Have you been wondering how you can stand out this year when it comes to marketing trends on Instagram? You’re not alone! With us well into the new year, it’s easy to stay stuck in our old habits and strategies for Social Media marketing, however, that’s the quickest way to be left behind!
But don’t fear! We have created a list of marketing trends we predict to be big in 2020 so you can stay ahead of the game - Let’s dive in!
1. Be A Storyteller 📖
People spend time on Instagram to feel inspired, connected and entertained. It’s a place to find amazing content within particular niche interests or hobbies you might have. It’s important to remember the main reason people follow other accounts on Instagram is to gain some value from their content.
If you’re a brand or influencer, who wants to create content that connects on a deeper level or provides value for your followers in 2020, it’s important to remember that conveying your brand to the world is all about storytelling and connecting on a deeper level of emotion.
Make storytelling the essence of your content.
Create compelling images , videos and captions that explain more about your brand and your evolution. If people feel more emotionally connected to your content, they’re more likely to engage with your posts and be interested in your products/brand.
You can do this by creating a long format captions or a mini series of Instagram stories that have a flow on effect from one another. This keeps followers engaged and excited for the next piece of content, they want to know what happens next.
See the below posts from @thebirdspapaya who has grown her account from creating long format captions that tell stories about her troubles, fears and joys in an honest and heartfelt way.
People feel emotionally connected and can’t help but trust this woman!
Or look at @Airbnb’s way of storytelling to highlight the experiences with dining and staying with unique and interesting hosts all over the world.
This speaks to their followers while creating an entertaining mini series to skip through to watch the story unfold.
2. Saveable Posts are a Hot New Metric on Instagram
Since likes have now been removed from Instagram, there is a new and important way that we can see the success of our posts. That is by the amount of people that viewed and then chose to “save” that piece of content.
This tells Instagram (and us) that a follower found the content so valuable that they wanted to save it to revisit at a later time. Which means you will end up gaining more impressions and exposure by doing so - it’s a win win!
Keep this new metric in mind when you’re creating your content. Think about how you will put together your posts and what you can add to the captions to entice people to start saving your content. Plus it always helps to add a CTA in your captions to remind your followers what to do next.
Below is an amazing example of @senada.greca who is a fitness trainer who is selling her own workout programs.
She offers free workout advice in her posts and adds in her captions “SAVE + LIKE + SHARE + CRUSH IT” to help prompt her followers to save this post to return to at a later date.
Alternatively, here is an example of the brand @gotoskincare who have created a step by step “how to” guide that is relevant for their followers in the beauty industry.
Having a checklist or “how to” guide is a great way to get more saves for people to revisit at a later date.
3. Make More Time For Video
With more and more attention moving towards video to catch people's attention, this is definitely an area to invest more of your energy and budget (if you have one) for your 2020 marketing strategy.
Although they say a picture paints a 1000 words, a video can do so much more. Having compelling and interesting video content can capture the essence, personality and achievements of your brand.
For example, If you’re a visual brand, it makes a lot of sense for you to showcase a before and after video on your Instagram feed or stories. Alternatively, If you wanted to create a tutorial for your followers, IGTV gives you the perfect platform to take your content one step further.
Check out @suzanaletitemakeup who has an account with over 169K Followers and uses a mix of Instagram Posts and Stories to provide beauty tips and tutorials for her followers.
Or well known outdoor brand @patagonia who uses a mix of striking photography and video to convey their brand message about protecting our environment and the beauty of our Earth.
Having a mix of both visual styles of content helps to keep followers attention and allows brands to tell stories in different ways.
4. Get Ready for Influencer Marketing to Dominate This Year
Last year, Instagram rolled out the “Instagram Checkout” feature which enabled people to shop different ecommerce products without leaving the platform.
Not only that, but at the end of 2019, Instagram advised that they were working on creating a new platform called Brands Collabs Manager. In this platform, creators or influencers will be able to connect directly with brands with a similar niche or values and work together directly through the platform.
Once this platform rolls out, it will make it even easier for brands and influencers to connect and create collaborations together.
Not to mention, Instagram is expecting to roll out their test feature “shopping from creators” which enables influencers to tag a direct product from a brand in their post which will direct followers to a checkout link, all within the Instagram account.
This feature has been tested with certain brands in the US but is expected to branch into most countries this year. See an example of the customer journey below.
So there you have it! Some of the most important marketing trends for 2020 and we think it’s a great time to really jump right in and see where these ideas take you.
If you’re a business owner or want to grow your own personal brand, being focused on the year ahead is the best way to stay ahead!