with tactics like giveaway caption ideas for Instagram.
Beyond that, if you’re looking for even more ideas on how to grow your Instagram following, we’ve also created a series of free Instagram resources, including: our guide to the character limit on Instagram, our guide on how to share posts on Instagram, and our guide to choosing the perfect full Instagram profile picture size.
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