5 Instagram Trends That You Need to Know in 2021

Article by Marissa Daily

New year, new trends! As one of the leading social media platforms to engage your audience, create community, and generate conversation, Instagram continues to see new features that affect the way brands and customers interact with each other. With over 90% of users following a business on the platform, it’s more important than ever to know where the focus should be for your content strategy this year. Here are five Instagram trends to know for 2021 as you develop your ongoing strategy for the platform.

Jump To: The Rise of Reels | Instagram Shopping | Social Responsibility |
SEO & Keywords | Authentic Influencer Marketing

The Rise of Reels

Ever since TikTok became a major player in the social media game, short form video content is all the rage. With the platform’s exponential growth, Instagram released “Reels,” a direct pushback against the competition that allows users to post short form videos between 15 and 30 seconds long. As with any new Instagram feature, users are being encouraged to utilize this as much as possible - and many businesses and influencers have seen exponential growth from using the feature. Unlike regular feed posts and stories, Reels offer a unique opportunity to grow because they’re shown to both your followers and strangers - similar to the “Explore” page. Common themes of well-performing reels are to be educational, relatable, humorous, attention-grabbing, or make use of aesthetically-pleasing scenery.

Recommendation: Prioritize creation of Reels and participate in trends that you can customize to your niche

Instagram Shopping

Consumers have always visited Instagram to make purchase decisions, with 70% of shopping enthusiasts turning to the platform for product discovery. With this info, Instagram stepped up to launch shopping: a set of features across the platform that let people shop your photos and videos no matter where they are in the app. There are a few different touchpoints where a potential customer could come across your products: in-feed posts, the “shopping” tab, paid ads with shopping tags, Instagram Live, and even guides if you create them.

Recommendations: Make all your posts shoppable where necessary. Additionally leverage the power of Influencer marketing to have creators

Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Inclusivity

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Remember the days when brands were advised to stay neutral on real-world issues? Not anymore! The year 2020 was pivotal for accountability, as customers are holding brands responsible more than ever by wielding the power of their wallets. The pressure is on, not just to speak out - but to act in alignment with what you say. While sustainability, social justice, and inclusivity are much more than trends, the increased emphasis on these issues gives brands a heightened sense of responsibility to ensure their content reflects these values. The latest issues to be aware of span topics such as racial injustice, ableism, accessibility, and environmentally conscious practices.

SEO and Keywords

Have you noticed the quiet roll-out of keywords in Instagram search? While traditional search engine optimization has been limited to engines such as Google, intentional keywords for increased discoverability has landed on Instagram. Not only should your bold name in your bio be optimized, but IG search is also crawling posts and hashtags for keywords as well.

Recommendation: Make sure your bio and bold name are using keywords, as well as your content and captions. Google’s Keyword Planner may be a good tool to use to discover search trends that transfer onto Instagram’s platform.

Authentic Influencer Marketing

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In the beginning of the Influencer Marketing blitz, influencer marketing was limited to celebrities such as Kim Kardashian. However, as brands began to realize that smaller personas and accounts can create high-quality content and reach thousands with a smaller ad spend, everyday people who have grown their followings are scoring major partnerships. In fact, 63% of consumers trust influencer messaging more than brand messaging. Nanoinfluencers (<10,000 followers) and microinfluencers (>10,000<50,000 followers) have been on the rise because they have small and tightly knit communities.

Recommendations: With new campaigns and product launches, consider partnering with influencers to raise brand awareness.

There you have it! Get ahead of the game by implementing these five trends into your digital content for the upcoming year.