The 2018 Instagram Trends + Predictions Report

Transcription

1 The 2018 Instagram Trends + Predictions Report 1

2 HE Y, YO U! My name is Tyler and I love Target runs and road trips. I help creative entrepreneurs grow their business using Instagram. Over the past three years, I ve had the privilege of teaching, coaching, and working with thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners. I ve helped them build communities online, market their businesses in a genuine and intentional way, and turn their followers into raving fans. My goal isn t to help you get Instafamous or make you believe you need a K behind your number of followers to achieve success in business. Instead, I ll show you how to use Instagram with heart and get results along the way. I m glad you re here! 2

3 WELCOME TO 2018 Does a New Year mean it s time for a new Instagram Strategy? You. Have. No. Idea. If 2017 taught us anything - and boy, oh boy, did it teach us A LOT - it s that the Instagram strategies of the past aren t working nearly as well any more. Instagram changed drastically over the past year and it s time for YOU to change the way you re using this platform to market your business or brand online. With a few new strategies, you can head into 2018 with confidence about what you re doing on Instagram. It s time to get more customers or clients by telling more people about your products or services and creating a community of raving fans. This report includes the top trends I m noticing and what I m predicting will happen on Instagram in it s what you need to know to get the most of Instagram in the new year! I ve compiled this report based on the experiences I had with managing multiple Instagram accounts and coaching and teaching thousands of entrepreneurs how to use Instagram throughout 2017 along with analytics and key stats about the platform. Enjoy! 3

4 THE FACTS + FIGURES Instagram surpassed a huge milestone, reaching 800 million active users by the end of Over 500 million of Instagram users are active on the platform every single day. 80% of Instagram users follow a business or brand on Instagram million Instagram users use Instagram Stories every single day. Instagram doubled the number of advertisers on the platform in just six months - from 1 million advertisers in March to 2 million in September. Time spent watching video on Instagram was up by more than 80% by the end of 2017, compared to the end of The number of videos produced each day on Instagram in 2017 increased by 4X from

5 INSTAGRAM STORIES ARE THE CONTENT OF CHOICE Instagram Stories came out of 2017 as the clear winner in the category of easy-to-create content that captures attention and builds relationships. The feature, introduced in the fall of 2016, finally came into its own this past year with added functionality, more in-depth insights, and a community of users who are used to creating and connecting through Stories. A majority of Instagram s daily active users are using Instagram Stories when on the platform - that means your followers are, more than likely, looking for you when looking through Instagram Stories. Another vital stat for businesses and brands on Instagram to pay attention to is the fact that 1 in 5 Instagram Stories leads to a direct message. You have the opportunity to drive meaningful conversations through DMs on Instagram using your Instagram Stories. 5

6 One of the biggest benefits of Instagram Stories is the short-lived nature of the content. Even with the addition of the new Instagram Stories Archives and Highlights, your InstaStories go away after 24 hours. That means the focus can move away from curation and toward more genuine, honest, authentic, and spontaneous content. NEXT STEPS Commit to creating content for Instagram Stories at least 3 times per week. Use this content as an opportunity to tell more stories about your business or brand, ask questions of your audience, showcase your process, or start conversations. Drive the conversation through direct messages. Encourage your audience to respond to your Instagram Stories through DMs. Each time your audience sends you a direct message, you have the opportunity to surprise and delight them through your response. Make your stories work for you with a call to action. As you re creating your stories, always consider where you want your followers to go AFTER watching your story. Have a plan for their next destination and how you ll get them there. 6

7 PRETTY IS NO LONGER THE PRIORITY I truly believe that curation on social media is fading away - and it s doing so quickly. This one is bound to get some folks in a tizzy; but, it s time for us to be honest about what our audiences really want online. Typically, if we think about what our followers on social media want from us, it s one of four things To Escape Their Lives To Know More About Your Life To Learn Something New To Be Inspired or Encouraged And while pretty pictures on Instagram can help you get in front of your followers with content that helps them achieve one (or all) of those goals, it shouldn t always be your most important priority when creating content. If Instagram Stories are now the content of choice within Instagram, that means our audiences are more excited about connecting with real people and real experiences than they are about looking at a pretty picture. 7

8 And listen, I get it, you ve been trained to believe that all you need for success on Instagram is a pretty picture and a handful of hashtags. But, my friend, I promise you there is so much more to this little app on your phone. In 2018, I believe our audiences will crave more honest and genuine content than ever before. That doesn t mean you have to air your dirty laundry on the internet; instead, it means you should create content with clarity of purpose and a focus on using that content to connect with your followers. It s time to go beyond the aesthetic and focus on what you re saying through your captions and how you re communicating with your followers. NEXT STEPS Share more of your face in your feed. This is especially important if you are a personal brand or solopreneur! It s time to get out from behind the screen and step in front of the camera so your audience can put a face to a name. Create your content with a focus on what your audience wants or needs from you. This allows you to create content for them - content that makes your relationship even more meaningful, 8

9 builds affinity, establishes trust, and showcases your knowledge and authority. Learn how to write and speak in a genuine and honest way. I m not a good writer is no longer a good enough excuse. And, I hate the sound of my voice is last year s excuse. Your success on Instagram relies on your ability to write captions and speak on Instagram Stories and Instagram Live in a way that moves your audience to action. Don t skip out on this! The Instagram of the future won t allow you get get by without it. 9

10 THE CONTENT OF YOUR CONTENT IS WHAT MATTERS Speaking of content, it s time we fully recognize the power of Instagram as a content marketing platform. That means you, my friend, are a content creator AND a content marketer. As you step into your role as a content creator, you must realize that your posts on Instagram aren t just about selling your products or services. Your entire presence online is about telling the story of your brand and inviting your followers to form a deeper and more meaningful relationship with you and what you do. As a content marketer, your job is to positively impact the lives of those who have chosen to follow you with no expectation of anything in return. Would it be cool if all of your followers bought what you re selling? Sure! Is that the goal of what you re doing on Instagram? Not always! 10

11 Shift your focus to serving your audience. Put your attention on building real relationships with real people. And, create content with a focus on educating, entertaining, inspiring, or informing your audience. Finally, when it s time to sell to your followers, do it from a place of service. Ask yourself these questions as your planning your promotions online How can you offer your community online a product and/or service that solves a problem they have? How can you get them their more quickly or easily? How can you help them have a more beautiful or rewarding or fulfilling life or business? Sell to them from that place, not from a place of desperation or scarcity. NEXT STEPS Plan your content so you can be more intentional. The days of marketing by the seat of your pants need to be a thing of the past. When you create content from a place of purpose and post with intention, you can do a better job of serving your audience. 11

12 Ask yourself these two important questions before you post anything on Instagram: 1. What do I want my audience to get out of this? What do I want them to know, learn, experience, or value from this content? 2. What do I want my audience to do with this? What action do I want them to take? Where do I want them to go next? And, how am I going to get them there? 12

13 INSTAGRAM LIVE WILL COME TO LIFE If Instagram Stories are now the content of choice within Instagram, that means Instagram Live is the hot new thing that everyone will be figuring out how to use in their business in Don t get left behind! Instagram Live gives you another level of fun and engaging content to up your strategies on Instagram. And, the live nature of the video means anything can happen. That s a good thing! In 2018, it s time to shake off those fears about putting yourself out there and bust through whatever blocks you may have about the things you want to share with the world. You, my friend, have something valuable to say AND, better yet, you have an audience of people who are desperate to hear from you. Instagram Live allows you to show up for your community, answer their questions, let them connect with your face and your voice, engage with your 13

14 community through your content in real time, and show them more of who you really are (and, what you really do within your business). And, with Facebook and Instagram s continued focus on video content, I predict that the live functionality within Instagram will get only stronger in By the end of the year, I believe Instagram Live will be just as important as Instagram Stories are now for success on the platform. NEXT STEPS Go live at least once per month. But, more would be even better. If you can t commit to showing up live weekly (or a few times per week), at least put yourself out there once per month and allow your audience to ask you questions or see part of your process. Show your work. I get it - going live with your face to the camera can be stressful. What if you turned the camera around? Try out Instagram Live videos where you just turn the camera on your process - maybe it s your easel as you paint or your computer as you design. Let your followers watch you create what you sell - they ll appreciate it even more once they see your process. 14

15 ENGAGEMENT IS SHIFTING One of the top Instagram conversations in 2017 was about engagement on the platform and how it s been impacted by the algorithm. It s the thing folks ask me about the most often - they want to know what the algorithm is, how it works, and why their content isn t getting in front of their audience online. But, it s really the wrong conversation. Because, let s be honest, you and I know that the algorithm isn t going anywhere. And, what I ve found is that it s not your engagement that sucks, it s your content (and, where you re sharing it). I ve analyzed hundreds of posts on Instagram for reach and impressions this year. And, what I ve found, more often than not, is that our audiences are still seeing our content. They re just choosing not to engage. Here s the down and dirty about engagement on Instagram and how it s changing in

16 The focus is moving away from the feed. With more and more Instagram users engaging with Instagram Stories on a daily basis, it s only natural that attention is being drawn away from content shared in the Instagram Feed. Think about it: how much time do you spend mindlessly watching Instagram Stories? I d imagine that you re using some of that Instagram Scrolling Time to watch Instagram Stories instead. That means you, as a content creator, need to adjust your strategy to include more Instagram Stories and Instagram Live into what you re doing online. Your content lasts longer than even before. One of the greatest gifts the Instagram algorithm has given us as content creators is a longer half-life for our content. While the chronological algorithm of the past meant engagement happened instantaneously and dropped over time, the new Instagram algorithm shows your content to your audience for hours and days after it was posted. That means you can post less often and get more out of the content you do share. The measurements for success on Instagram are different than before. Instead of focusing solely on the number of followers you have and the number of likes you get, turn your attention to the 16

17 comments you receive and the direct message conversations you re having. The real connection happens through comments and DMs - those are valuable measurements for what you re doing on Instagram. Consider how you can drive more conversations through comments and DMs using your Instagram Stories and your in-feed posts. 17

18 HASHTAGS ARE GETTING MORE SPECIFIC Hashtags are still an important part of Instagram - they allow you to get your content found on the platform and they give you a perfect tool to find your ideal follower online. But, hashtags are changing in 2018 they re getting more and more specific. That means using more niche and specific hashtags will get you more results than broad hashtags with millions of posts. Another key stat I m following is about engagement from hashtags. And, what I m learning, is that the engagement you get from hashtags may be decreasing. New insights within Instagram allow you to measure the impressions you receive from different parts of the platform - the home screen, your profile, hashtags, and elsewhere. In 2018, I want you to get into a habit of checking those insights to measure where your engagement is actually coming from. 18

19 You ll be surprised to learn that most of your impressions - and, in turn, your engagement - aren t coming from hashtags themselves. NEXT STEPS Use more niche and specific hashtags. These are tags that are specifically about your location, product, service, industry, or what s included in your post. Also, they typically have a fewer number of posts in the tag. These hashtags will get you in front of more of the right audiences on Instagram and help you get more eyes on your content (since you re not competing against so many other accounts). Get in the habit of checking your insights and analytics. I encourage you to check your insights and analytics monthly at the very least; but, weekly would be ideal. You can use a combination of Instagram s built-in Insights (they re included with all Instagram business accounts) and third-party analytical tools (I use Iconosquare - you can get a free two-week trial at bit.ly/followertofan). 19

20 INSTAGRAM IS STILL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS I ve said this one before and I ll say it again and again and again - Instagram works best when you view it as a platform for starting and nurturing relationships. When you shift your focus from getting more followers to getting the right kind of followers and your attention from selling to serving those followers really well, you move into a place of truly connecting with those who have chosen to follow you. Think about what an honor it is that people online allow you to speak into their lives through your content on Instagram! As you use Instagram for your business or brand in 2018, make sure connections and relationships are at the top of your list of goals and objectives taught us that communities of like-minded individuals get so much further than people working by themselves - that means you need focus on creating your own community through your Instagram account. 20

21 Your followers are more than numbers on a screen - they are real people with real hopes, wishes, dreams, and problems that YOU can solve for them! Think about it this way: what would you do for your followers if you knew that you were the person they ve been praying for to solve their problem? How much more generous would you be with your information? How much more intentional would you be about building a relationship with them? How much more focused would you be on truly connecting with each person who chooses to follow you than trying to accumulate followers like medals or money? This subtle change in thinking about Instagram can help you love my favorite social media platform again. NEXT STEPS It s time to adjust your mindset when it comes to your number of followers. Focus on connecting with the followers you already have before going out and getting more. And, as new people follow you, do some work to better understand who they are and how you can serve them. 21

22 Commit to connecting directly with 5 followers per week. That could mean catching up on replying to all of those comments you ve received, responding to those direct messages you ve let slide, or reaching out to the followers who are engaging with you the most often and thanking them for their likes and comments. Get rid of the spam. Get in the habit of checking the accounts who are following you and blocking and reporting spam accounts. It s not worth having that extra follower on your list if they re not a truly engaged person on the platform. 22

23 2018 TJMHQ Tyler J. McCall Follower to Fan Society 23