Social media is constantly evolving – and Instagram, with over 2 billion monthly active users, is no exception. This is why it is important to stay up to date with the latest trends.
Read on to learn more about the Instagram trends you need to keep up with in 2022.
Instagram reels continue to grow in popularity
Instagram Reels was launched in 2020 and gradually rolled out to all users in 2021. This micro-video from Instagram was created as a competitor to TikTok, which has exploded in popularity.
What initially started as a 15-second clip can now be as long as 60-seconds. Reels generate more engagement on Instagram than regular videos, proving their popularity and why you should add this content type to your Instagram strategy.
Many users will easily reproduce TikTok on this platform, but there are several ways you can take advantage of the popularity of the reels.
For example, take a look at how Smile Direct Club worked with content creator Kelly Erdman to create this fun reel:
How to use Instagram Reels
- Put together quick how-to guides for using your products or services
- Find a trending meme and add your own spin on it
- Partner with an influencer to share how they use your products or services
Links Sticker provides full access to the story’s links
Instagram dealt a big blow to those of us who worked so hard to cross the 10,000 followers limit with their new link stickers. Now, links to stories are available to any Instagram user—even personal accounts.
Simply create your Instagram Story, then tap the “Stickers” icon on the screen to access the sticker options. Of course, there are questions, polls, surveys, GIFs, music and many other stickers, but you’ll want to click on the “Links” option. From there, you’ll paste in the target link and place the sticker wherever you want on the sticker.
Here’s an example of what it might look like:
How to use Link Stickers
- Promote products and services by sending followers directly to your sales pages
- Tease an upcoming event or webinar and link to the event details page
- Share information about blog posts and add links to read more on your blog
- Connect with influencers directly with the products they’re promoting
Instagram Stories get even more engaging
In addition to the link sticker, Instagram Stories has many other stickers to help you engage your audience.
One of the more recent options is the “Add Yours” feature, where you create a sign and your followers can add their own photos to the sign by sharing it on their stories.
Take a look at this in action:
In addition, the stories can be even longer. Around the end of 2021, Instagram began testing 60-second stories. While it is currently possible to create longer stories, they must be broken up into 15-second chunks. This new feature will allow you to record or upload up to 60 seconds of continuous video to your story.
How to use Instagram Stories
- Share behind-the-scenes photos and videos that might not fit in with the content of your Instagram feed
- Create stories that you can add to highlights on your Instagram profile
- Use story stickers to connect with your audience, like creating a poll or quiz, linking to a fundraiser, asking questions, and more
Instagram story ads drive the promo show
If you’re looking for the best place to run promotions on Instagram, look for nothing but story ads. Story ads appear in the middle of user stories, making it more likely that users will see and engage with your ads.
You can choose a few different objectives for your Instagram Story ads, such as brand awareness, traffic, engagement, video views and conversions. Be sure to create full-size, 1080 x 1920 pixel creative assets for your ads, otherwise they won’t be full screen and may not have the desired effect.
Here’s an example of an ad that isn’t full-screen. While it still has a good design, it may have a better effect if they take into account the dimensions of the stories:
Instead, let’s take a look at this example, where the brand has chosen a full-screen ad creative. It’s a lot more compelling and it seems to fit right in with the rest of the stories that users are seeing.
How to use Instagram Story Ads
- Create engaging videos that grab attention in the first few seconds to prevent users from tapping on the next story
- Add a clear call-to-action that prompts your audience to take the desired action after viewing your ad
- Test a variety of different story ad objectives to reach users at each stage of the sales funnel
Cross-promotion of Twitter and Instagram content
If you have any sort of presence on Twitter, you may have seen link previews in Tweets. However, Twitter stopped previewing the Instagram link. Thankfully, the platform recently released the same kind of link preview capability for Instagram photos.
You can now share new Instagram photos with your Twitter followers to increase your following on both platforms.
In addition, you can also share your tweets directly to your Instagram stories. Go to the Tweet you want to share, click the share icon, and then choose Instagram Stories from the options. It will look something like this:
Ways to take advantage of cross-promotion
- Seamlessly interact with your audience across multiple platforms
- Share your Instagram photos on Twitter to get more reach and engagement
- Post your tweets to your Instagram story when you want to get more information from followers
Share tweets and memes
If it fits with your brand persona, have some fun with your Instagram account. Share memes relevant to your business, or cross-promote your Tweets on your feed. (We’ve already talked about how to share them in Stories, but sharing screenshots of Tweets is also a popular Instagram feed trend.)
To give you an idea of what you might consider sharing, here’s a meme from Chipotle:
View this post on Instagram
Now let’s see how you would like to share the Tweets. While you can always screenshot and crop Tweets, the better—and more eye-catching—trend is to share your Tweets on a colored background.
Here’s a perfect example of what it should be like:
View this post on Instagram
How to share tweets and memes
- Take a funny tweet that you posted or posted by a customer and use that screenshot in the post
- Find a trending meme that fits your brand voice
- Create your own memes to show off your brand personality
Let your audience shop on Instagram
Over the years, Instagram has made it easier for e-commerce brands to generate revenue through the platform. 70% of shoppers turn to Instagram to make their purchases, so brands want to make sure their products are as accessible as possible.
With Instagram Shopping features, brands can create an entire shop that is broken down into collections, new arrivals, sale items, and more.
Take a look at how one boutique categorizes some of its products in its Instagram shop:
Then, you can link to these products at any time from what is shown in an image. See it in action here:
View this post on Instagram
How to use Instagram Shopping
- Create different collections and categories that make it easy to find your products
- Share photos with your products and tag listings in each photo to make them instantly purchasable
- Quickly add new products to your shop so they’re available to shoppers
Working with creators has never been easier
Since influencer marketing is so prevalent on Instagram, the network is making it easier and easier for brands and creators to collaborate.
One of the most important new features was announced in late 2021—the ability to find and communicate with creators from within the Instagram app.
View this post on Instagram
Streamlining the influencer-brand relationship helps entice more brands and creators to use Instagram for their campaigns.
In addition, Instagram is testing a local affiliate platform to help creators earn even more revenue by promoting products and earning affiliate revenue.
How to work with creators
- Start searching for creators with a similar target audience in the partner search list
- Work with influencers to create an effective UGC that you can both share with your audiences
- Create (or promote) an affiliate option for creators to use when promoting their products
IGTV is no more – but Instagram video is better than ever
IGTV was Instagram’s foray into longer video, but the idea never really caught on. So instead of continuing to support a platform that wasn’t growing, Instagram got rid of IGTV and instead extended its existing in-feed video features.
Now, Instagram feed videos can be up to 60 minutes long, allowing brands that were taking advantage of IGTV to still share long-form video content with their followers.
how to use instagram video
- Interview your industry leaders to provide your audience with value and educational information
- Create an Educational Video Series
- Be sure to select the cover that matches your feed before posting your video
What Instagram trends are you excited about in 2022?
Instagram trends build up with the influence of other networks and the introduction of new features. Keeping up with current trends refreshes your content and shows your audience that you’re not afraid to try new things.
Keep an eye on the most important Instagram metrics to get inspiration about what kinds of topics and posts will be most interesting to your audience.
Post 9 Instagram trends first appeared on Sprout Social to get attention in 2022.
