Boutique Travel And Lifestyle PR Firm Showcases Top Five Instagram Trends For 2025

As we look ahead to 2025, Instagram is poised to revolutionize interaction, shopping, and brand promotion on its platform, offering exciting opportunities for growth and engagement. For businesses that want to remain relevant with their customers, it is important to embrace new features such as authentic user generated content, AI, Stories and Reels to stay ahead of your competition.

Did you know . .
 

• “Instagram has more than two billion active users as of April 2024.” (Source: Social Pilot)
• “Around 70 percent of shoppers use Instagram to find inspiration for their next purchase, indicating a significant portion of customers engage in social shopping on the platform; with some studies showing up to 72 percent of users report making a purchase based on something they saw on Instagram.” (Source: Sprout Social)
• “Instagram shoppable posts increased website traffic by 1416 percent.” (Source: Business Dasher)

In this blog, Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency in New York City, showcases five key trends on Instagram to help budding entrepreneurs or established companies strengthen their social media presence and stay relevant with their target audience.

Enhanced Shopping And E-Commerce Features

Instagram is now one of the main hubs for social commerce – the platform has many improvements allowing businesses to sell items within posts, in Stories, and Reels.  NapoleonCat has singled out “shopping features that are becoming more popular, such as shoppable posts and tagged products by influencers in the post. Flexibility and convenience to buy products come under this category, and the functionality of ‘In-App Purchase’ has made shopping much easier.”

Instagram’s Social Inbox tool has become a major game changer for companies. According to Embed Social, “this feature compiles messages by different accounts, which helps brands handle customers’ questions, requests, and feedback.” This feature allows customers to interact with companies in a timely fashion and provide customized solutions.

Intelligent Content Delivery

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to determine what content should be shown to a particular user on Instagram. Next year, Instagram will rely on the AI capacity to deliver content to the target audience. HeyOrca says “that the application now employs artificial intelligence to sort content by users’ likes, history, and involvement. It enables brands to share content that will be more relevant to the intended audience and, hence, more likely to elicit interaction.”

AI is also changing content generation. According to EmbedSocial, “everything ranging from automatically generated captions to editing tools based on artificial intelligence is significantly more simplistic for creators to use in posts. The tools enhance the simplicity that brands can use to create high-quality videos and images that feel familiar to the viewer.”

Stories And Reels: Dominating User Engagement

Instagram users leverage Instagram Stories and Reels for their interactions on this platform. “Eighty seven percent of all Instagram users engage with Stories every day,” as reported by NapoleonCat.

According to EmbedSocial, “Reels have taken center stage as the feature continued to receive updates like increased video durations and better editing tools. Such features enable content creators and related businesses to post and display content that is more diverse and engaging to audiences.”

Consumer interactions are higher with clickable links, polls, and quizzes in Stories. These interactive tools are a wonderful way for companies to engage consumers on the platform. Instagram Stories is a popular tool because the audience can interact and share content with brands.

Authentic And User-Generated Content (UGC)

User generated content (UGC) is important in establishing credibility on Instagram. According to NapoleonCat, “customer-generated content, for example, the likes of reviews, unboxing, and testimonials, are popular forms of some of the most reliable markets today.” By using the actual content of the users, a business can work on its reputation and improve its interaction with the audience.

In addition, EmbedSocial highlights “that real customer experiences are better for people to engage with than hypotheticals.” This strategy helps brands build trust with their customers and it also ensures that there is a reduced cost of content production.

Focus On Sustainability And Social Responsibility

Social media platforms have today become a major tool through which brands can share their sustainable practices and social corporate responsibilities. With the increasing consciousness of customers toward the environment, companies have started promoting environmental awareness on Instagram. According to HeyOrca, “modern brands post on Instagram to show their biodegradable products, fair supply chains, and environmental commitments.”

EmbedSocial points out “that sustainability should no longer be viewed as an insignificant trend but as a trend in the process of becoming a core concept of branding on Instagram.” For the growing number of people who expect brands to be more open about their actions, Instagram is the perfect environment for businesses to voice their beliefs and find people who share them.

Staying Ahead Of The Curve

Instagram’s ongoing development shows that it still has vast potential for businesses, producers, artists, and marketers to reach out and engage with target markets. By adopting these trends—improving the eCommerce experience, using AI to personalize content, and focusing on authenticity and sustainability—brands will remain relevant in the future.

Our talented team of social media strategists are here to help. Give us a call.

​By Joanna Allen, chief executive officer, Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.