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The New Year is a time for looking back and planning ahead. We asses our progress and set future goals for ourselves. When it comes to your Instagram marketing strategy, have you been hitting the numbers you aimed for? Well, if your engagement levels this past year could use some improvement, it’s time to rethink and update your Instagram content strategy for 2019. Let’s take a look at what you can do to increase not only your engagement rates, but your follower count as well.

Updated Make Instagram A Part Of Your Internet Marketing Strategy Example

Content Types to include in your Instagram Marketing Strategy Content Type 1: Instagram Stories. Businesses frequently promote offers in their Instagram stories as part of their Instagram Marketing Strategy and here’s why: Instagram. The New Year is a time for looking back and planning ahead. We asses our progress and set future goals for ourselves. When it comes to your Instagram marketing strategy, have you been hitting the numbers you aimed for?Well, if your engagement levels this past year could use some improvement, it’s time to rethink and update your Instagram. With over 600 million users that create over 100 million pieces of content every day, Instagram is certainly one of the best platforms for social media marketing, and it's here to stay.

Digital Marketing Professionals know Instagram is on fire. Learn how it fits into the complete digital marketing mix by getting certified at Chief Internet Marketer.

Crafting an Instagram Content Strategy

It comes as no surprise that the most effective methods to increase your brand engagement are visual in nature. A well-crafted, striking image just grabs the eye. We tend to focus on pictures over text. But which images are most appealing to your audience? According to research from L2 and Olapic, product photos are the number one way to increase brand engagement on Instagram. They found that 65% of the best-performing brand posts on the platform feature product shots, compared to 43% which feature lifestyle images.

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A post shared by Daniel Wellington (@danielwellington) on Dec 28, 2018 at 6:39am PST

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A post shared by IKEA USA (@ikeausa) on Jan 2, 2019 at 9:00am PST

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A post shared by Ferrari (@ferrari) on Dec 31, 2018 at 6:00am PST

Companies as diverse as timepiece maker Daniel Wellington, clothing company J.Crew, furniture design firm IKEA, and car manufacturer Ferrari all show increased engagement on posts featuring product photos. For example, Daniel Wellington shares posts featuring new products and gift boxes, as well as providing a helpful link to their online store. J.Crew, on the other hand, features a handy gift guide that makes it a breeze to pick out the perfect gift for that special someone (or yourself!). Naturally, beautiful shots that provide useful information are far more effective in boosting any given post. Instagram is a marketing tool, after all. But it’s worthwhile to note that not all of your images need to look professionally shot, some users appreciate good “behind the scenes” photos.

Sharing candid, behind the scenes photos is another good way of elevating your engagement. In addition to giving people a glimpse of your brand that otherwise wouldn’t be seen, these types of images serve to humanize your company. They show a willingness to have fun with your brand, and to laugh when and if you make mistakes. Using behind the scenes photos as part of your Instagram content strategy also makes the marketing of your brand appear more authentic and casual. Don’t be afraid to show the people behind your brand, either. If you’ve picked the right people for your team, they can make great brand ambassadors. Seen often enough, these key employees can come to feel like friends to your consumers.

Another great way to boost engagement is with lifestyle shots. These types of photos work best as part of a unified theme that ties back to a specific campaign. For example, Daniel Wellington is promoting their Christmas gift boxes, so their Instagram gallery is filled with snowy landscapes, gingerbread men, and decorated trees. Using more generic lifestyle shots in between campaign is perfectly fine. But remember that a consistent, focused theme can work wonders for your brand. Keep in mind that although, as I mentioned previously, 65% of the highest engaged posts on Instagram are product shots, using both product and lifestyle images together, as well as picking the right hashtag strategy can be even more effective than using just one kind of photo.

While photos of your products and employees are well and good; what if you could show them in action? With videos you can do just that! How-to’s, tutorials, DIYs, and all other types of videos provide value for your followers and make great Instagram content. In a study by Socialinsider, the fashion industry alone accounted for 19.7% of all videos posted on Instagram in 2018. Beauty brands posted 15% of the video content, while the automotive industry made up 14.7% of all videos on the platform. One thing to keep in mind, however, if you do decide to make use of videos is that most people won’t be able to view them while at work. Because of that, videos posted after 9pm tend to do better than those posted earlier in the day.

Now that you have a better feel for the best content to maximize engagement, it’s time to put those ideas into practice. Remember that communities differ, so your followers may respond more to certain types of content over others. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Just remember to keep an eye on your engagement levels to accurately gauge which particular types work best for you. There are no hard and fast rules, so don’t worry too much about which types of posts you need to use. If you find that one type isn’t getting the engagement you want, feel free to discard it in favor of others. I hope this guide helps you hit your targets and reach your engagement goals this 2019. Good luck!

Want to learn more? Here are useful Instagram Marketing Tips from our friends over at EasyShip!

Wondering how you can level up your Instagram presence and build an active community around your brand?

In this article, you'll find all your answers.

We’ve talked with 10+ Instagram experts to share their 'hacks’ and give us ideas on what to concentrate on in 2019.

Let's dive in!

Future of Instagram marketing in 2019

👉Alex Khan - Use the right hashtags
👉Dorien Morin-van Dam - The future lies in Stories
👉Juan Merodio - Interactive content
👉Neal Schaffer - Influencer relations and engagement
👉Dan Knowlton - IGTV
👉Robert Katai - Create consistent content
👉Ted Rubin - Employee content
👉Maddy Corbin - Video is the future
👉Lilach Bullock - Become part of the online shopping experience
👉Matt Navarra - Instagram's Shopping features
👉Drew Neisser - Your feed should tell a story

#1. Use the right hashtags

Hashtags are powerful. They can help your posts reach a target audience, attract followers in your niche, increase engagement, and develop a more positive and recognizable brand image.

Did you know an Instagram post with at least one hashtag averages 12.6% more engagement than a post with no hashtags?

Alex Khan believes that hashtags are the future of Instagram marketing.

To gain visibility, it is crucial to use the right hashtags. You can use up to 30 hashtags, and a great tool to find the right ones is www.all-hashtag.com. Make sure to use a mix of bigger and smaller hashtags.

Did you know that you can add up to ten hashtags and a location to your Instagram story, too? Make sure to minimize the sizes of both, so nobody sees it, but Instagram still counts them. This little hack will bring you up to 1,000 new viewers for each story, and works best for videos.

Alex Khan is Europe‘s #1 Social Media & Live Video Coach, and speaker.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#2. The future lies in Stories

Over the past two years, Instagram Stories has evolved, and now it's a highly competitive channel for business marketing.

This feature is used by businesses to enhance their visibility and engagement. Brands are using Instagram Stories to generate user-specific content in order to interact with their audience, increase their engagement rates, website conversions, leads or sales.

Dorien Morin-van Dam believes that the future of Instagram marketing lies in Stories.

The future of Instagram Marketing lies in stories. Stories told with images in the feed, as well as Instagram Stories done with video. Only when a marketer can tell engaging and entertaining stories, will they grow a real loyal following.

Artificial growth through bots is not sustainable as a long-term strategy. Therefore great thought has to be put into viable and exciting marketing campaigns that capture the attention of the audience.

I recommend that whatever new Instagram feature comes your way in 2019 to experiment with it but to not give up on what's working all for the sake of a new 'shiny object'.

Dorien Morin-van Dam is a social media consultant, trainer and keynote speaker. You'll recognize Dorien online and on-stage by her signature orange glasses, a nod to her Dutch heritage.

You can follow her on Twitter.

#3. Interactive content

A good way to drive engagement is using interactive content. Interactive content gets your audience more involved, increasing click throughs and providing more opportunities to educate and delight your network.

Juan Merodio believes that the future of Instagram marketing is based on very interactive content.

The future of Instagram marketing is based on very interactive content. What I mean is you have to try or create any kind of action of every user that see your content, to activate the algorithm to help that your content reach the more people as possible.

For that, you could use open or closed questions, ask on stories people answer a poll or ask you something...

Instagram is growing very fast as an e-commerce platform. New features are available as shopping tags, and new ones are coming, so it is essential that you divide your Instagram strategy in two ways:

1. Create awareness
2. Create sales traction

For the second one you must use Instagram Ads and reach 10.000 followers, to unlock the link function on Stories to have to possibility to insert links to send traffic to your e-commerce, web. blog

Juan Merodio is one of the most highly-regarded experts in Spain and Latin America in digital marketing, social networks, innovation and digital transformation.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#4. Influencer relations and engagement

Adding Instagram influencer marketing into your overall strategy for Instagram can help to increase your brand awareness, grow your follower base, and drive major sales.

Neal Schaffer believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about influencer relations and engagement.

The future of Instagram marketing is all about influencer relations and engagement.

Algorithms continue to favor people over brands, and the challenges of creating visual content that is authentic and engaging to users in consideration of the competition mean that utilizing influencers is your insurance to continue being heard in Instagram.

Neal Schaffer is a social media author, @RBSExecEd & @IMI_Ireland educator and keynote speaker.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#5. IGTV

IGTV is Instagram's way of disrupting the traditional TV experience and updating it for a new mobile experience. Just like turning on the TV, IGTV starts playing as soon as you open the app, and each video you upload can be up to an hour long.

Dan Knowlton believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about IGTV.

If you’re not producing native content on IGTV in 2019 then you’re missing a huge trick. IGTV may not have had the expected take-up since it’s launch, but this will change in 2019.

Think ‘vertical video first.

Dan Knowlton is ranked Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencer, International Speaker, Co-Founder @KPSDigitalMktng.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#6. Create consistent content

According to Forrester, Instagram engagement – measured by likes, shares and comments from consumers is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter.

Robert Katai believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about engagement.

Engagement. That’s the real deal on Instagram marketing. And how do you drive engagement on your profile? Creating consistent content. There is no good quality content. You create, people react, you observe if they like it or not.

Lately Instagram launched some cool features on Stories to help the creator make their audience engage more with them. Starting from Poll, Question, Emoji slider and others.

Also Direct Message it’s a big deal in engagement on Instagram. And when you create ads that drives users on your account so they can engage with your content.

Robert Katai is the Content Marketing Manager of Bannersnack. His work was featured on Adweek, Marketing Profs, Content Marketing Institute and other places. He is also blogging on his personal website: www.robertkatai.com

You can follow him on Twitter.

#7. Employee content

Instagram allows companies and employees to tell a visual story about the brand.

Ted Rubin believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about Employee Created Content (#ECC).

Did you know that employee created content receives eight times more engagement than content shared from the company itself?

On top of that, employee created content extends brand messaging by over 500%. Crazy, right? So why aren’t more companies getting employees engaged in content creation?
It’s well known that companies with engaged employees outperform their peers; involving employees in content creation can help to create a sense of common purpose.

Ted Rubin is a leading Social Marketing Strategist, CMO of Photofy... Speaker / Author / Provocateur.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#8. Video is the future

Most brands have now embraced video marketing and the frequency of video posts on Instagram has increased gradually over the last few years.

Video marketing on Instagram is a chance for a business to show the world who they are and what they do in a period of 60 seconds or less. This is why every business should reconsider their Instagram strategy.

Maddy Corbin believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about video.

The future for Instagram marketing for 2019 is VIDEO. Getting personal and face to face with your followers. Use it, and use it right. Whether that is with stories, IGTV or a good old video post, people want connections, and those are easier made in video formats!

Maddy Corbin is Content Artist @maddycorbin.com and Instagram Influencer.

You can follow her on Twitter.

#9. Become part of the online shopping experience

Online shoppers and lovers of Instagram can finally rejoice. This year,Instagram rolled out and expanded to businesses in 46 countries the shoppable stickers in Stories.

Lilach Bullock believes that the future of Instagram marketing is becoming part of the online shopping experience.

Instagram is focusing more and more on businesses, from introducing shopping features to the platform to entering more in-depth analytics and insights.

I think that the future of Instagram marketing is currently looking very bright because of that, especially since so many Instagram users follow brands (about 80% of users follow at least one brand on Instagram). Because of that, it certainly looks like the social network is trying to become an essential part of the online shopping experience.

It’s also essential for businesses to stay on top of new trends and new technology to help them stand out from their competitors - especially when it comes to augmented reality.

Lilach Bullock is a Social Media Specialist & Content Marketing.

You can follow her on Twitter.

#10. Instagram's Shopping features

Brands and retailers can use the shopping features to let followers buy items directly. Shopify, which has more than 500,000 merchants, is helping e-tailers expand their offerings to Instagram's shopping features.

Updated Make Instagram A Part Of Your Internet Marketing Strategy Plan

Matt Navarra believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about Instagram's Shopping features.

Instagram's Shopping features will be a big part of the platform in 2019.

Updated Make Instagram A Part Of Your Internet Marketing Strategy Typically

Marketers should prepare ways to leverage direct to consumer selling as part of their overall Instagram marketing strategy.

Matt Navarra is a Social/Digital Media Consultant.

You can follow him on Twitter.

#11. Your feed should tell a story

Stories are powerful and have been around since the Stone Age — from carvings on cave walls to illustrations on papers and finally to photos on social networks.

Drew Neisser believes that the future of Instagram marketing is all about you telling a story with your photos.

As with all content, the quality bar continues to rise in social media. Brands that want to cut through, especially on Instagram, will need to favor great over merely good even if it means reducing frequency (hint: if no one shares your posts or leaves comments it’s not amazing enough.)

It also really helps if your feed tells the same overall story via remarkable iterations. If you’re content veers in all directions, chances are you’ll have a tough time gaining devotees who share a common infatuation with a specific topic. And yes, do more Stories but make sure they’re worth watching.

Drew Neisser is CEO @renegadellc, 10 CMO Influencer, keynote speaker, author @CMObook.

You can follow him on Twitter

Final thought

If you want to be on top when it comes to Instagram you can follow the experts' advice:

Updated Make Instagram A Part Of Your Internet Marketing Strategy Examples

• Use the right hashtags
• Be part of IGTV
• Create consistent content
• Be part of the online shopping experience
• Tell a story with your captions

What do you think? What tactics do you use on Instagram? Share your thoughts, ideas or tips with us.

Start a free Socialinsider trial today and track your Instagram analytics! Report and analyze multiple profiles from one dashboard, quickly evaluate your Instagram performance based on the metrics that matter, understand your hashtags performance and get Stories analytics!

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