Latest social media trends indicate smart brands are already taking advantage of various Instagram performance tools to create innovative new digital customer experiences and replace Real World experiences that have been reduced due to the pandemic.
Adopting this approach will not only increase your perceived Social Value but also differentiate your brand and build connections with your audience.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can create the best customer experience with Instagram.
- Maximize Instagram video content features. From multi-featured short-form Instagram Stories, Reels and standalone 60-second videos ideal for long-form videos and shopping, to IGTV snippets, make sure you use the strengths of each video format.
- Use Instagram video subtitles and closed captions.
- Utilize Instagram AR filters. You can create an AR filter that lets the customer see how a product will look on them before they buy. Creatively show your support for social issues with brand-themed filters.
- Host a giveaway to build brand awareness and engagement.
Maximize Your Instagram Business Profile
Instagram recently released an update to its home screen, influencing social media trends in 2021. If you sell online, take advantage of these changes and utilize them as an extension of your storefront. The Reels and Shops tabs can communicate your brand priorities, new stock, and company updates and be used in numerous creative ways.
Not only can your customers see what you have on offer, but they can also buy directly on Instagram without leaving the platform or being redirected. This is all thanks to Instagram Checkout. All they have to do to complete their purchase is tap the product on a shoppable post, continue to payment, and you’ll get paid through Facebook Pay.
Community building has never been easier either with the powerful new changes Instagram has introduced. All in the same place followers can engage their favorite content creators, support the businesses that engage them the most, and also shop from them without having to step out to a physical store. Maximizing your Instagram account is one of the most interesting 2021 content marketing trends that can drive serious business growth.
Here are a few other Instagram business tools you should be leveraging for growth:
- Instagram Shoppable Posts. Utilize this to make it easier for your audience to shop products you ‘tagged’ in your posts. Make your Instagram stories content shoppable as well with product stickers.
- Instagram’s Shopping for Creators. This is a shopping and checkout feature that enables brand influencers and creators to add product tags from their brand partners to their Instagram posts and stories — creating a complete e-commerce marketplace.
NOTE: Instagram Checkout and Shopping for Creators is currently only available to eligible brands and influencers in the US. However, we’re expecting these features to be rolled out more widely in the near future. Stay tuned! - Maximize the Gift Card, Food Order Stickers and Facebook Pay features on Instagram
- Instagram Quick Reply. Maintain engagement by creating automated message sequences to quickly reply to your customers via DM.
- Set up FAQs. Frequently asked questions will appear as a suggestion at the beginning of each chat to automatically provide the answer to their most likely questions.
Collaborate with Nano-Influencers
Working with nano-influencers is one of the latest social media trends that small businesses can harness for rapid growth.
It might seem counterintuitive to work with influencers who have smaller audiences, however the more personally connected audience builds greater brand influence. It’s attractive to work with a celebrity with large follower numbers in the millions but the engagement and Brand Influence Earned / Dollar of Spend would be many times greater for an influencer with only a few thousand followers.
Nano-influencers are regular social media users and creators with only about 600–10,000 followers. Most of their posts are pictures of friends and family, dog videos or their passions. Influencers and creators in this category have a more authentic connection with their followers.
When nano-influencers promote your brand, it feels more like a friendly recommendation than a marketing campaign. Remember what we said about emotional connections and being authentic? Nano-Influencers already have that, and you can leverage it to your advantage when you launch campaigns with them.
This is one of the new trends in digital marketing that brings with it authenticity and aligns your brand with an authoritative voice.
Nano-influencers have higher engagement rates averaging 4.6%, as opposed to 1.7% for up-and-rising influencers. The smaller the cookie, the sweeter it is.
To change is to grow. To stay unmoving is to fade away.
Upgrade your social media game and collaborate authentically.
Leverage the changing social media trends and technologies to create interesting content to connect and engage customers more authentically. Give them a reason to care and they’ll be customers for life!
A strong, healthy Instagram will bear delicious, juicy leads that are ripe for the picking
