Are you ready to bust through your imaginary glass ceiling in 2021 and make an impact on Instagram, make those amazing connections, nurture your audience and drive more engagement and leads?

2020 has no doubt been interesting, and I’m sure 2021 will not be short of any surprises…but what can you do RIGHT NOW to continue your growth on Instagram?

There are a few trends and predictions for the platform in the New Year, and I’m here to share them with you.

Full transcription available at the bottom of this blog post

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Full Transcription:

Are you ready to bust through your imaginary glass ceiling in 2021 and make an impact on Instagram? Make those amazing connections, nurture your audience and drive more engagement in leads. 2020 has no doubt been interesting and I’m sure 2021 will not be short of any surprises, but what can you do right now to continue your growth on Instagram? There are a few trends and predictions for the platform in the new year, and I’m here to share them with you, grab your coffee, wine, or whiskey, and let’s dive in.

Welcome back to the show. And I can’t believe the new year is just a few days away. I’m sure you’re full of hope and purpose to conquer whatever 20, 21 throws at us. And I can bet you’re compiling your goals and sorting your action plans are one of those plans about how you’ll show up online, especially Instagram. Okay, today I am going to share your trends and predictions, and these are in no particular order, but here are some trends that will continue into 2021 or gain momentum from the Instagram creators. First up Instagram stories, Instagram stories will continue to be extremely popular. Why? Because they are more authentic and people are not afraid to pull back the curtain and show the real life scenarios in their business. You’re going to see more focus on stories and less on posts. And you might also see more audio options in Instagram stories because more people will watch with the sound turned on or up.

Number two, the use of reels is expected to rise. If you like reels or not, guess what you’re going to see more of them in your feed. You might also see new additions to real, such as Instagram may potentially introduce monetization options for creators who are using reels. There might be a new Instagram ad format for reals. Instagram may add shoppable, Instagram real features. There may be new and improved video editing tools on reels, which I think is pretty cool. And then hopefully the video length will extend to 60 seconds. Yes, just like ticktack next up Instagram live because of the world wide pandemic and the spread of the coronavirus. The coronavirus people took to digital channels to keep social. According to Business Insider in April Instagram live usage skyrocketed to 70% and just one month that’s due to the fact that humans are not wired to remain in isolation for long periods of time.

So they’re turning to social media channels to satisfy their need for social interaction. And as we head into the new year, it looks like COVID-19 is not close to a quick resolution. So expect Instagram live to continue trending on Instagram into the new year. Another trend you’re going to see is more in app shopping, more entrepreneurs, more business owners will be adding their own shop to their Instagram account. I was able to do this a few months ago. If you received the invitation from Instagram, I highly recommend that you go ahead and set that up. It’s really easy. You just follow the in-app prompts and it’s not hard to set up your own shop, right in Instagram. You’re also going to see the Explorer tab usage increase because Instagram is making it a lot easier to find content with the addition to keyword search. That’s right.

Not only can you use the explore tab to find people and hashtags, you can now search keywords that people are using in their posts like travel art, beauty food design. And of course you can expect the keyword search to expand in 2021. Another trend that was in 2020 that is expected to keep rising is the use of carousel posts, memes, and info graphics. So if you’re not already creating these for your content, I highly recommend that you start sprinkling in the usage of carousel, carousel posts, memes, and infographics. Next up is IGTV. This is no surprise because now when you do an Instagram live at the end of your live, it no longer goes to your Instagram stories. You have the option to save your video or turn it into an I G T V. So of course, with the rise of Instagram live, you’re going to see more IGTV videos in your news feed.

And don’t be surprised that people will start consuming your IGTV. Because once again, a lot of us are experiencing lockdowns. At this time, we feel isolated. So we are using social media to consume content last but not least authentic contact, excuse me, authentic content is still King. Make sure you are creating content in your own authentic way. We’re going to see a shift on Instagram from people following the picture, perfect lifestyles that are led by celebrity influencers. You’re going to see people following more relatable influencers, more authentic influencers, because they are finding greater content value from the people that mirror their own life experiences. This is why I always say it’s so important to show up with your own content. You want to be authentic. You want to be consistent. You want to be confident in your content and you want to show your face.

Your followers are going to, they’re going to relate more with you because you are leading a more ordinary relatable life and it mirrors their own life experiences. So the micro influencers or your everyday influencers, you’re going to see a rise in their popularity in 2021 compared to celebrity or those picture perfect influencers. So there’s the trends and predictions for 2021. I’m sure there’s going to be more that will come about. And of course I will make sure that I share that on my show, but as always stay sassy sparkle and wear sweat pants. I’ll see you next time.

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