Instagram is slowly rolling out “Teen Accounts”, changing the future for how adolescents aged 13-17 use the digital platform. But what does this mean if you’re a business primarily targeting this age demographic?
What Restrictions will this Feature Have for Teens?
Instagram Teen Accounts will provide a range of limitations, including the types of content they see and profile settings.
Accounts will automatically have these settings enabled:
- Private account
- Hidden words
- Cannot be messaged to anyone who isn’t following them and they aren’t following back
- Limitations on sensitive content
- Only allowed to tag, mention or remix with accounts they follow
- Daily time limits and sleep mode
In addition, Teen Accounts allow you to add a parent or guardian to change any of these features.
Meta has not released specifics on how Teen Accounts will be managed, however it has stated that there will be stricter processes for confirming your age. Of course, there is still the possibility that some parents will allow their children to use Instagram with the current restrictions, and what each user is allowed to do will differ.
What this means for Instagram Business Accounts Targeting Teens
This update could have a big impact on what teenage users are interacting with, and, of course, how they’re being marketed to falls under this. If you’re a brand selling to or even working with teen creators, you’re probably curious to see how this will affect your marketing efforts.
Add Topics – Your Newest Keyword Finding Tool
The ability for users to add topics and interests could soon work to businesses’ advantage. While this feature already exists, we predict that Instagram’s increased restrictions will mean there’ll be more content tailored to teens’ interests.
Keep tabs on these topics and use them as keywords in your content to work with the algorithm, so your audience is more likely to see your posts despite the added limitations.
Here are some ways you can use keywords:
- List them at the end of your caption, after your hashtags.
- Include them in alt text
- Top tip: Make sure you still describe what is happening in your image in alt text for accessibility purposes. But you can find ways to include keywords in these descriptions.
- Hide them in a reel
- List the keywords, then make the text really small and move them off the screen so people can’t see them, but they could still give you a boost in the algorithm.
- Add topics to each reel
Working With Teen Creators
Teen creator accounts will still exist, just with heightened guidelines. However, Instagram Teen Accounts have been built to help address some of the issues creators may encounter, including unwanted contact like spam or scam DMs, or harmful interactions like bullying or harassment.
So, it doesn’t seem like your ability to work with teen influencers, microinfluencers or UGC creators will be impacted, however how you reach out to them might be.
Fortunately, there are effective ways businesses can navigate this. Platforms like Meta’s Creator Marketplace, or Facebook Groups in your niche provide a secure environment for finding teen creators who are open to collaborations.
Creators may also include contact details such as their email address or mobile number in their bios, which you can use to initiate partnerships. You can also check if they have a website that has a contact form for you to get in touch.
With Instagram quickly becoming more of a business tool, and some creators solely using it to outsource to collaborators, we’re interested to see how this update will impact the user experience. We predict that talent agencies or managers representing teen creators or other influencer discovery platforms, such as Upwork, may consequently be more relied upon.
It also sparks the question of whether Instagram will release specific guidelines on how businesses can interact with teen collaborators, but only time will tell as the feature begins to launch.
Reaching your Target Audience with Instagram Teen Accounts
With so little information on what this update will look like, the best thing brands can do to reach their target audience is to become even more aware of Gen Z marketing trends. Many brands face challenges in marketing to Gen Z, often because their content doesn’t fully resonate as authentic and relatable. There’s no doubt that this update will make it even more difficult to reach this audience, so now is a good time to read up on the memes and trends they’re engaging with.
While it might seem like trends move at lightspeed, there are two main pillars that younger audiences resonate with.
Underconsumption
The first pillar is underconsumption. Being mindful of what you buy and reusing what you already own are becoming increasingly popular. While this might seem contradictory to selling products, it actually emphasises the importance of promoting underconsumption. The key is to align your advertising content with this tone.
The demographic wants to push back on influencer culture and the pressure to buy unnecessary products in order to keep up with rapid moving trends. Consumer culture can be just as overwhelming for them as it is for older generations. So, think about creating content that doesn’t add to this pressure to conform or consume, but instead empowers, educates, or entertains in a way that resonates with their values and individuality.
Hopecore
The second is hopecore. Social media has a lot of proven negative mental health effects, which are especially prevalent for users who have grown up with it. Many teens are using social media for good deeds, or general uplifting and inspiring content.
The #HopeCore hashtag has appeared on around 80,000 videos, and nearly all of them include a comment saying something along the lines of “never skip a hopecore video”.
Using this hashtag, you can creatively showcase how your products or services contribute to spreading good deeds and positivity, without coming across as solely focused on profit. Like with all audiences, it’s important to genuinely engage and connect with them to increase a loyal customer base.
The key thing to remember is that Gen Z are not less likely to make purchases than older generations, they just don’t respond to posts that sound too “salesy”.
While memes and trending sounds are useful to add in your content, keep these core ideas in mind and find trends that resonate with them for stronger results. By using these strategies, businesses can connect with teen creators while respecting Instagram’s guidelines.
Need More Help?
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