Whether it’s a snapshot of breakfast in bed, an aesthetic click of a vacation getaway, or simply a selfie in a new haircut, people can’t seem to resist the urge from posting a picture on Instagram.
Instagram has grown immensely over the years and is slowly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet. In fact, studies show that Instagram has over one billion active users worldwide.
What a treat for marketers!
But that’s not all. A report by Rival IQ shows that Instagram’s media engagement rate is 1.22%, which is 13.5x higher than Facebook posts and 27x higher than a tweet. Awesome, right?
Oh, it doesn’t end there! Further studies show that 81% of people use Instagram to help research products and services and 72% of Instagram users report having made a product purchase after seeing it on the app.
We guess it’s safe to say that Instagram is turning out to be a great place for business and promotions. But succeeding on the platform isn’t a cakewalk, especially if you don’t keep up with the right Instagram trends.
So, how do find the right Instagram trends to improve your marketing approach? What are the trends that you must not miss? The answer is right here in this blog.
We have made you a list of Instagram trends that will make sure your business stays completely relevant on the platform and put you one step ahead of your competitors! Want to know what they are? Then, dive right in!
List of Instagram Trends You Must Not Miss!
1. Instagram Shops and Instagram Checkout
Let’s start with an Instagram trend that will prick any marketer’s ears, the Instagram shops and checkout feature.
These features allow e-commerce businesses to create their own store within Instagram itself and also enable bank and payment details to be stored within the app to make shopping faster and easier.
With online shopping and Instagram growing in popularity, and with 70 percent of shoppers relying on Instagram for product discovery, this Instagram trend is one that you cannot just ignore!
You can use this feature to tell your brand’s story and allow your potential customers to enjoy their shopping and purchasing experience without ever leaving Instagram!
Read more: How to Create an Instagram Wall for your Website?
2. Link in Bio
With more shoppers spending time on Instagram searching for products, putting a link in your bio is an Instagram trend you just cannot ignore. After all, it is the perfect place for potential customers to find out more about your brand while checking out your Instagram page.
But it turns out that Instagram only lets you add ONE link to your bio. That’s not ideal if you want to promote multiple things. Solution? Use link in bio-tools like elink that allow you to share all of your valuable links with your followers, using one link.
You can use elink to build your own landing page and then you can fill it up with links that you want to share with your Instagram followers. elink offers stunning, fully responsive layouts for your landing pages. You can also choose from various fonts, colors, and design themes to make your bio link more appealing!
What’s more? elink comes with a robust chrome extension that allows you to update your social bio links on the go and in real-time!
Check out elink’s Instagram Bio link templates here!
3. Live Streams on Instagram
The Instagram Live feature is one of the best ways to connect with your followers in a direct, transparent, and authentic way. It has been one of the fastest-growing Instagram trends.
According to Facebook data, Instagram Live views increased by 70% from February to March 2020, with the ongoing pandemic being the major cause.
More features have been added to Instagram Live, which includes increasing the maximum duration from one to four hours, a new option to upload your Instagram Lives directly to IGTV, and the ability to watch live broadcasts on desktop.
You can use the live stream feature to introduce new products, conduct shared live streams with other accounts, and maintain a great social media presence.
4. Shift in Influencer Marketing
Influencers are nothing new in the Instagram arena, but more recently there has been a shift in the whole influencer marketing scene.
Today you can see that micro-influencers or nano-influencers (who generally have a smaller, yet niche following) are the ones creating more impact.
In fact, according to the Digiday survey, nano-influencers are able to engage up to 8.7 percent of their following while the engagement percentage of celebrity influencers, who have more than a million followers, is only 1.7 percent.
This is an Instagram trend that will help deliver higher engagement rates in a more cost-effective way. Be sure to use this trend to your advantage!
5. Instagram Stories
Instagram stories have been around for a couple of years now, but it is becoming more and more relevant in recent times. In fact, around 78% of brands say that Instagram Stories has had a massive impact on influencers’ content about their brand.
With additional features such as selfie filters, story archives, story highlights, and desktop usage incorporated into this functionality, stories are now one of the top Instagram trends.
You can easily add polls, quizzes, stickers, AMA sessions, and more into your Instagram stories and increase the engagement levels of your page. It’s also a great way to keep your audience updated about your brand.
Read more: Instagram Bio for Business: Tips and Tricks
6. The Explore Tab
Instagram has something called the Explore Tab, which introduces undiscovered content to its users. And, it turns out that over 200 million Instagram users access it every day to find new ways to entertain themselves.
Its usage frequency is likely to increase further, making it an important Instagram trend to keep an eye out for. The Explore Tab allows users to quickly discover new content and helps brands gain better visibility.
Using the right hashtags, tagging your location, interacting through comments, and including call-to-actions in your posts you can boost your engagement levels and increase the chances of your page coming up on the Explore Tab, thereby helping you increase the number of your followers.
7. Reels
Instagram Reels are like the rival to TikTok videos. They are limited to 30 seconds and allow you to string multiple clips together into one video. They are taking the app by storm, which is why it is an Instagram trend worth taking note of.
You can leverage Reels into your marketing strategy by creating simple and informational content about your products, putting together how-to guides, partnering with influencers to promote your products, or even by accepting Instagram challenges.
You can even monitor other reels to keep yourself updated about what’s trending on Instagram. Reels also tend to show on the Explore Tab, thereby helping you increase visibility.
8. Ads on IGTV
IGTV is Instagram’s long-form video platform and it has announced that it will allow ads to be shown on it! This feature is great news for businesses because now you can monetize your content and boost awareness at the same time! It is also a great channel to reach new audiences, grow your engagement, and even capture leads!
According to reports, IGTV content creators are getting the same percentage of the ad revenue as YouTubers, which makes Instagram a potential competitor for YouTube.
Now that Instagram allows you to start earning money through ads, its popularity has shot up and more expansions and features are yet to be rolled up. This makes IGTV one of the hottest Instagram trends!
9. Longer Captions
Gone are the days when Instagram was purely about visuals. Now everyone wants a good caption to go along with their pictures and videos. In fact, longer captions are what engages people, because more people want to engage in discussions and learn the story behind each image.
Longer captions are a highly underrated Instagram trend that can add more value than you can imagine. It helps create a powerful brand message, present your mission, narrate your story, add more details, highlight your unique tone of voice, and educate your viewers.
This makes your content authentic and helps convince your followers to trust your brand. So it’s time to step up your caption game!
10. Branded Augmented Reality Filters
Ever since Instagram opened Spark AR Studio, an augmented reality platform that allows you to create AR effects for mobile cameras, it has also opened a door for business opportunities to thrive.
Its branded AR filters let you try on makeup, clothes, accessories virtually, or place furniture in your home to get an idea of how it would actually look. It’s a rising Instagram trend with multiple commercial possibilities in the future.
You can now market your products to shoppers by providing them your version of branded AR filters. This helps customers make a purchasing decision while having some fun in the process. You might even get better brand visibility if people click pictures with your branded AR filters and post them on their accounts.
11. Instagram Carousel Posts
Instagram’s Carousels allow you to use multiple media (writings, images, and videos) in one post and usually includes up to 10 posts.
Since its launch in 2017, carousel posts have gone from making up 3% to 19.4% of content on Instagram and it’s only growing, making it an important Instagram trend. According to a recent study, posts on Instagram are likely to be more successful if they contain a carousel – versus a single photo or video.
You can use carousel posts for your product launch, to showcase before and after scenarios, promote blog content, and do so much more! They ensure organic engagement, generate new leads, communicate the brand message, provide concise information, and are also highly cost-effective.
Read more: Image Carousels & Sliders: What are they & How to Create them!
12. Instagram Challenges
Challenges are not new in the Instagram world, but they are so popular that every now and then something pops up and goes viral. Instagram has even created its very own challenge sticker for stories on which you can tap and instantly join to try it out.
The great thing about challenges is they spread like wildfire and pops frequently on the Explore Tab. Instagram challenges are a great way for you to promote your brand and staying relevant. It helps increase your social media presence and if you are lucky enough, you might go viral and increase your number of followers as well.
You can even leverage this Instagram trend by starting your own brand challenge to get better visibility and increase awareness – while entertaining your viewers!
Conclusion
With that, we have come to the end of this blog! We have armed you with enough information about Instagram trends to make your business Instagram-worthy.
But not every trend needs to be religiously followed because they just keep popping up every now and then, and you never really know which one will really catch on.
You might want to jump on the bandwagon just because others are doing it, but remember to choose the ones that fit your brand goals and brand personality. The rest will just fall into place.
Now go out there and create ‘Instagrammable’ content for your brand!
Further reads:
Social Curation: What is it & How to Use it to Get More Leads!
Instagram Bio Hack: How To Add Multiple Links On Instagram
How to Embed an Instagram Feed to Your Website?
Build Brand Awareness With These 9 Quick Yet Effective Ways
10 Ways to Turn Your Instagram Followers into Customers
Instagram Bio Link Use Cases Irrespective of Business Niche
Instagram Bio Link Tools to Increase Followers!
How to Create Instagram Caption Spacing?
