These days, when we talk about making significant success on Instagram, there is a lot you need to bother about. With the way competition keeps growing fiercer and fiercer on the platform, simply relying on the use of hashtags and posting regularly may not be enough to face the growing competition. If you are really determined to have more likes and followers – whether you are running your account as part of the social media strategy for your business or you are becoming an Instagram influencer, it is important you know the right Instagram tools and trends. That will help you stay at the forefront this year, knowing you are doing everything you need to do to build a robust Instagram presence.
From IGTV to sensational stories, today, I am going to be sharing the top 5 Instagram trends all marketing teams need to know in 2019 if they really want to be successful in the era of engagement. Let’s get into it right away!
You will be surprised to know that Instagram is gradually saying goodbye to photos and saying hello to videos. IGTV is an amazing video platform designed for mobile users. It gives marketers the opportunity to connect with their audience, who operates Instagram from their mobile devices. The platform uses vertical video and “in the moment” content to engage more audience. If you can remember, in the previous years, Instagram had a video form which was called the self-deleting Instagram stories that automatically got deleted after some time. But the IGTV provides an avenue where we can make longer video content without the fear of them disappearing soon.
As a brand, you need to quickly get acquainted with this new vertical video format so you can start using it for exclusive content. You can also use it to share exciting new about your brand or business as well as use it to share informative content that will get your audience engaged more than ever before. It is also possible for you to keep an eye on your IGTV performance, therefore, helping you shape your future campaigns.
Even though Instagram first lick starts as a photo-sharing social platform, it has now grown more and more into a multimedia platform. And that seems to be the new trend in town now. More than 400 million IG accounts now make use of Instagram Stories on a daily basis. IG stories have now become an essential component of any marketing strategy on Instagram. You don’t have to come up with complex stories before you can reach your audience. You may choose to show behind-the-scenes peeks into your office or create polls to seek the opinions of your audience and customers about a particular product.
You want to take advantage of this trend; I will suggest you begin by inserting stories ads between other people’s stories, use story polls to engage your audience, or make use of the re-share option that was added late last year.
Whether you like it or not, the truth remains that engagement is essential. It is always easier to connect with your audience when you know quite a number of things about them. Instagram has recently added an emoji slider to their stories features. What this means is that you now have the chance to know what your followers like or dislike. That is a trend you need to get your hands on more this year. If you don’t have enough time to connect your audience or don’t have the full understanding of how to do it the best way, you can consider using Instagram bot for the job. That way, the job will be done perfectly while saving you a whole bunch of time.
Although we can say that Instagram is not yet a platform offering native e-commerce features, the truth is that the platform is at least e-commerce-friendly. There are several shopping features already set in place, and we have been experiencing some developments in this area since the beginning of the year. Shoppable posts have become the easiest and most effective way to sell your products on Instagram. Shoppable posts are both available for single static images and Stories.
These posts feature a little shopping bag icon appearing on one corner of the screen. When your prospective customer or audience sees this bag icon, he or she will have the chance to tap in and access the detail of your product. There is also a ‘Shop Now’ button that takes users straight to the product page on your website, where he or she can easily make the purchase. That is a win-win thing for all. It is a trend you can’t afford to skip this year.
No doubt there is more and more competition on Instagram just as the platform too is evolving. It means you will have to step up your game to get to the top of the Instagram feed. Then you may need to embrace the concept of paid posting. To identify which posts are worth boosting on Instagram and to also stand out among the multitude, you will need to use Instagram Insights to check out your aggregated research data. Use A/B testing to see which of your posts deliver the most engagement and conversions.
In addition to this, I will also need to remind you that Instagram hashtags are still king and play a critical role in adding to your visibility on the platform. I’m sure one of your goals, just as it is for most brands on Instagram, is to increase your visibility so more people can find you even without needing to use the Instagram search.
Take away
For you to be effective on Instagram as a marketer, you will need to be up to date with the latest trends that define this channel.