As we approach the holidays, also comes thought of the new year.  Now is the time to start putting together your 2018 social media marketing plan. In order to do that, you need to know what trends to expect on which platforms. Instagram saw huge growth in 2017 and is expected to join the billion user platform club in 2018.

Below are 5 trends we expect to from Instagram in 2018

Shopping tags to expand

For 2018 we will definitely see Instagram putting focus on expanding their business options in order to remain competitive with the other platforms that are already seeing substantial growth with the business side.

The expansion of their shopping tags is something we expect to see. The service allows businesses to add a price and description to product images.  They have been testing it since November 2016 and has since partnered up with Shopify. There is tons of brand interest and we can expect Instagram to do a wider roll out in the next 12 months.

Visual Search

Facebook has already started working on further developing an advanced image recognition AI that is able to identify certain objects in a photo.  The ability to search via image content is already proving its usefulness. As we turn to Instagram, it can prove even more valuable since the main focus is completely based on image and video posts.

Instagram has been continuously improving and upgrading its search feature putting further focus on video searches. In 2018, we expect to see them ramp up their search capabilities to include images. For brands, this is especially beneficial as they will be able to not only search by hashtag but also image content.  This ability will allow them to discover more brand ambassadors and influencers as well as other users who would be interested in their product that would not have been identifiable with just the text search option alone.

Further development of Stories

Instagram Stories has really taken off and gone beyond the success of Snapchat.  As we move into 2018, expect to see Stories develop even more tools to boost user engagement. Bottom of Form We have seen them expand it already with video masks, live streaming and location tags.

360 will make its way onto Instagram

In 2018 Facebook will look at adding its 360 options for photo and video to Instagram. With the platform’s focus being visual, this is perfect for Instagram.  If the process can be simplified, this could be big since it will make it that much easier for people to post more interactive photos.

Insta Maps may make its debut

Just like SnapChat, Instagram may start offering the SnapMap feature.  This is expected to integrate perfectly with their Stories feature especially if we see SnapMaps prove popular for SnapChat.

Clicks and Engagement rates to soar

By the end of 2017, Instagram expects to have experienced upwards of four billion in mobile ad revenue.  If you are not already testing out advertising your business on Instagram, now is the time to put some ad dollars into the platform.  As we move into 2018, you can expect to see ad prices soar as competition increases.

A boost in use of user-generated content

As we move into 2018 we should expect to see brands shifting towards more user-generated content.  Industries like tourism are focusing on fan content by way of community-driven campaigns and hashtags. Now would be the time for brands to think about implementing systems that will make sharing UGC both legal and easy.  Right now Instagram does not have a set “sharing” function, so it is expected that permission be asked of the owner of the content.  At the end of this, brands will have access to more trusted content.