To keep up with the constant evolution of product features and consumer behaviors on social media, here are a few primers to what you can expect for Instagram in 2021.

Instagram Stories Will Become More Prominent

Instagram Stories have been the most convenient platform for Instagram users to post updates and interact with mutuals in an easy and personal way. The 24-hour posts have also been a great way for Instagram influencers to connect with their followers. Without relying on the best posting time, Instagram influencers can receive views and Instagram engagement no matter how many posts they publish. Tribe Dynamics recently named Instagram Stories to be the next backbone of influencer marketing.

Instagram Reels Will Gain More Traction

Instagram Reels is predicted by Influencer Marketing Hub to become more popular in the year 2021. In fact, Instagram Reels might be able to compete directly with TikTok as a short video platform. The recently-launched platform has been received well in the 50 countries where it is available. With its features, Reels have been the go-to platform to post short videos, both personal and promotional. Certainly, many TikTok users have been using the app to share cross-platform content.

Instagram Live Will Continue To Be Popular

Instagram Live has been a powerful force amidst the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, the usage of Instagram Live has increased by about 70%. The platform has enabled many brands and influencers to host online events and to connect with followers through live QnA and more. Business Insider predicts that the app will carry this on until 2021. Not only 2021 will also go through a certain degree of the stay-at-home norm, but live videos are predicted to be one of the channels to reach audiences in social commerce.

Instagram Shopping Will Also Continue To Thrive

With the recent Instagram Shopping tab put in place, it is no doubt that the future of commerce will involve Instagram. It is a more important time than ever to strategize brands’ Instagram accounts in order to attract more audience to their brands’ page. Instagram Shopping is likely to keep growing and finding new features to allow more and more commerce brands onto the platform. 

Cross-Platform Sharing Will Become More Mainstream

With TikTok's rising popularity and other platforms' continued relevance such as Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, many users are likely to be using all these platforms at once. This is why you will see many brands employing more than one social channel for their brand marketing. However, the challenge is that each social media platform tends to require different strategies. That’s why it takes an extra effort to ensure that the Instagram engagement you receive in one platform reflects in another. 

In order to select the optimum strategies, Instagram analytics tools exist to help you recognize the type of content that suits your audience on Instagram. Cross-platform sharing may not require extra content creation, however, it does require strategic placement and consideration of your audiences’ likings, which can be acquired through data from Instagram analytics tools. 

Branded AR Filters Will See an Increase in Adoption

Along with the prominence of stories and video features, AR filters will continue to see a rise. Since its launch, AR filters on Instagram have been used 1 billion times. It is a great way to entertain your Instagram audience while subtly inserting your brand to the picture. AR filters rise shows how in the future, brands should focus their strategies on providing entertainment and clever branding to upstage their competitors.

Social Cause Features will Become Widely Accessible

As the year 2020 has been filled with many social phenomena that increased social activism on social media, it’s likely that we’ll see that happening more commonly in the year 2021. In fact, Instagram has announced that it would be releasing a fundraising feature that will enable users to raise money for personal or existing social causes.

This is likely to be marked with more social awareness posts from influencers and brands, and an increased interest in social issues among Instagram users. As marketers, this indicates that knowledge of current events will be more important than ever. Instagram analytics tools can also help you in this research by providing data of top hashtag uses or captions to direct you to the issues your audience cares about the most.

Conclusion

Instagram will certainly be one of the main pillars of your social strategies. In 2021, you will see new developments in the app as you have throughout the past years. These 2021 Instagram predictions provide you with basic knowledge on planning your growth for the next year, however, there is no equal strategy for all brands or influencers. In order to get a more personalized view on how to improve your strategies for 2021, we encourage you to find your personalized data through Instagram analytics tools.