Important Instagram trends that marketers must not miss

In recent years Instagram has been one of the most sought-after social media platforms for businesses because of its highly business-friendly features. Instagram keeps adding new features to offer better opportunities for companies to adopt the platform according to the changing business needs that help create higher audience engagement. Creating the right Instagram is essential, but equally important is to align it with the latest trends because Instagram trends can make or break your marketing strategy. Therefore, you must catch up with the latest trends in Instagram marketing that can provide an edge in competition and keep you ahead of competitors. However, it would help if you did the basics right by building a broad base of followers. And for this, you can periodically check followers on Instagram to boost your efforts of garner followers organically.

The current year's Instagram trends are especially important as the world tries to adjust to a new normal while coping with the COVID19 pandemic that has compelled marketers to adapt to frequent changes to stay ahead of the curve.

Here are the top Instagram trends that marketers must take serious note of.

Instagram Live

Although not new, Instagram Live is now the toast of Instagram users who adjust to the changing needs while staying confined at homes to comply with a stay at home orders and event cancellations have become too frequent. Since February and March, when the fight against the pandemic had just begun, there has been a remarkable rise in the number of people tuning to live broadcasts by about 70%, which translates into more than 800 million people watching live video daily across Facebook and Instagram. Live broadcasts have been packed with star power, as evident from the involvement of high-profile personalities like Rihanna, Joe Biden, and Mark Zuckerberg. The list included Justin Bieber and former President Barack Obama, who were among the 50,000 viewers who punctuated a live conversation between Dr. Anthony Fauci and NBA star Stephen Curry.

Direct monetizing opportunities for creators on Instagram

Since the inception of Instagram in 2010, the creators took to affiliate marketing and brand partnerships to monetize their efforts, but they can now make money directly since May. Instagram is currently testing Badges with a small group of businesses and creators. The Badges help viewers to stand out from the crowd in the comment stream and even unlock features. For example, viewers can collect heart badges during live broadcasts by spending anything between 99 cents to $4.99. During the test phase, creators can earn the total revenue earned from the badges. Instagram is also testing the possibility of IGTV ads that can hold for 15 seconds once someone clicks to watch the complete IGTV video. The revenue model consists of sharing 55% revenue with the creators as it exists for YouTube.

Brands can cash in on conversions

It is now easier for brands to make money by taking their business to Instagram Shops. They can create a storefront directly in the app that becomes the market place for buying without consumers' need to visit the website. The smooth and streamlined buying process eliminates friction and increases conversions and sales significantly. As Instagram is part of Facebook, the plan rolled out in May will eventually help integrate the shopping experience across all apps belonging to Facebook. It means a lot of convenience for consumers who would be able to switch between the social media platforms seamlessly to complete any purchase. If someone puts something in the cart on Facebook, they can eventually check out on Instagram by using Facebook pay of the stored credit information.

AI gives more power to shoppers and advertisers

Instagram has always envisioned providing a completely personalized experience in shopping that caters to individual taste. Now that more people are shopping across Facebook and Instagram, the data generation has multiplied enormously. Facebook and Instagram are now deploying AI to make anything shoppable by automatically tagging the products in a business's catalog in a fraction of a second. Going ahead, there are plans of introducing Rotating View to enhance social shopping. It will allow people to create 3D images, and the project is under test on Facebook Marketplace.

Purchase links in Instagram Stories

Since 2017, Instagram has added a new feature that allows providing links to Stories. It gives brands to leverage their marketing efforts extensively by adding product purchase links directly to the Stories. The feature provides much more exposure to brands that can now enhance the momentum of growth by showcasing the products on Instagram that drive sales and conversions. Brands can now use the option of saving Stories as highlights and use it for showcasing their latest collections and expect higher conversions in the long run.

More options for user engagement are available by creating a Poll on Instagram by using stickers and even create a quiz that brings the audience much closer to the brand.