Seasons change, and so do social media platforms. As a small business owner, you may be wearing many hats so we’re here to share the intel on what may seem like constant changes to the platforms you use to market your business.

So today, we wanted to share a change likely coming to Instagram in the coming months and what you can do to prepare for it.

Instagram Is Testing Portrait Grids

Instagram started testing back in August converting the size of the images posted on the platform from square, to a 4:5 portrait ratio. This is specifically for the posts that stay on your profile, also known as your “grid,” and does not refer to your stories or your reels, which are already in portrait format. Typically when they begin public testing like this, even to a small group, it means they are pretty sure they are moving in that direction.

Why is Instagram Doing This?

Basically whether you post a photo or a video (reel), it will be the same dimensions, and more closely match the original content you took with your phone or camera. The powers that be at Instagram said that they want to showcase your content in its most original form and not force you to crop it to make square photos anymore.

What This Means For All Current Posts On Your Profile

Nothing is changing right now, but you may see changes in your account in the coming months. Instagram usually rolls out changes to users over a long period of time so you may wake up one morning and see that the photos in your profile grid have been stretched to fit this new scale. This stretch is ultimately a good thing since the alternative to get to those portrait dimensions is a crop to your current photos where the sides would be cut off. That would be especially bad for folks who use a lot of text in their posts.

The downside is that the items in your photos may look taller and the brand fonts in your text may look not quite right.

Start Preparing Your Small Business’s Instagram Profile Now

You can prepare for this change by opting to post your content in portrait mode now. If you’re in the app, you can create a post as usual and when you’re in the new post area there is a small icon in the bottom left of the frame that looks like two right angles. Tapping that will allow you to toggle between square and portrait. If you start posting portraits now, any older images that will look a little off will be a little buried with your new perfect content!

We hope this is a simple change you can make to your content creation, but if you want additional support, we’re happy to help.