Social media marketing is vital to the success of any online business. Nearly all e-commerce store owners have heard that they should market on Facebook and Twitter, but there are other social media platforms that are emerging as well.

Among these newer social media sites are Pinterest and Instagram. Both social media platforms have millions of users that fit into demographics that many businesses target. Like other social media sites, Instagram and Pinterest are constantly being refined and updated to make them better for users and for businesses.

Recently, changes to both platforms were announced, and these modifications to Pinterest and Instragram will have an impact on social media marketing. If you’re using either or both platforms for marketing or are considering getting into Instagram or Pinterest marketing, it’s important to learn about these changes and determine how they may potentially affect you. Read on to get the full story on the changes.

Changes to Instagram

Instagram is becoming a more important platform for social media marketing, especially for niches that are highly visual like home decorating, fashion and beauty. Teenagers and people in their 20s and 30s use Instagram to discover products, so having a presence on the platform is crucial if your business caters to people in these age categories.

Recently, Instagram followed in the footsteps of Facebook and did a major overhaul on their algorithm. If you’re not familiar with the term, the algorithm of a social media site refers to the process that’s used to determine how individual posts to the site are displayed. The move to alter the social media site’s algorithm isn’t that surprising, considering the fact that Facebook owns Instagram. But even though it’s not a shock, the algorithm changes can have a major effect on your marketing.

Instagram is now no longer displaying posts in chronological order. Instead, it will be giving priority to posts that are most likely to engage users. Part of the reason why this change was made was to help increase engagements among users, as engagement rates on the site have been declining since Facebook purchased the platform.

While many marketers are panicking over the change to the algorithm, it will become more important to produce engaging content. Also, you need to be aware that you will likely have fewer views of your posts, so you may need to prioritize other methods of marketing if you’ve been focusing predominantly on Instagram.

Changes to Pinterest

The changes to Instagram could have a negative effect over social media marketing for small to medium-sized online businesses, but the ones that have been announced for Pinterest should help to increase the profitability of social media marketing.

Pinterest has now made it possible for any business to create promoted pins and to control them with a platform known as the Ads Manager. Previously, promoted pins were offered to a select number of businesses as a test trial. Based on feedback, Pinterest has refined their pin system to improve targeting, so that you can select the right types of users to see your advertised pins. You can now target by your customer information, interest or keywords.

Promoted pins work similarly to promoted posts on Facebook and promoted tweets on Twitter. You set up a budget and define an audience for your ads. Then, Pinterest will display your ads to users along with other pins in a search feed, placing them in a prominent spot to encourage engagement. Promoted pins are a good way to get new users to your landing pages or website and to increase your number of followers on Pinterest.

Online stores that can benefit the most from promoted pins will be those whose clientele consists mostly of women, particularly those between the ages of 20 and 50. Products that lend themselves to do-it-yourself projects or that are related to home decor, fashion or beauty tend to be the best ones to promote on Pinterest.