As predicted Instagram in 2019 is huge and while plenty of us have had enough of Facebook, we are spending more and more time scrolling our IG feeds. It is estimated the average user spend around 50 minutes a day on the app!
If improving your Instagram is on your to-do list, here are the trends we are seeing that you need to know about and start applying to your strategy.
Great Branding & Styling
Branding your Instagram account in 2019 isn’t just about ensuring your logo is sitting on your profile and taking a few snaps here and there. Us creatives have taken Instagram to the next level and you may or may not thank us for that!
Ensuring your brand voice is always on point with great socially engaging captions and that photographs are of high quality and always edited similarly are now essentials.
With so many photo editing apps on the market it isn’t hard to come up with your own unique editing style that can give your account the wow factor. This alone can turn your IG engagement around.
Apps like Lightroom and VSCO have heaps of presets that you can use as is or can allow you to manipulate edits to create your own style.
For the ethne. IG account I use VSCO on the OC preset, but depending on the type of photograph, I tend to play with the exposure, saturation and white balance to bring a picture into line with my Instagram styling (more about next in another blog!).
Sequencing
Creating a great sequence for your profile is very important. It not only tells your follower or profile visitor that the account is being given plenty of TLC but also allows ease of viewing of your profile.
By simply breaking up every second or third photo with a quote/saying you can simply make a huge difference to the way the account looks and feels. However, if getting more creative is your thing, you can try out IG puzzles or sequences that tell a similar story like @findingleelee who uses a mix of the puzzle style and sequences of three to take her followers on a little journey within her posts.
Stories
This is the new place to document daily happenings.
Remember when Instagram was a free for all and you would post everything onto your profile? Well, not so anymore. Simply put, you post your best images onto your profile and save all the little daily events for Stories. This is where you can really take your people on an adventure of who you are and how your day to day behind the scenes really happens.
Fact: there are millions of people out there (ahhermmm… me), seriously addicted to stories and I for one are forever venturing off to the users profile for an explore or their websites for the odd read/purchase after being utterly engaged for ages. This is exactly what you want to have happen right?
The other nice thing about stories is that you can save your fav stories to highlights on your profile. Create highlight categories and give them a nice little icon to help visitors/followers dip down old stories of that category. Have a look below at the cute ones my local beautician is using. You can find icon’s of all types in places like Creative Market for a small price.
IG Story Ads
Now the key to these babies is to keep them short and sweet! There will be a ‘sponsored’ label that appears at the top of your story ad to differentiate it from regular stories to users…if you don’t get your message across fast, you risk them swiping off quickly.
For instructions on how to create an IG Story Ad, head over to the Social Media Examiner’s post.
Social content – not a sales pitch!
Ok so this isn’t a newbie but for many demanding to see ROI from social media spend, reverting to getting all salesy on Instagram content seems to the done thing..still!
It just doesn’t work people. Your followers are there being all social and you’re looking desperate selling. Instagram is a place to inspire your followers , create brand awareness and tell your story not to push sales, even in paid ads. Yup! Even in paid ads. Take a moment to think about that one.
In summary
Instagram certainly has grown up since it’s humble beginnings in 2011. It is no longer a point and shoot then post social media app. If you’re a business or just someone wanting to make it on IG, it is imperative that you stay up with trends, be always looking for interesting ways to stand out and do all of this in the most sociable ways possible.
Of course, if we can do anything to assist you, drop us a line. At the very least we would love the chance to follow you.
Happy IG-ing !