With the start of each new year, social marketers like to forecast what will happen in their industry over the next 365 days. However, you cannot predict everything, and 2020 is a perfect example of this. Having said that, social media keeps evolving at a rapid pace, and Instagram, with over 1 billion monthly active users, is no exception.
Some of Instagram’s new features were clearly responses to the ongoing pandemic, fuelling new and maintaining old connections. Other trends were initiated by users themselves. Here are some Instagram trends that must be considered as you develop your social media marketing strategy for 2021.
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Instagram Live streams are becoming longer
Instagram Live, which was launched in 2016, has evolved as a way for businesses and individuals to broadcast in real time. They saw a surge in interest in 2020 as a way to stay connected and conduct announcements and events digitally. There was a 70% increase in Live views from February to March 2020 alone.
Live videos have also been increased from one hour to four hours in length and are now available on the Explore page. Going Live on Instagram can be intimidating at first, which is why we created a Live guide for businesses that will walk you through all of the necessary steps.
Instagram Live can be used in the following ways:
- Launch a new product or service.
- Use the Q&A sticker to respond to questions in real time.
- Plan on collaborating on livestreams with other Instagram accounts and creators.
Use Instagram to generate revenue
Instagram is no longer limited to shopping for products from businesses; instead, it now provides several options for customers to convert without leaving the app. Instagram Shop was expanded to all business accounts in 2020, giving customers a way to save, purchase, and checkout within the app. Product tags are available not only on posts but also in stories and Live broadcasts to support Shop. With the introduction of video ads on IGTV, creators can earn up to 55% of the revenue. Taking a cue from Twitch, badges were introduced to help creators during live streams. Supporters can purchase badges at three different price levels while watching a creator’s Live broadcast.
Instagram can be used to generate revenue in the following ways:
- Create an Instagram Shop for your company
- Incorporate product tags into your posts and stories
- Incorporate product tags into your posts and stories
As part of your influencer marketing strategy, collaborate with creators or you can work with PRISM Digital Marketing, the best social media company in UAE to help you optimize your Instagram Platform.
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Carousel posts with short, shareable graphics
Creating Instagram graphics is now easier with PRISM Digital, a social media company in Dubai. PRISM Digital will make sure to provide you the right content for your page to grow your business and attract the right viewers. Carousel posts contain up to ten posts that contain valuable content.
Carousel graphics can be used in the following ways:
- Choose a topic that interests you and turn educational snippets into slides.
- Look for apps that have ready-to-use templates.
- Convert your existing infographics into slides.
Instagram Guides can be used in order to educate or summarize
The original purpose of Guides, which were introduced in May 2020, was to provide health and wellness advice. Instagram collaborated with businesses and creators to create self-care guides that may help alleviate grief or anxiety while sheltering in place. Guides have been since then introduced to everyone and used in a variety of ways.
Guides are classified into three types:
- Recommendations for places in your city or elsewhere
- Products: suggest or introduce your favorite products.
- Posts: share posts that you’ve written or saved.
Each guide has a small section at the top where you can summarize its contents. These also have their own tab on your Instagram profile page, right next to the IGTV tab, and are another way to highlight your most important evergreen content, similar to Stories highlights.
Methods for Using Instagram Guides:
- Present your product line.
- Showcase your favorite local businesses.
- Create informative articles on any topic which your company is passionate about.
Reel Out Your Madness
Instagram Reels, which were inspired by TikTok’s features of easily creating short videos with fun music pairings, were also introduced in 2020. Reels have a time limit of 15 seconds and allow you to combine multiple clips into one video. These are usually informal and a little silly.
Reels can be shared. Once saved, they appear in their own tab on your profile page and may appear in the Explore page.
For daily marketing tips, follow Prism Social Media Marketing on Instagram on: @PrismSocial to check their reels out about daily marketing tips.
Methods for Using Instagram Reels
- Create quick how-to guides for your products or services.
- Find a popular meme and put your own spin on it.
- Collaborate with an influencer to share their experiences with your products or services.
Read More: Dos and Don’ts for Creating Instagram Reels According to Platform Creators
To sum up, if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that things can and will change quickly. Instagram trends emerge as a result of influences from other networks and the introduction of new features. Keeping up with current trends keeps your content fresh and demonstrates to your audience that you are not afraid to try new things.
