We talked about SMM trends 2021 and marketing trends in general, and in this article we’ll talk about Instagram. Why follow Instagram updates at all? Then, that it is one of the most attractive and convenient platforms for doing business, promoting a personal brand, creating an expert or entertaining blog.

Following the trends of 2021 will allow you to keep the attention of subscribers to your Instagram profile and attract a new audience.

Read also: 10 best services for direct mailing to Instagram

Instagram trends: what will be relevant in 2021

Trends for the coming year:

1. Longreads in the text

Everything goes to the fact that in 2021 the limit of 2,000 characters in the text of the post will be expanded and it will be possible to upload long articles. From a platform with photos, Instagram will turn into a real blog platform.

Now the question of the limit of characters in a post is most often solved with the help of a carousel, but this is inconvenient and you need to write at the end of the post “Read the continuation in the carousel” every time.

2. Instagram turns into a marketplace

Shopping tags and a Store section are already in full swing in 86 countries, to which you can connect your existing store on Facebook Shops, Shopify, Magento, Woocommerce and Bigcommerce. When the functionality is fully operational in Russia and the CIS countries, it will be possible to sell your products through the social network.

The list of available countries can be tracked in the help center, and follow other updates on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anatol_chupin/…

Obviously, the developers will not stop at the current functionality and will seriously engage in ecommerce, which means that new opportunities will appear for selling goods.

3. Instagram Reels

There is hope that in 2021 the application will still enter the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, while the main obstacle to entry is the observance of copyright for music. For the same reason, there is no “Music” sticker in Russian Stories yet.

Why you should prepare for Reels: Instagram is now actively competing with TikTok, so it is interested in promoting its clone – Reels. In countries where a new application has already appeared, the content created in it is preferred, for example, in the Recommendations section, Reels videos occupy the first 9 cells, that is, they are in the most prominent place above the rest of the content. Also, when subscribers go to Instagram, they first see the Reels of the authors they are subscribed to, and only then the posts (but this is not accurate and may depend on subscriptions).

As a result, Reels content is already getting more views than regular videos in posts, IGTV, and even stories.

4. “Events” function

Currently being tested in Japan. How it works: When creating a post, you can add a clickable event label. If the subscriber clicks on it, the calendar will open and it will be possible to sign up for the event. Subscribers will have an upcoming events tab and reminder notifications. Events can be created 90 days before the scheduled date or later. The function allows you to open an appointment for events, services, webinars.

The idea vaguely resembles Events in VK, but only more convenient.

5. More privacy settings

With the emergence of a large number of business pages, expert and entertainment blogs, authors have a need for additional privacy. There is content that you want to share only with loved ones or colleagues, but not publicly available.

In order not to have to create a second page for personal communication, Instagram has developed new functions.

What is at the moment:

Instagram is becoming more secure – the likelihood is high that there will be even more confidential features in 2021.

6. More focus on stories, less on posts

We have already written that stories have become more popular than posts and are drawing the main attention from the feed. This trend will intensify in 2021.

Why else is it worth shooting more stories – Instagram algorithms willingly promote posts where there is activity, but getting activity under posts is more difficult than in stories. People are too lazy to like or write a comment. Stories have more tools to motivate people to be active, such as interactive stickers.

This is the basis for 2 more trends related to stories – the development of the editor and a new profession.

7. Development of the functionality of the story editor

The old editor is already morally outdated, and if we take into account the competition between Instagram and TikTok, then new functions are simply necessary.

What we see:

• new stickers appear, but not all have reached the Russian Federation yet, for example, there are still no Music, Gift cards, Product, Friends stickers. We are waiting for them in 2021;
• a Donation sticker has appeared, but so far donations can only be collected to non-profit organizations;
• added an arrow drawing tool in the editor;
• Instagram is testing a Pro-camera with manual settings and added a new shooting mode – “Level”.

8. The profession of story maker will be mega popular

Demand creates supply, and now there are all kinds of courses in a new profession. In 2021, it will be easier for businesses to find performers, and content makers will be able to make money.

9. Short light videos in the Tik-Tok style in the feed and stories will be popular

TikTok has created a trend for short videos, so you can safely post such content without even waiting for Reels to appear. What to shoot: easy-to-read videos, jokes, looped videos, unusually edited videos. You can take your own videos from TikTok and re-upload them to Insta.

10. More ways to monetize content

We have already written that social networks tend to attract more authors and motivate them to create content. And the best motivator is monetization.

What is at the moment:

It is also possible that the “Donations” sticker for stories will add the ability to accept donations for content authors.

11. Development of Direct functionality

New functions appear in the messenger, for example, there is already an opportunity to respond to a message with a quote, color dies for text, selfie emojis, video chats, and welcome messages have appeared. We will also repeat that the Russian Federation is about to launch the “Close friends” filter in Direct, and soon it will be possible to create chat bots.

12. Development of the web version of Instagram

We have not forgotten about PC users either. On the desktop, the following became available: working with messages, viewing live broadcasts and links to live broadcasts, switching accounts.

13. Further integration with Facebook

Facebook is gradually losing its audience and the real salvation for this social network is further integration with Instagram. Most likely, FB will not stop at combining Direct and FB Messenger messengers, creating a Facebook Business Suite and the ability to integrate Facebook Shops into an Instagram store, and will add something new in 2021.

14. More selling AR masks

More functional masks will appear in 2021 and beyond. How to use it – for example, you sell hats, you can create a mask with which you can try on a hat in real time, which in itself will be a motivation to buy. Or create a prediction mask with different discount percentages.

Why else is it worth creating your own AR masks: the name of the mask always contains a link to its creator – this is another way to draw attention to the brand.

15. Trend for naturalness

We can say that this trend also gave birth to TikTok, when it became fashionable to show yourself in the frame. Or maybe Instagram users are just tired of staged photos, where people with frozen faces and unnatural poses show their ideal life under several layers of Photoshop.

Now the trend is live photos, real emotions, more improvisation and a minimum of processing.

Instagram antitrends 2021

What is no longer relevant in 2021:

Installing – mosaic in the tape. Not relevant for a couple of years, so don’t even think about creating.

Ribbon in one color – this is when you choose locations, clothes and objects of the same color and you get a yellow, blue, pink ribbon.

Flatley (Flat Lay) is a composition of several objects that shows the mood of the author. The problem is that such photos are similar to each other and the user can no longer understand whose photo he saw in the feed.

Flatley can be left to showcase your work if, for example, you are an artist, designer or photographer. For other users, it is better to refuse flatley altogether, or to minimize their number. Alternatively, you can add unique elements (for example, a branded notebook in the frame) so that subscribers can understand who the photo belongs to.

Participation in the Giveways – after the giveaway is over and the freeloaders massively unsubscribe from you, the coverage will shrink greatly and it will be very difficult to restore them. Do you need it?

Automation programs – services of markups and mass activities. In 2021, this is a working way to ditch your account, but not gain followers. There are 3 options left to attract an audience: paid advertising, high-quality content, and traffic from other sources.

Conclusion

Users who are among the first to introduce new features and create content in accordance with trends are always one step ahead of the competition, so it is very important to keep an eye on the changes and use them in their marketing strategy. Be in trend, but don’t lose your uniqueness in pursuit of subscribers.

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