13 Exciting Instagram Trends to Keep Track of in 2024

With 50% of people on Instagram following at least one business page and more than 1.5 billion monthly active users, it's safe to say Instagram is a massive marketing tool, which 72% of businesses say is important for their marketing strategy.

That being said, it is a platform that is in constant transformation and adaptation, and trends come and go at the speed of light. In order for your strategy to work, you need to be able to keep up with what's happening.

This year, new and developing features such as Threads, Music, Polls, Geolocated Content and Collaboration Posts are stealing the show. Keep reading to find out this year's up and coming trends!

1. Continuous growth of Reels

Although they have been around for a while now, nothing is slowing down the growth of Instagram Reels. If you're not creating them, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to reach new audiences. Especially because new features and options are continuously being added, making it easier then ever to keep things fresh and up to date with current trends.

2. The Rise of “Add Yours” Story

More interactive stickers are available to add to stories, and one popular trend that captured users’ attention is the “Add Yours” sticker. This interactive sticker allows users to create public threads within their stories, inviting their followers to respond and contribute with their own stories. With customizable prompts and public responses, this trend encourages engagement, sparks conversations, and fosters a sense of community.

3. Embracing Collaboration Posts

Instagram's latest feature release has sparked a new trend in the form of collaborative posts, where users can now invite collaborators to join their posts, bringing seamless partnerships to life and enhancing visibility. With the option to tag both accounts and post on both profiles, this feature opens up a world of possibilities for both brands and creators. It’s as simple as tagging your desired collaborator during the post-creation process and waiting for their approval, whether that collaborator is a friend, a brand or a creator.

4. Instagram Music

Although the option to add music and soundtracks to stories or reels has been around for some time now, the musical experience on Instagram is growing, now allowing authors to add music to their feed posts and carrousels as well. This feature will help add another dimension to these more static formats, making the experience that much more immersive. This feature isn't available in all countries and Instagram is working on expanding it to as many markets as possible.

5. Instagram Threads

Originally launched in over 100 countries in summer of 2023, and rolled out to Europe in December 2023, Instagram's Thread (a text-based conversation app designed to overshadow X, formerly Twitter) started off with a staggering success. Within just 1 hour of launching Threads already had 1 million users, and within 6 months it grew to over 140 million worldwide. That being said, its success proves to be harder to hold on to than expected, and its daily active user base is said to have plummeted 80% since its launch. What the future holds in store for this new feature is uncertain, but Meta is working hard on improving the experience and rolling out new features to improve their chances. They are most recently adding the ability to save posts, as well as a fact checking feature in an attempt to counter false information (especially heading into year that is sure to be flooded with political discourse).

6. Instagram Polls

You may be thinking that Polls have been available on Instagram for a while now via Stories, but the news here is that at the end of 2023 Meta started rolling out this feature for comments as well. This means that your polls can last for more than 24 hours (an inherent limitation of publishing them via stories) and that your posts have become that much more interactive, with users being able to answer and participate with just a tap of a button. As a brand, it can be a great way to boost engagement with minimal effort required from the user, while providing valuable insight into options and preferences.

7. Geolocated content

Though we may enjoy being shown content that aligns with our interests and is published by the people we follow, it can also be nice to keep up with local activity, allowing us to discover new spots or interesting things going on in our vicinity. In order to promote that, not only can we filter Instagram Reels to check out content that is "Nearby" by filtering it on our Reels feed, but as of October 2023 Meta is reportedly testing out a Nearby feature for Instagram Stories as well. If you haven't been adding your location to your Instagram Stories, it may be time to start! This feature can helps both users and brands promote content in their neighborhoods and connect with their local communities.

8. Creator-Inspired Content

Creators are the trendsetters of Instagram. They know how to tell a story, whether it's via a photo dump or a Reel using a relevant song. They have cultivated hyper-engaged communities who interact with their posts, click through their links, and support their business endeavors.

9. Social Commerce

Social commerce is revolutionizing how we shop, and Instagram is leading the way. With features like Shop Now and Instagram Checkout, businesses can provide their followers with a seamless purchasing experience. Users can browse, discover, and buy products by creating an Instagram shop catalog and tagging products in posts without leaving the app. By leveraging shoppable posts, brands can enhance customer satisfaction, drive sales, and stay ahead in the evolving world of ecommerce.

10. Paid Promotions

Take a quick scroll through your feed, and you’ll likely come across sponsored posts, making up about 25% of your viewing experience. These paid ads offer brands the opportunity to reach wider audiences in the algorithm-driven landscape. With the Instagram algorithm generally making it more difficult for organic posts to have significant outreach, paid advertising on the platform is becoming ever more important to make sure your message is reaching a decent number of users and that the content you are putting so much effort into is actually being seen.

11. Memes & Video Memes

Memes, memes and memes galore. They are a fun and creative way to grab audience attention, share messages, add a touch of humor and stay fresh. Although it is important to stay connected and in touch with your brand and relevant to your audience, if as a brand you are not yet on the meme-bandwagon, its high time you jump on! they have been around for a while but are becoming an increasingly more popular and expected way to communicate, and can help your brand seem much more relatable and friendly. More traditional memes were once static, but video memes allow you to be more creative, adding effects, text and music and are generally more interactive and appealing.

12. Broadcast Channels

Instagram recently announced the debut of broadcast channels as a one-way messaging tool for creators to engage with their followers. These channels will give creators an opportunity to give behind-the-scenes updates to their followers in a one-to-many messaging format that provides a more intimate and interactive space.

13. Social Justice Movements

Younger generations are increasingly more interested in what’s happening in the world and in brands that are helping to make the world better and more accessible. This is especially true for Gen Z, who are an activist community.

According to a study by Sprout Social, 70% of Gen Z consumers say they are more likely to buy from a brand that supports a cause they care about. And 66% say they are more likely to follow a brand on social media if they know the brand is committed to social justice. This means that it is important for brands to be open about the causes they support and the social issues they believe in. Brand authenticity goes a long way with your customers.