Connecting with people virtually has never been more important. Whether you are apart from your friends and family because you live far apart or because of quarantine it has never been easier thanks to virtual meeting rooms like Zoom, Google Meetings, Microsoft Teams, and now Instagram.
Depending on how many people you want to chat with Instagram offers two options. If you want to chat with up to 32 people you can create a direct message group text chat. If you want to do a video chat Instagram offers a group video chat for up to 6 people at once.
How To Add People to a Group Text Chat
Creating a group can be done in six simple steps once you open the Instagram app
- Start by clicking the direct messages icon in the top right corner of your Feed, It is the one that looks like an arrow above the stories ribbon.
- Next, click the compose icon in the top right. It looks like a square pad with a pencil laid diagonally across it.
- Now you can add anywhere from 2 to 32 people to the group.
- Once you have added the desired people to your group click Next on iOS or Chat on Android to create the group
- Now is when you can compose your actual message that can be text, a video/photo from your library, or a new one.
- Add any caption or effects to your video/photo.
- Click send
Keeping track of various groups can be difficult especially if there is an overlap of people in groups. To help solve this problem Instagram has made it possible to name each group conversation, to do so you simply click to enter the group conversation and then tap on Name This Group at the top of the conversation.
How to Add People to a Group Video Chat
Creating a video chat group is equally easy to do within the Instagram app.
- First, tap the message icon in the top right of your Feed above the story ribbon
- Then click the video icon in the top right and select the people that you want within your group video chat. Remember you can only have up to six people in the Video chat at one time
- Once you have selected the people you want to add click Start.
Once the call has been started each person will get a notification from Instagram that you are calling them.
If you are already in a video chat and wish to add someone else simply click the add icon which looks like a silhouette of 2 people and search for the person you want to add, a new thread will be started and they will receive the notification that you are calling them.
Uses for Instagram Group Chats
Friends and Family
This one is probably the most common and easy to think of. You have a handful of friends that share your love for punny memes, interior design, or some other interest so you create a group with just them so you can share all the really good posts that you find.
Support Groups
Being separated from the people that you care about can be hard and it doesn’t matter whether that separation is physical or emotional having a virtual connection at just the right time can make all the difference in the world to you or someone else.
If you don’t feel like you have people now that would be willing to support you through whatever you are currently dealing with, be it depression/anxiety, sobriety, or a tragedy. There are communities for almost every situation just search for common keywords and begin to connect with the people you see that fit what you need.
Business
Instagram can be a massive asset for freelancers and businesses alike. You can use group chats for coaching, collaborations, market research, and so much more. It may seem counter-intuitive to use group chats as a business resource, especially since many companies like to curate more personalized experiences for their audiences, but when done correctly it can have huge impacts on the brand.
Coaching
For this, I highly recommend using the video call options instead of the regular group text chat as it keeps the group to a more manageable size and allows for more speed and thoroughness in the discussion.
Collaborations
Collaborating with other accounts can increase brand awareness and post reach. Having the ability to have a talk with all of the different accounts on the same app that the content will be shared can really streamline the full process, between initial discussions, showing drafts of posts, and sharing post analytics in one space.
Market research
Market research can be the leverage that an account needs to gain or maintain their competitive advantage and what better place to get it than from your actual ideal followers and clients. You can use various groups to A/B test posts and designs.
Another use would be to invite the most active followers you have to a group chat to ask for post topics to ensure the best fit for your market.
Conclusion
There are a lot of different uses that Instagram group text and video chat can be used for. If you follow the steps listed above you can create and organize group chats to fit any of your needs. Just remember that video chats are limited to 6 people at a time while group text chats can have up to 32 people. Have fun connecting!
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