5 Phenomenal Instagram Marketing Trends for Your Business in 2020

Here’s how your business can flex on the gram

Since its conception in 2010, Instagram has evolved from an obscure photo-sharing application to a social media powerhouse. Within the first two years, the platform shocked the social space by acquiring close to 40 million users. Unwilling to be outdone, Facebook, in 2012, decided to make a smart investment in the company for over a billion dollars.

With over 300 million users every month, Instagram is growing remarkably. So, having Instagram marketing added to your arsenal makes a lot of sense, right? Besides, the basic functionality of the application equips businesses to effectively engage in marketing and other product endorsements. Most businesses are jumping on the bandwagon, by marketing themselves on the social media platform, thereby leveraging the opportunities Instagram has to offer. Trust me, you don’t want to miss out.

Here are 5 trends your business can utilize to market themselves on Instagram.

1) Hello E-commerce & Influencer Marketing

Instagram recently launched Checkout, which is an easy way to purchase products without actually leaving the app. How does it work? When you tap to view a product from a brand’s post, you’ll notice a “Checkout on Instagram” button on the product page. Tap it to select from various options such as size or colour, then you’ll proceed to payment without ever leaving Instagram.

Along with this feature, they also launched Shopping from Creators, which allows celebrities, artists, and other influencers to add essentially a checkout to their posts, meaning you can actually shop from your favourite influencer.

I wonder what Drake is wearing now…

Nichole Ciotti brilliantly demonstrates this on her post, where she tags the brands she is currently sporting for her look. This feature is only rolled out to a few major retailers in the US, but is definitely promised to be a global theme for 2020.

Pro Tip — The great thing about this is that it allows your followers to engage with your brand and its products. If you have an influencer promoting your product? Even better. However, it’s difficult to properly attribute direct ROI from influencer marketing. So, having your influencer sell your brand’s products directly through their account, could be something else to consider.

2) The TikTok Takeover

I know this post is about Instagram marketing trends, but you really can’t talk about Instagram in 2020 without even a mention of TikTok. TikTok is a video-sharing app that generally centers around music and is extremely popular with teenagers (and maybe now, even adults). The app has over 500 million active users, which accounts to almost the same usage for Instagram Stories.

In 2020, you can expect to see a major TikTok influence on the type of content you see on Instagram, specifically Instagram Stories. TikTok content is incredibly real, unfiltered, and focused on the content instead of the aesthetic. For example, most of the videos are shot in basements, and other offbeat places rather than a well-lit, instagrammable living room.

C’mon, Charli D’Amelio, show me what you got.

This post by Nichole Ciotti, clearly illustrates how sharing a whimsical video with edited music builds engagement with her followers. It is simple and authentic. Influencers and content creators tap into this feature and generate large interest among their audience.

Pro Tip — It’s a fun platform to hang out on, and it is incredibly popular with everyone because of the potential to go viral. Most brands have now even turned to TikTok challenges to inspire some of their ad campaigns. A few good examples of this can be the #ThePushupChallenge or even the #LevelUp challenge. The real question is, which challenge are you introducing today?

3) Explore the IGTV Series Option

Instagram has always competed with YouTube to become a platform for long video-content. After many unsuccessful attempts, in 2018, they launched the Instagram Television (IGTV). IGTV really took off, thanks to the ability to post a “preview” of your IGTV video to both your feed and your profile. It evolved into being the “cool” thing to have for your brand. Now, who wouldn’t want to ride that wave?

Viewers can now binge-watch their favourite series and subscribe to notifications (similar to Youtube). IGTV Series are set to become a serious Instagram marketing trend in 2020, and it’s not just for the big brands with large budgets.

Small and midsize business (SMB) owners, you hear me?

This IGTV series by Soul Cycle is a great example of leveraging the feature to its maximum potential. Since people are not allowed to go to the gym due to coronavirus, they decided to bring the gym to them. They give their audience a sneak peek of their different studios across the world and also offer some online workout sessions.

Pro Tip — We are witnessing a major shift in visual and video content, and creating an IGTV video or series is as extremely simple. All you need is a phone to hit “record”. Based on your brand, you can explore various options, like, sharing a weekly recipe, beauty tutorials, home renovation, or honestly any topic that relates to your business and connects with your followers.

4) Amplify Your Brand Voice

Did you know that the caption length on Instagram has doubled since 2016? So, let’s actually make use of this provision provided to us. Creators and brands can now tap into the power of the written word to engage and connect with their followers.

In 2020, our feeds will be filled with an average caption length of 405 characters — which averages out to about 65–70 words. It’s important for you to have a strong brand voice, and to be vocal about your brand mission. This helps your audience cut through the clutter. Pretty pictures aren’t the only thing which will cut it in 2020. Your followers want to learn and support what your brand stands for beyond just its products.

No, the “Kanye for President” campaigns don’t qualify.

This example by Amazon allows the brand to create a real community with their followers and connect on a deeper level. It helps the brand connect with their audience by letting them know what the brand stands for and believes in. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is something they advocate for, and decided to pen that down as their caption. This builds major brand equity for Amazon. As a bonus, they also generate more followers.

Pro Tip — Honestly, in 2020, your customers are looking for a unique, authentic voice. So, beyond just offering benefits, your brand should focus on building a voice. Stand by a cause you believe in. Tell your story. If you can structure a caption capturing these two things, it will be more important than ever.

5) Welcome Augmented Reality

Probably one of the most fun Instagram marketing trends to come out of 2019, was the explosion of the AR filters. Instagram made a great move by opening up the Spark AR program to everyone, which allows artists and brands to create their own AR effects (aka story filters) for their followers.

There are now tons of new filters and effects that can give your Instagram stories, photos, and videos an upgrade. Brands should really consider exploring this direction, since it is extremely popular and trending on Instagram now. These filters offer a wide-variety of tones, colour grades and effects to choose from. We can expect to see this trend continue to grow in 2020.

Will a Pikachu filter be too much to ask for?

Here’s a good example of a target tracking filter, which is a recent feature launched by Spark AR, that includes target tracking and particles. This makes it possible to bring 3D effects to life via Instagram Stories. Now, how cool is that.

Pro Tip — I’m definitely not an augmented reality creative genius, so it is difficult to predict exactly what AR trends we will see in the future. However, it is guaranteed to become a more visible part of the Instagram experience. Instagram also recently rolled out a beta version of AR Shopping, allowing brands to create filters to “try on” products before purchasing them. So, we can witness a significant increase in AR usage for e-commerce in 2020.

Navigating through the social space and keeping up with engagement can often been a daunting task for most businesses, who are unfamiliar with the application or their target audience. That’s exactly why this article was curated. Hopefully, it helps you leverage this powerful tool to grow your business.

In 2020, “Do it for the gram”, has never been more relevant.