Did you know jumping on the Instagram trends bandwagon can help your business generate sales? While following Instagram trends may seem useless to some people, they can significantly benefit a business by exposing your content to a broader range of audience.
Instagram is a visual platform that, nowadays, almost every marketer uses as a marketing tool. Nearly everyone with an Instagram account uses it daily, meaning your content will be frequently seen.
Like every other social media platform, Instagram has continuously launched new features to make your content engaging. Instagram videos went viral a few years ago, and everyone used that feature until the reels appeared. Let's cut to the chase and see what trending Instagram ideas you can use to promote your business.
Instagram Marketing Trends 2022
Image taken from Strikingly’s Instagram page
Before you follow these Instagram marketing trends, ensure your account is up-to-date and optimized. You need a proper straightforward bio that tells people your business's core purpose and your brand's logo as a display picture. Moreover, post more frequently to keep your engagement rate up. Aim to do two to three posts a week and avoid posting more than one time a day.
Now, let's dig into the popular Instagram ideas to educate potential consumers about your business.
1. "Add Yours" Sticker
The "Add yours …" sticker can be posted on your stories where you challenge people to show something on their stories. For instance, you display your workplace on your story with a sticker, "Show your workspace." People can tap on that sticker and join your challenge by sharing it with their workplace's picture.
This sticker doesn't only expose your content to your followers but also to other people. Let's say one of your followers shared your sticker. Their follower sees it and taps on it to see who else is using this sticker. Your story will show up too, and they might get a tour of your page. Now, if your follower's followers share that sticker, you have a chance of reaching their followers as well. The chain goes on, and you keep getting visits to your page, converting some visitors into followers.
2. Reels
Instagram introduced reels to compete with TikTok. No doubt, they're a hit for both Instagram and marketers. People can scroll and share reels for hours without boredom because of their short length. Reels have become one of the long-lasting Instagram trends because of people's reduced attention spans. In 2022, an average person's attention span is eight seconds, less than that of a goldfish.
You can make quick reels displaying your product's features, telling how to use it, how it will benefit the customer or anything creative you can think of. Further, you can also use popular audio for your reels. For example, you used an influencer's audio for your reel. Their followers, who loved that audio, will look for more content using that audio. And chances are, they might stumble across your reel and end up following your page.
3. People Listen to their Favorite Influencers
Influencer marketing is one of the most important Instagram trends. GenZ plays a crucial role in making it a hit. They're more likely to buy a product or service their favorite influencer promotes.
With Instagram's new addition, finding an influencer or a brand to partner with has become more accessible. Its unique feature allows brands to find an influencer based on specific information, such as age, gender, and location. Moreover, influencers can select their preferred brands to partner with, and Instagram will include them in those brands' suggestion lists.
4. Shoppable Posts
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Convenience is the new trend. People make purchases from where they find convenience. And Instagram shoppable posts contribute significantly to making buying from you convenient for your consumers.
One hundred and thirty (130) million people engage with shoppable posts monthly, making them one of the essential Instagram trends for increasing your business's sales.
Instagram's shoppable posts allow your consumers to view and shop for your product without leaving the platform.
Moreover, Instagram is one of the most popular apps for product discovery. Therefore, if you don't have an Instagram shop yet, it's a sign for you to set it up today. However, there are some conditions you must fulfill to be eligible to set up a shop and use Instagram trends to benefit your business.
- You must be in a region that supports Instagram Shop.
- Your product must be physical (no digital products).
- You must obey Instagram's commerce policies.
- Your account must be a business profile (it's easy to convert your regular account into a business profile).
- You must have an e-commerce website.
Do you qualify for all conditions but don't have an e-commerce site? Well, don't worry. You can get one using Strikingly without any hassle. Strikingly is a website builder used by millions of people to create e-commerce stores, company sites, portfolios, landing pages, etc.
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
What makes Strikingly better than the numerous options on the Internet? Its ease of use. Building a website with Strikingly is as easy as making a PowerPoint presentation. Its drag-and-drop feature makes adding, removing, and managing components a piece of cake.
Strikingly puts forward more than 200 ready-to-use mobile responsive website templates. You only need to make a few changes, and your website will be ready to publish.
Image taken from Strikignly
Creating an online store with Strikingly is child's play. You can add it as a section to your site from the intuitive website editor. Here are some features it brings.
- Product filters and categorization (contributes to an enhanced user experience).
- Store coupons for returning customers. It will encourage your customers to visit your store more often.
- Ability to accept payments through multiple payment methods.
- Custom checkout forms (great for taking personalized orders).
- Enabling multiple shipping options.
- Analytics to see how potential users interact with your store. These analytics will help you improve your online store according to your customers' needs.
- Ability to manage store orders from your phone through Strikingly's mobile app.
5. Share memes
Memes have become popular to the extent that meme marketing has earned the title of an important digital marketing strategy. Editing a popular meme and making it about your business are among the most effective trending Instagram ideas. Have a look at this meme SkinCare shared on their Instagram page.
Not only Instagram, but you can also share your posts on your website using Strikingly's social feed feature. It provides your website with dynamic content, keeping it updated without much effort. Like the online store, you can add the social feed to your Strikingly website as a section.
6. Instagram Live
Livestreams have become one of the popular Instagram trends because of the pandemic. Because people were locked inside their homes, brands found this way to educate and engage with their target audience. The pandemic is nearly over, but Instagram live streams are still part of the critical Instagram trends.
You can go live on Instagram whenever your company is hosting an event and encourage people to be a part of your event even when they can't make it to the location. You can also do a Q&A or come up with other ideas to engage with your audience on Instagram live videos.
7. Story Ads
When people watch Instagram stories, they feel connected because of the real-time updates, making them an excellent way to engage with your audience.
If you want to run promotional ads on social media platforms, you need story ads. They appear between users' stories and look like the stories of people they follow (except for the "Sponsered" tag in the top corner), making it more likely for the users to engage with them.
When using story ads, ensure you create an image or video that's big enough to take up the entire screen and look like an organic story. Else, you may not get the desired results.
You can create a short video on your Instagram story advertisement, introduce your products, post updates about upcoming events or sales, etc. Don't forget to use the engaging stickers wherever you can.
8. Explore Section
Image taken from Instagram
People often go to explore tab to look for entertaining content, making it a part of significant Instagram trends. In the explore tab, Instagram shows its users content related to their interests. This can be a great way to become visible to your target audience's eyes.
Use relevant hashtags and keywords in your Instagram posts to show up in your target audience's explore tab. You must also use relevant keywords in your account's bio so that your target audience can find your account when searching words related to your business in the search bar.
Now that you've learned about the trending Instagram ideas, it's time to determine what Instagram trends you should focus on the most. This can quickly be decided by considering your business's niche and your target audience's response. Implement all the directions as soon as possible and catch up with the evolving Instagram community.
