2019 is bound to be a very exciting year for Instagrammers and brands using Instagram marketing. There are now more ways to promote and sell your products, more ways to create exciting content, and more ways to get your audience to engage and take action. Here are five such ways.
Augmented Reality Story Filters
One of the most unique and exciting ways to promote your brand is with interactive content – and starting in 2018, Instagram has created a closed beta program to allow select 3rd parties (celebrities, brands, etc.) to create their very own AR filters for Instagram Stories. Instagram users can then help spread awareness of your brand simply by using and sharing your branded custom filter. As Instagram allows more 3rd parties to create their own custom AR filters, brands have an amazing new tool at their disposal for advertising and for promoting themselves on Instagram.
Influencer authenticity
When it comes to collaborating with influencers as a brand, authenticity should be one of the most important factors to consider. It’s easy to get lots of followers if you really want to, but the best influencers are those who have real followers, followers who are genuinely interested in their content: in other words, influencers who have true influence over their audience. Before working with an influencer, take the time to truly research them and their social media presence, beyond follower numbers: are they getting enough engagement on their posts? Does their audience actually care about these influencers and what they have to say? What other brands have they collaborated with in the past and what were the campaigns like? And last but not least, are they truly authentic?
Stories Highlights
Instagram Stories are great, but they vanish after 24 hours. And that’s where the Stories Highlights feature comes in: you can save your best stories and keep them on your account as long as you want. Your fans and followers (and anyone else who visits your Instagram profile) will be able to see your Stories Highlights at the top of your profile and view the ones they want. There are numerous ways to leverage this feature; for example, you can create Stories that promote your brand, Stories that promote specific products or events, and Stories that explain what your brand is all about. Plus, make sure to save the best performing Stories as well, so that you can continue to drive people to see them and preferably, take the action you want them to take.
Buying direct on Instagram
Before, if you wanted to sell a product with Instagram’s help, you could advertise it on the platform and then have buyers click a link to buy it on your website. Now, however, with Instagram’s Shopping Feature followers can buy products directly, which will make them more likely to buy from you. This is a trend that will continue to grow in 2019 and the coming years; Millennials and Generation Z want convenience and the ability to buy products via the platforms they actually use like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social channels they use.
Cinemagraphs
When it comes to social media content, innovation and originality are extremely important. There is a lot of content to compete with, not just from other brands, but also from social influencers and quite simply, people’s own friends and families. One of the ways to stand out, make sure people pay attention to your content, follow you and improve your Instagram engagement is to post varied content and try own new forms of content; one such form of content that’s been making waves in the Instagram world is cinemagraphs. Cinemagraphs are essentially still images with just a little bit of motion in them. To create your very own cinemagraphs, you can use an app like PLOTAVERSE.