A few years ago, Instagram was a network for sharing photos with friends. Then bloggers came, and businesses started using it for selling and attracting more customers. Now Instagram has too many algorithms to get Instagram followers & likes easy. Still, there are some tips that can be useful. In this article, let’s see what trends are relevant in 2021 and how to implement it to improve your account.
Authentic content
Surveys by U.S.-based marketing company Finances Online show that users tend to trust authentic content, that is, content that looks authentic and real: unstaged photos, natural shades, and truthful messages.
Nevertheless, it is important to strike a balance between authenticity and quality. So, your visual and textual content should be professional, but at the same time the potential customer should feel that they are not being cheated, they are not just a source of profit for the brand, but they are being taken care of.
World Issues
Many Instagram users are now socially active. Micro-bloggers and ordinary people are stating their attitudes towards gender issues, racial discrimination, concern for the planet, and other important things. So they expect the same from the companies they follow.
American marketer Jenny Chang made this conclusion after a number of studies. She singled out environmental issues, racial inequality, and violence (including bullying) among the topics that are raised most often on social media.
But companies should not only talk and write about the issues but also do something about them. For example, users will appreciate a brand that prefers eco-friendly packaging for its products.
Hashtags
Of course, everyone who uses Instagram already knows what hashtags are. So this is not a new trend. But it’s important to remember that in 2021 hashtags don’t lose their relevance. It is still the easiest way to show the social network and users what the post relates to, as well as an opportunity to get into a selection of similar posts and reach more people from your target audience.
By the way, hashtags should be used not only in posts but also in stories. In order not to spoil the visuals, make them in small letters in the color of the photo in the background.
Stories
More than 600 million Instagram users watch stories every day. There’s no reason to think this trend will disappear in 2021. On the contrary: Stories are now more popular than feeds because stories are more authentic and engaging. This format is also very convenient for native advertising.
To increase subscriber engagement, it is recommended to use interactive elements embedded in Instagram. These can be polls, stickers, gifs, and voting. Communicate with your users as if you were talking to everyone one-on-one because that’s what it looks like to the user.
E-commerce
Already in 2020, the developers of Instagram built into the social network shopping service from Facebook. Most likely, the functionality will expand even more in 2021. Use it even if you have a full-fledged online or offline store, so your followers will be able to see the product directly from your account.
