Instagram has revealed their plans on making paid content, Facebook published new data on how shopping habits have changed, interesting ways on posting backlinks without writing any text, content ideas to develop your blog, and much more from the world of digital marketing in our new episode of the RGray Weekly Marketing Insights and News Digest.
- There is no end to monetizing opportunities in social media. Instagram shared their new future function which contains paid subscriptions to user’s stories. Check out the digest for more details.
- Facebook has published a report telling us how consumer’s shopping behavior has changed with detailed statistics. Read the digest for the most interesting data.
- It is really possible to build backlinks without writing any text. Guess how? Figure out in digest.
- If you are out of ideas what to post on your blog then check the infographic we have prepared for you with 15 creative content ideas.
Are we going to pay for Instagram stories?

Instagram keeps up with other social networks and is looking for more ways to monetize. So, they confirmed the rumors about the work on the new “Exclusive Stories” feature. On June 21, images of Stories offshoot began to circulate on the Internet after Alessandro Paluzzi, a software developer, tweeted that links to this feature were found in the Instagram codebase. The company said that the pictures show an internal prototype of the function, but more details have not yet been revealed, since they are not actually available according to the developer.
Though, from the screenshots, it becomes obvious that this is a kind of “analogue” to the paid Twitter Super Follow subscription. When users come across such Stories, they are immediately informed that “only members” can view them. Also, Instagram will not allow you to take screenshots of these Stories, but they can still be saved in Highlights so that users who have a paid subscription can view them.
Changing shopping habits

Shopping habits are changing! That is the conclusion that Facebook made in their latest shopping behavior report.
Survey data: Facebook published statistics derived from data from 9 countries. Here’re the most interesting ones:
- 81% of consumers say they have changed at least one shopping habit since the beginning of 2020, which is the start of the pandemic. 92% said they would continue to follow this behavior in the future.
- 55% of those surveyed said they buy products that were found while browsing.
- 42% said they make purchases based on celebrities’ and creators’ recommendations.
- In the US, people are 2.6 times more likely to share their data when a company informs them about personalized benefits.
We also noticed a very interesting difference between countries. For example, in the US 55% of shoppers say that the phone becomes the main tool for making purchases; in South Korea, this figure is almost 20% higher.
How to build backlinks without posts and articles

Here’s a tactic for getting backlinks: It all comes down to using Creative Commons images.
These are images that have been licensed. When people use them, they will link back to your site, indicating the source.
This tactic was shared by Stacey MacNaugh in the Authority Hacker YouTube video. But for those who want to get to the heart of the matter right away, Steve Toth outlined the key points:
- Search Google images for keywords that relate to your niche.
- Filter by Creative Commons and analyze what you see to determine the type of your future images.
- Visit sites such as Unsplash, Shutterstock, Getty, Alamy and others to analyze which images influence shoppers the most to get the most purchases.
- Create similar images and license them using Creative Commons. Then, upload them to different photo websites.
- Watch the links appear.
Stacey MacNaught starts with 50 images, only two of which may actually work. Then, she just adds 5 to 10 images monthly.
She uses COPYTRACK and picMatch to detect unmentioned use of images without proper referral links. After, she links to those websites and asks for a mention.
15 Types of Content to Post on Social Media to Keep Your Feed Fresh [Infographic]
Looking for fresh ideas for your content on social media?
We’ve prepared an infographic for you with creative thoughts for your blog to explore new opportunities and enhance your page.
Check out the infographic below.
