One of the most important ways of staying on top of Instagram marketing strategy is to take note of the Instagram trends – and it is only the brands that keep up with the latest trends on Instagram can take advantage of the new tools and be ahead of their competitors.
So, what are the latest Instagram trends that you should take note of?
Increase of polished content
With more than 800 million viewers every day, Instagram has taken over the world and has become the place where people can keep tabs on their friends and family.
While, on the other hand, the Instagram feed is mainly associated with polished content and which many users use it to discover products and brand, and add to that, beautiful photos, and a worthy caption – you have a winner at hand.
What about the ‘Explore Tab’?
More than 500 million Instagrammers view the ‘Explore Tab’ daily and this number is expected to rise in the coming years.
The tab offers shortcuts to various niches such as beauty, travel, comics – it even has shortcuts to shop and IGTVn and you can delve into any niches that interest you.
Taking note of strategic stickers in Instagram Stories
Even though the businesses had mixed results with stickers, the stickers are a still popular choice for many – and for business, that’s going to change in the coming years.
Instead of generic stickers, original and polished stickers are expected to make a comeback.
…and the interactive stickers
While the stickers are not-so-much popular for businesses, however, the interactive stickers tell a different story.
Interactive stickers such as countdown, emoji-slider, questions, poll stickers have been quite a hit with the masses – they are seen to prompt more engagement with people – that means, people tend to stay longer if they get something to interact with.
Expect to see the ‘real’ person
In the coming years, it will be all about ‘#nofilter’ – in fact, it has already started.
Celebrity influencers have already started a war on airbrushing, photoshopping, filtering and body shamming, and in the coming years, we are going to see more of the real issues, say, mental problems, body issues and so on.
More and more relatable influencers
Today, the users are looking for authenticity from the influencers too – in fact, they have started to mock at the picture-perfect lifestyles of certain influencers, and we all know that the real-life is not and can’t be that picture-perfect, right?
And hence, the rise of relatable influencers – say, mommy blogger Laura Izumikawa on her Instagram shares the ups and the downs of parenting, while Joana Ceddia channels her awkwardness into humor. People like to follow them as they are going through the same situations that we, the common people go through.
People are here on social media to connect and being open and transparent can go a long way.
Cracking down on Instagram bots
Facebook and Twitter have long been under the radar for influencing elections and harboring hate speech, and recently, it’s seen that Instagram, too, has been taking steps to battling abuse on its platform.
Increased access to verification, the addition of ‘About this Account’ to profiles with large followings – they are only the start.
Making changes to Instagram Direct
There have been rumors that Instagram Direct will be made into a standalone app – but it’s just that, it’s just a rumor.
Instead, there have been a few changes – GIFs were introduced and as had been Quick Replies, with which the business can answer to any query in only a few seconds.
Increased use of social activism
Facebook and Twitter have long been associated with social activism, but now, the users of Instagram has taken the reins too – they now know how to use the platform to share and amplify their social views.
It is only recently in February, that it was seen that Instagram introduced a donation sticker that can be added to Stories – though the feature is not yet available to all people will still be able to select a non-profit organization and customize the name of their fundraiser.
Influence of TikTok
TikTok has been growing ever since its launch, and it has already inspired copycat behavior from Instagram – and it’s already started.
Instagram’s recent overhaul of the IGTV feed is seen to resemble a cross between TikTok and Snapchat’s Discover feeds. Horizontal scrolling is seen to be replaced with vertical scrolling, following which an algorithm automatically queues up the next video for you to view.
Taking note of Instagram Checkout
Many of Instagram influencers get asked the same question – where did you get that?
To save time of the influencers, Instagram now let creators tag products in their posts, and which can be purchased directly with the feature Instagram Checkout; though this feature is not available to everybody, but only a select few such as Kylie Jenner, Vogue, and Chiara Ferragni, though right now, they can only tag businesses participating in the beta Checkout program – but fret not, more features are on the way to be made available for everyone.
When it comes to Instagram, the platform is quite unpredictable – trends come and go, in fact, the platform itself continually evolves and changes, and so of now, these are the trends that are on the run.
But you can’t be sure of these trends, so why not make the best use of them for you and brand while they last?
So, which trend is your favorite?