Ready to up your marketing game? The Instagram Year in Review feature right inside of the Tailwind app is not only a fun way to see your 2019 Instagram highlights, but it can really help you plan and strategize for the new year!
Many of the Year in Reviews are for entertainment purposes only, and enlighten us to fun facts about ourselves.
Spotify, for example, has shown us how much you (unknowingly) have been listening to EDM, and how much you (knowingly) have been listening to Ariana Grande.
But in Instagram’s case, the data in the Year in Review feature shows you how to market your business much, much better.
So we’ll show you how to generate your very own Instagram highlights of the year, of course. And let’s also take a look back at all things Instagram in not only 2019, but the whole decade. Get ready to find out what stole our hearts, minds, and feeds in the 2010s!
How to See Your Instagram Year in Review
When it comes to marketing, data is knowledge, and knowledge is power. For example, let’s say that you generate your in-depth Year in Review, and you notice that posts featuring trees and nature receive 30% more likes.
That is way too high of a percentage to be a coincidence. Your audience – via that 30% calculation – is showing you exactly what they appreciate and want more of.
So let’s give your audience more of what they like with your Instagram Year in Review!
This is a free tool and can be viewed right inside of the Tailwind app, which is available via iOS and Android. This handy feature shows you not only your traditional ‘top nine’ posts but a ton of useful insights you can use to tackle your next year on Instagram!
It’ll find the best hashtags, your most-used emojis, and which locations you tagged the most, amongst other very exciting tidbits.
And of course, you can save and share your insight gems to your feed and Stories with our handy templates!
Check out Instagram’s Year in Review on Tailwind in action right here:
Can’t wait to get your own? Click to download Year in Review!
How Instagram has Changed over the Last Decade
Remember when Instagram was just a place with beautiful images that transported you to a world free from the prying eyes of your extended family?
Instagram is so much more than that now.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, making it much more focused on business and branding. This is such good news for business owners!
Instagram has become a place where you not only go to find gorgeous inspiration, but it’s a place where you can connect with your audience in deeply meaningful ways.
Let me count the ways:
Authenticity
We get to experience first-hand how others struggle and celebrate in the same ways that we do. Not only is this entertaining to watch others who are brave enough to put all of their business out there, (Lizzo comes to mind), but it reinforces our connections to others.
And this absolutely translates over to the marketing side of things.
Authenticity is a fantastic marketing strategy. When a human behind a brand is willing to sacrifice the idea of being perfect in order to show others the reality of things, this builds brand trust. Fitness influencers, for example, are showing less-than-flattering pics of themselves to help with expectations and the overall mental health of Instagrammers, this grows their brand trust.
People appreciate vulnerability because it shows that instead of just being a sales machine churning out paid sponsorships, there’s a human behind that brand with a real mission.
Successfully Shifting Focus from Snapchat with Instagram Stories
Once Instagram Stories were launched, people started to shift away from Snapchat.
Because now – Instagram has the market cornered as not only the place where you go to explore and find inspiration but its the place where you can also see the more unfiltered day-to-day life of both your friends and the brands that you like.
(Go here to see the general requirements on producing all types of Instagram video.)
But even if you’re still a die-hard Snapchat fan, this is great news – competition between social media giants like Instagram and Snapchat is exactly how innovation is born.
Snapchat, for example, has plans to compete with Instagram Stories by making filters for not just people, but pets and monuments.
Becoming Big Competition for Youtube with IGTV
When IGTV launched in 2018, Youtube took some serious notice. They had the upper hand on all kinds of long-form video, but then IGTV solved quite a few problems for Instagrammers who wanted to go more in-depth with their audience.
Many Instagrammers felt held back by the 60 second cut off of regular video feed posts, and breaking up their story into 10-second clips to fit the Stories feature was just not ideal.
But then came along IGTV, and it all changed. There was no longer a need to refer away our audience – NOPE, now viewers could get more explanation, more entertainment, more instruction, more ideas, and more inspiration right there on Instagram.
Specific Instagram Changes in 2019:
Changes bigger than the release of Benny Drama’s Kim Kardashian law school parody have happened over on Instagram in 2019. (My personal favorite Instagram changes this year are all of the extra gifs and animations that we could add over Stories.)
The biggest Instagram trend in 2019 was #10yearchallenge:
This ONE hashtag actually generated over 4 MILLION POSTS. And we’re still counting, as everyone from your reclusive aunt to your neighbor’s cat is posting those side-by-side pics showing how they’ve changed over these past ten years.
A viral Jennifer Anniston moment showed us just how quickly an Instagram account can grow:
When Jennifer Anniston finally gave in to the powers that be and joined Instagram on October 18, 2019, she set a Guinness World Record. And this was #goals, because her Instagram became the fastest-growing account to date, as she reached a cool 1 million followers in just over 5 hours.
She’s got decades of hard work under her belt, and a cute caption doesn’t hurt, but it’s viral moments like these that show us just how powerful social media platforms like Instagram really can be.
Hiding Likes:
Though many were disappointed by the move to hide likes, I feel like Instagram’s efforts to support better mental health while boosting real engagement is a move in the right direction.
This allows Instagrammers and marketers like you & I to focus on engaging with others in more meaningful ways and really building out our communities.
Getting rid of what doesn’t work to replace it with something better is going to help build a better business, and it’s all in the name of decluttering. Another way to declutter – automatically hide those necessary hashtags in the first comment inside of Tailwind’s Instagram scheduler with the Hashtags in First Comment feature.
Creating Augmented Reality (AR) Filters:
‘AR’ just means “Augmented Reality’, and having your own filter for Instagram Stories isn’t just for the Kylie Jenners of the world anymore. This past summer, Instagram made it possible for anyone and everyone to make their very own filter. (Ahh! Exciting!)
You can completely customize a filter in a way that not only fits your brand, but can really help grow your audience.
In addition to creating your own filter, you can also have a designer do it for you, OR you could learn about countless filters and effects that are ready to go right here.
The Ecommerce Direction:
Back in March, Instagram rolled out the ‘Checkout’ feature, making it possible for people to buy from brands without ever having to leave Instagram.
This means that after you first put in your shipping & billing info, Instagram stores that info, and makes it just as easy to buy things as it is on Amazon.
This is fantastic news for eCommerce marketers!
Another way to up your eCommerce game is to use Tailwind’s free Smart.bio tool to add multiple links to your Instagram bio, so that shoppers can easily check out multiple products.
More Control Over Data Shared with Third-Party Apps
In a press release sent out in October, Instagram announced that they’re releasing in-app settings that’ll give you complete control over which apps you’d like to currently share your data with.
(For example, apps like photo editing where you can share your finished product directly to Instagram.)
And who doesn’t want more control over their own data?
Final Takeaways:
We took a look back at how Instagram has changed over the past decade, and this helps us, as marketers, understand which directions platforms like Instagram are headed in.
Let this knowledge help you strategize and Instagram plan for the new year coming up!
And finally – useful tools that take all of this knowledge into account are finally here and ready for the taking.
Not only can you find the best hashtags to use on Instagram or figure out how to outperform your competition, you can get an in-depth overview of your entire year.
It’s time to review your most unforgettable moments on Instagram, and find out which posts your followers liked, loved, and connected with the most:
Want to know how your Instagram posts performed? Check out your Year in Review now!
Be sure to customize and share your precious data with your followers!
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