• Home
• /
• Business
• /
• eCommerce
• /
• Marketing & Social
• /
• Instagram marketing features to grow your business in 2021

Instagram marketing features to grow your business in 2021

The online marketing features of Instagram have made it one of the top advertising platforms for many businesses.

In this article, we’re going to discuss these features and explain why social media marketers need them to boost their business.

Instagram is one of the fastest-growing networks with more than 1 billion users, and therefore, many brands try to include it in their marketing campaigns.

Instagram has become a lucrative marketplace for individuals, brands, and also influencers. As a result, you can find many platforms, such as Social Tradia, that influencers and businesses use to trade Instagram accounts. Of course, having an account with a whopping following lets them make more money online.

So, it would be useful to know all the marketing features of Instagram and make the most of them.

 

Regular feed posts

First and most importantly, you can share your moments on Instagram via regular videos/pictures.

This is the most common way of posting your content and you need to have a certain plan and style for that.

These posts will appear in the timeline of Instagram followers and they can interact with you using features such as Like, Share, and Comment.

There are countless recommendations for marketers to be able to make the most out of these simple features.

For example, you need to define a unique style for your posts so that Instagram users recognize your content when they see them on their feed. Also, having an exact posting schedule can work miracles and help you to get maximum exposure.

 

Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is a sought-after Instagram tool and is useful for marketing and advertising. It was launched in 2016 and the number of its users has skyrocketed since then.

The exciting thing about Instagram Stories is that at the beginning, it was just a copy of Snapchat’s Stories. Surprisingly, Instagram Stories won the competition and 500 million social users now use Instagram Stories every day.

Here are several fantastic features of Instagram Stories:

1. Duration:

Instagram Stories will be shown on the top of your followers’ timeline for 24 hours and then will disappear. This will make sense of urgency in your followers’ minds so that they will be encouraged to watch your stories before they disappear.

2. Slide Show:

Instagram Stories shows several posts including pictures and videos as a slideshow.

3. Video duration:

Instagram Stories allows you to record videos for up to 15 seconds. This is a perfect chance to bold a product or service that redirects followers to wherever you want.

4. Image duration:

Images will appear up to 10 seconds in stories.

5. Unlimited number:

The number of stories is not limited.

6. Direct messaging:

Direct messaging is allowed within Stories and you can ask followers to give feedback using it.

7. Views number:

The total number of views can be measured.

8. Favorite stories:

You can save and feature your favorite stories. Instagram will show them at the top of your profile.

9. Swipe-Up links:

Swipe-up links in stories are available for business profiles with more than 10,000 followers. Using them, brands can redirect followers to their homepage and encourage them to buy.

10. Shoppable tags in Stories

Shoppable tags allow brands to tag their products in their stories. This can significantly help them to increase their sales.

Apart from these fantastic features of Instagram Stories, you can customize some other features to make the most out of it.

For example, you can change Story settings such that your stories be hidden from certain users’ feeds.

Also, you can choose those who would like to be able to reply to you via direct message and those who you wouldn’t.

 

Instagram Live

Instagram Live is actually part of the Stories feature on Instagram. Since it’s a special feature, we’re going to explain it as a separate social media feature.

Live videos are actually the friendliest means of communicating with followers and customers. It can show behind the scene and make potential customers believe that they’re part of your brand stories.

You can promote your live videos with several posts and stories to cover those followers who have not been able to watch your lives.

It’s also a great way of influencer marketing. When you appear with an influencer on a live video, your content will sound more natural. Keep in mind that authenticity and trust are key to get ahead of the marketing competition on social media.

There is now a time limit of one hour on Instagram Live but you can start another live video immediately. Try to have a certain plan before starting lives to avoid wasting the time of your followers.

 

Instagram TV (IGTV)

IGTV is a standalone video application for both Android and iOS smartphones. Surprisingly, its basic functionality is accessible via both the Instagram app and website. Briefly, it lets users post longer videos compared to Instagram Stories.

IGTV was launched in 2018 and was first introduced by Kevin Systrom, the former Instagram CEO. It’s one of the newest Instagram marketing features so you need to make the most of it.

Video content is now the most viral type of posts and all brands have marketing strategies about it. Apart from famous video sharing platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, IGTV can be a perfect opportunity for your marketing campaign.

Try to promote your IGTV videos using Instagram Stories and create a short version of your IGTV videos as posts and stories. Also, you can repurpose your live videos and share them via IGTV. Finally, cross-promoting your videos with other social media services is a good technique to get more social impressions.

 

Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels is the most recent feature on Instagram and allows you to create fun and short video content. It is not available in all the countries yet but is gaining lots of attention, especially among Gen Z. If you want to increase your engagement rates and reach out to youngsters, it’s a must-use feature in 2021.

 

Filters

Instagram’s photo filters have played a significant role in its success. These filters have the ability to turn you into a photographer and draw the attention of social users.

It has more than 40 filters which help you to create a variety of visual effects for your posts. This is useful especially for creating a consistent style for posting. Try to choose a filter that suits your brand and add context to your posts.

AR (augmented reality) filters are the most futuristic filter for Instagram.

 

Themes

Apart from the filters, Instagram’s feed has the ability to apply certain themes such that the overall view of your feed conveys a unified message. This can make visitors recognize your identity from the first glance.

In fact, a theme is about the 9-grid appearance of your feed. Here are several examples of top Instagram theme ideas:

1- Color themes

• Clean background theme
• Color-coordinated theme
• Same filter theme

2- Layout themes

• White/black border theme
• Alternating border theme
• Vertical lines theme

3- Niche & style themes

• Love theme
• Fashion theme
• Baby theme
• Travel theme

 

Hashtags

Hashtags were first defined on Twitter but are now viral across all social media platforms. Hashtags are central to the search algorithms of Instagram.

If you want to get maximum exposure, you need to think of a hashtag strategy. Try to find the best niche hashtags and use them along with branded hashtags.

This can help your posts to appear in the search results of social users.

 

Linked Accounts

Linked Accounts on Instagram allow you to link other social media platforms to your Instagram profile. This is a useful way for social media cross-promotion.

In fact, you can promote your Instagram content using other networks.

 

Bio

In the Instagram bio, you can broadcast your main mission and draw the attention of visitors. Also, Instagram allows you to insert an external link so that you can redirect your followers to your site.

 

Final word

We tried to summarize all useful Instagram marketing features. Of course, you need to try them yourself to learn more and reach an optimum performance on Instagram. Never forget to analyze your performance. Instagram Insights help you to find your best-performing posts. So, you can learn how to get higher engagement rates on Instagram.