With 1 billion users, Instagram is the fastest-growing social media network. There are more than 25 million brand accounts on the platform, with 80% of users following at least one. With such fierce competition, it can be easy for brands to get lost in the crowd. If you use Instagram for marketing, it’s very important to stay on top of the newest Instagram trends.

In this article, we’re offering 5 Instagram trends that will help you develop an effective Instagram strategy and cut through the noise.

Content is Still King

Content remains the most important thing to take into consideration when working on your Instagram strategy. Creating high-quality content is still the most effective way to grow Instagram followers, engage with them, and get them excited about your offering.

Although there are a number of tools to help you create fantastic content, authentic and unfiltered content has become increasingly popular thanks to influencers sharing images of their real bodies and failures instead of filtering their feeds to show only their successes. Still, this doesn’t mean that you can simply share anything. You always need to be sure your content is high-quality and visually appealing in order to give credibility to your brand.

Nano Influencers

The days when brands only collaborated with celebrities in order to attract customers are gone. Influencer marketing has been on the rise for some time now, and the best thing is that you don’t have to spend huge amounts of money on influencer marketing. Today’s consumers trust relatable, nano influencers (i.e. influencers with a small but highly engaged following) since they have a closer relationship with the audience.

Research has shown that the average engagement rate of influencers is about 2%, whereas nano influencers see an average engagement rate of 7% – 10%. For this reason, more than
75% of marketers have worked with nano influencers and nearly 70% of them say that these influencers have improved user engagement with their brand. In other words, nano influencers offer brands an affordable way to expand their audience, so it’s no surprise that this year, companies will be teaming up with them to promote their brands.

More Stories

Instagram Stories have been very popular with influencers since their launch in 2016. According to research, about 90% of influencers post content using IG Stories, and more than 60% of them say they plan to use Stories even more frequently this year.

If you want to make the most of IG Stories, you need to have an effective strategy for this feature. Consider leveraging different functionalities such as polls, emoji sliders, and stickers to boost user engagement. If your number of followers is above 10k, be sure to check out the Swipe Up feature.

Live Streaming

At the moment, live streaming is the most popular video marketing strategy. According to statistics, 80% of consumers would rather watch a live video than read a blog and they spend about three times more time watching live videos than pre-recorded videos. So, it comes as no surprise that the live-streaming industry is expected to reach $184 billion by 2027.

Instagram has introduced features that help make live streaming more interesting and engaging. One of them is Live Rooms which allows users to go Live with up to 3 people. With Live Badges, on the other hand, viewers can purchase badges (hearts) to support their favorite hosts.

Focus on IGTV

In 2020, Instagram announced that they will be allowing ads on their long-form video platform IGTV in order to make it even more attractive to content creators.

With 78% of people watching videos daily and 87% of marketers using videos as a marketing tool, video content still reigns supreme. What’s more, vertical video content is getting increasingly popular. According to studies, people hold their phones vertically 94% of the time, which is why vertical videos have a 90% higher completion rate.

IGTV has also added functions such as shoppable product tags and clickable links that help brands promote their products and services within vertical videos.

Final Thoughts

From IGTV to authentic content and live streaming, there are lots of Instagram trends that marketers should take into consideration when developing their social media marketing strategies. The 5 Instagram trends we’ve shared here should be a good starting point for creating an effective marketing strategy that will help you outperform your competition.