Predicting the future of Instagram is
always fun.
New platforms, secured patents, new tactics
and demographic shifts are just a few things to consider when making a
prediction.
What is the new future for Instagram?
Instagram officially removes likes.
Instagram has tested the removal of
likes in several countries. Most headlines you’ll read will state that the
social network is doing this in the spirit of mental health.
I think “mental health” is a PR spin and
the real reason is that Instagram wants to make more money by getting a cut of
influencer ad dollars.
Think about it. Instagram can’t be happy
when Kylie Jenner gets paid a million dollars per paid post or even
when micro-influencers get paid $100 per post. This activity is happening on
their platform, and they aren’t seeing these direct-to-influencer dollars go
toward their bottom line.
Hiding likes shifts the power back to
Instagram. Advertisers who want to measure the impact of a campaign will be
left with a couple of choices: run Instagram ads and/or pay an influencer.
Instagram ads have metrics. Influencers
will have metrics taken away. This means the risk of overpaying an influencer
increases while running Instagram ads becomes a safer (and more analytical)
choice.
Influencer marketing isn’t going away
anytime soon. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Instagram removed likes so they
could shift ad dollars from influencers to their ad platform.
Cross-promote your dedicated
hashtag.
That's nice that you created a hashtag for
your company, but who knows to use it to share content about you? Make sure
it's in your profile, but take the game offline and have it printed on your
receipts, in print ads, on signage in your store and at relevant events.
Get creative with hash tagging.
When it comes to Instagram caption
ideas, you need to look beyond the one-word, obvious hashtags. With
regards to Instagram Hash-tags thoughts, you have to look past the single word,
clear hashtags. Without a doubt, you need to utilize those, as well, however
blend it up and use hashtags to recount to part of your story. Be amusing,
unexpected, or over the top - simply don't exhaust. Community oriented
workspace organization WeWork is incredible at this, and they incorporate a fun
blend of Instagram content, as well.
Tip #2: Use Instagram Stories Templates
If you regularly post on Instagram Stories
(which you should be!) you might want to start using Instagram Stories
templates this year. This will help make your stories more uniform and
complementary to your feed posts.
There are tons of different apps like Canva and Unfold that
can help you with creating templates.
Create Instagram Ads that Help You Get More
Instagram Followers
Instagram is a very competitive marketplace
for brands, but there’s a real opportunity to build your followers if you
present the right type of ads to new audiences.
Running your own Instagram ad campaign isn’t
that difficult, but it can be intimidating to many small business owners and
influencers who haven’t done it before.
There’s a whole host of different types of
Instagram ads you can run for your account — from feed-style images and videos
to promoted Instagram Stories ads that will appear as your target
audience taps through stories. What’s important is making sure you’re targeting
the right audience in the right way!
When it comes to how to get followers on
Instagram, timing is everything. Yes, there is a set of activities that
you can do to increase your following. However, suddenly going full-speed with
all of them isn’t going to result in anything remarkable, as the effectiveness
of each action changes after reaching a certain follower milestone.
For instance, there’s no point in buying a
shout-out to your account for a 100 bucks from a big influencer while you have
10 followers. Yes, you might get some followers from that, but the price per
follower would be unreasonably high. It would be much more effective when
you’ve already established a strong identity and following on Instagram, and
are looking to speed up the snowball effect.
