If I were to ask you if you would like a free billboard on Highland drive what would you say? Of course you’d say yes! Well technically that’s what we have with social media. It blows my mind when small business owners aren’t using these free platforms. Overall Instagram is the most “emotional” because it deals strictly in pictures and videos.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over one billion monthly active users. The platform is especially popular with young adults, with 71% of 18- to 29-year-olds using it. For small businesses, Instagram can be a powerful marketing tool. In order to maximize your results, it's important to stay up-to-date on the latest Instagram marketing trends, as they can change often.

One trend that shows no signs of slowing down is the use of Instagram Stories. Stories are short, ephemeral posts that disappear after 24 hours. Since they're temporary, Stories are perfect for sharing behind-the-scenes content, brief updates, and special offers. With over 500 million daily active users, Instagram Stories offer a huge potential audience for small businesses.

Another trend to pay attention to is the increasing use of Instagram Shopping. Instagram Shopping lets businesses tag products in their posts and link directly to product pages. This makes it easy for customers to learn about and purchase products without ever leaving Instagram. Shopping is available to businesses in certain countries and categories, and Instagram plans to roll it out to even more businesses in the coming months.

Finally, micro-influencers are becoming an increasingly important part of Instagram marketing. Micro-influencers are everyday users with a large following on social media. They tend to have high engagement rates and can be very effective at promoting products and services to their followers. If you're looking for ways to connect with more customers on Instagram, paying attention to these trends is a good place to start.

As a professional business coach, I talk to my clients often about using these tools. The catch is, we get too much into our own heads about what we should post and when. At the end of the day we talk ourselves out of taken action on the platform. Move past your fear, post things you believe would be helpful, entertaining, or thoughtful for people and have fun with it. There are a ton of opportunities to speak with your “tribe”, and/or potential clients for FREE! Don’t take these platforms for granted.

Jason