How to use the most recent Instagram trends to bring business financial success

When Instagram was launched in 2010, it was viewed by most as yet another social media platform that the online community could use to share photos with their followers. At the time, no one could’ve predicted that the platform would reach 1 billion active monthly users, over 25 million registered business accounts and approximately 2 million monthly advertisers by 2019.

With such impressive figures, it comes as no surprise that Instagram is now viewed as a crucial component of marketing and financial strategies of many businesses worldwide.

One trend that has come to light in recent years and continues to grow in strength is influencer marketing. Partnerships with large, micro, and the more ‘niche’ nano-influencers, are predicted to become an $8 billion industry by 2020. According to surveys 1 , 39% of marketers spend more than half a million on influencers relations, while 17% have an annual budget of over $1M for influencer marketing.

But despite the compelling evidence, only 5% of startups and small businesses 2 have embraced Instagram as a marketing channel, which is something we’d strongly encourage. At Crello, we have taken these figures to heart and view the platform as an essential tool for our business development and financial growth. With trends and tool developments continually shifting and changing, it’s crucial to keep an eye out for all that’s new. This year alone, we have noted 5 key trends that took the platform by storm.

Sophisticated Design

One trend that we have noticed on Instagram is the continuous improvement in the visual quality of content published by brands and influencers alike. Whilst striving for perfection and exceeding audiences’ visual expectations, more attention than ever is being dedicated to ensuring that the quality bar remains high.

A number of new design features and functionalities were launched earlier this year to accommodate the need, giving brands and influencers the opportunity to enrich their content and use the developments to encourage engagement with their audience.

A perfect example of this is the growing collection of stickers for Instagram stories or the option to add music and lyrics. Instagram collages are another top trend that has been utilised by brands to introduce products to their busy audiences more quickly and efficiently.

While big brands tend to spend their budgets on graphic designers and photographers, smaller businesses can use online design tools like Crello to create and customise branded, professional visuals for Instagram and cut design costs without having to compromise on the quality of the content.

Shoppable Posts

Over 70% of Instagram users think of the platform as a useful tool for finding products or discounts and discovering new brands. New features such as the option to add product tags to posts or product stickers to stories as well as an Instagram shopping feed, were introduced to address this growing trend. Now users can purchase products directly through the in-app checkout feature, making the selling and buying process more convenient.

Instagram’s top influencers also have access to the feature and can tag products sold by brands participating in the checkout programme. In light of this, we highly recommend linking product catalogues and Instagram accounts to any brands planning to engage in influencer marketing in the future.

With sustainability and social responsibility becoming such a hot topic this year, conscious consumption and social activism practices are being promoted by regular social media users and companies who wish to be viewed as eco-friendly by their customers alike.

According to a recent Global Web Index study 3 carried out in the UK & America, more than half of digital consumers pay attention to a brand's mission and social concerns when deciding if they want to buy their products. Also, the study highlighted that Millennials and the Gen Z generation are the main cohorts of consumers making purchases that reflect their beliefs and values.

Utilising Instagram as a platform to demonstrate awareness and support for important causes such as Pride month, anti-violence movements or environmental issues is a definite trend employed by brands to increase customer loyalty and grow their customer base.

Although the trend itself isn’t necessarily new, it has taken the platform by storm this year, which was recognised by Instagram with a new way to support charitable causes. Now, brands can add a donation sticker to their stories and collect the funds for non-profit organisations.

Interactive Stories and Ads

Instagram stories and ads have been classified as the two most popular features 4 businesses use in their marketing strategies. Given that they attract more than 500 million daily viewers and can also act as a way to integrate and expand Instagram campaigns on to Facebook, this comes as no surprise.

In our highly digitalised world, Instagram stories should be eyecatching and memorable, and a clear trend in that regard are brands aiming to make these as interactive as possible. Features like polls, countdowns, questions or the chat option are used to generate more engagement while simultaneously making the story more enticing and colorful for the viewer.

To support these efforts further, Instagram enabled its users to create their own augmented reality filters earlier this year. The feature means that businesses can showcase their creativity with branded augmented reality experiences and allow their followers to use filters featuring products in their stories for added visibility and brand awareness.

With 83% of Instagrammers using this platform to discover new services and products, and 72% being active online shoppers, Instagram is certainly worth investing advertising budget. The extent of financial investment in the tool by major brands is significant, with some spending millions on the platform every year.

The Rise of Authentic Influencers

Influencer collaborations have been an ongoing trend for quite some time. The level of such partnerships has reached an all-time high in 2019, with new tendencies emerging within the trend itself. One such development is authenticity and more marketers beginning to understand the benefits of choosing to work with smaller, more niche influencers.

What sets such nano-influencers apart from the crowd are their smaller following and a highly engaged audience. In effect, this means that such partnerships don’t require a high budget and their product or service recommendations seem as natural and credible as advice from a friend. Similarly, micro-brands are often viewed as more authentic than business accounts with millions of followers, and usually attract higher levels of engagement.

Conclusion

2019 showed us that Instagram marketing is no longer about how many followers we have. Instead, it’s about bringing authenticity to the table by talking about social issues as well as populating our feeds with influencer generated content and high-quality, engaging visuals.

As entrepreneurs and brand strategists, we need to monitor and keep up to speed with all social media developments as well as adapt our marketing strategy accordingly. We have to ensure that our Instagram feeds are creative and engaging, our content compelling and authentic, and our customers satisfied with our activities and products. Otherwise, we risk losing out on loyal followers and even the company’s financial gains.