How to Increase Reach on Instagram: 4 SMM Trends for Business in 2025

Many Western brands actively use live shopping and monetize their social networks.

For example, the founder of the Swedish brand Caia Cosmetics, Bianca Ingrosso, first went live in October 2019, and since then the company has been using live shopping as one of the sales tools on Instagram. According to Bambuser, a company that develops software for mobile streaming services, the average viewing time of Bianca Ingrosso's live broadcasts is 11 minutes, with 60% of viewers "liking" the content and 17% interacting with the online chat.

And to promote KitKat Chocolatory in Australia - a service that allows customers to create personalized KitKat chocolate bars and discover unusual and interesting tastes - the brand has developed a separate promotion strategy on social networks, including live shopping.

Polls, branded content and dynamic advertising were used to stimulate purchases both in stores and online. During a live broadcast on Facebook Live, customers were able to place orders via the “Comment to Message” feature, which automatically initiated a conversation in Facebook Messenger when someone left a comment on the broadcast.

The campaign achieved great results:

• 23 point increase in brand awareness among Australians aged 35-44;
• 2.2x increase in purchase intent for KitKat Chocolatory;
• Triple growth in online sales through Australia's KitKat website.

Another successful example is the American home goods brand Wayfair, which has integrated live shopping into its promotion strategy on an ongoing basis.

In 2021, Wayfair created the “Wayfair On Air” service, a platform available in the company’s app. This service offers users daily episodes that showcase various home goods. Users can watch episodes, explore products, add them to their cart or wish lists right while watching, which provides a seamless and interactive shopping experience.

In addition, the company actively works with influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest on a similar principle. Creators announce and conduct broadcasts with the brand’s products. In collaboration with the British agency Goal, Waifair has a motivating case showing how live shopping can change the advertising industry and influencer marketing, making it more flexible and interactive.

According to McKinsey & Company, live-shopping sales could account for 20% of all e-commerce by 2026. And Instagram and other social media will certainly play a significant role.

1. Short, “imperfect” videos.
TikTok’s horizontal videos have become the norm for Instagram. Real life moments captured spontaneously get more views.

2. Cross-platform content use.
User videos shot for Instagram often “move” to Reels, Stories, or even other platforms.

3. Working with micro-influencers.
Brands collaborate with small bloggers, as their content seems more sincere to the audience. At the same time, it is important to integrate content created by micro-influencers into the overall brand strategy in order to inspire more trust in users.

4. Dynamic galleries.
Posts in a carousel format, where users share their reviews and life hacks, are related to the brand’s product.

AI content has become an integral part of the Instagram ecosystem*. It helps brands, influencers and users create, promote and analyze content. In 2025, AI not only automates routine processes, but also becomes a tool for creating personalized content and deep interaction with the audience.

Thus, Sephora has implemented AI content to provide individual product recommendations and create interactive polls in Stories. With the help of AI algorithms, the company analyzes user preferences and offers cosmetics according to user needs. And interactive polls in Stories collect data on customer preferences, improving the accuracy of recommendations.

Nike: Automatically Generate Video Content for Different Markets

Nike uses AI content to automatically generate video content tailored to different regional markets. This allows the company to effectively reach a wide audience, taking into account the cultural and linguistic characteristics of each region. AI algorithms analyze local trends and preferences, creating relevant content for users in different countries.

H&M: Chatbots in Direct to help with choosing clothes and placing orders

H&M has integrated AI chatbots in Direct on Instagram to help customers with choosing clothes and placing orders. They interact with users by asking questions about style preferences and suggesting relevant products. Chatbots also simplify the shopping process by guiding customers to checkout directly through the platform
Integrating AI into Instagram allows these brands to provide a more personalized and efficient service, increasing customer satisfaction and driving sales.

1. Betting on micro-influencers and nano-influencers

Brands are increasingly choosing to collaborate with bloggers with an audience of 1,000 to 50,000 subscribers. Their advantages:

• Closer contact with subscribers;
• High level of engagement;
• More audience trust.

Example: a local sportswear brand collaborates with micro-influencers who share their workouts and talk about the benefits of products in their region.

2. Creative and joint projects

Instead of traditional advertising integrations, companies create unique campaigns together with influencers. This can be the development of limited collections, the creation of exclusive content, or the holding of events.

Example: a cosmetics brand launches a product line created in collaboration with a famous blogger who participates in the development of packaging design and formulas.

3. Long-term partnerships

Brands are moving away from one-time integrations in favor of ongoing collaborations with influencers to create more organic interactions and build trust with the audience.

Example: a partnership between a sports nutrition brand and a fitness blogger who regularly shares her workout results and mentions the brand's products in her posts.

4. Focus on authenticity

The audience values ​​sincerity, so brands prefer to work with influencers who already use their products or share the company's values.

Example: an organic cosmetics company collaborates with a blogger who has long written about natural care and shares her findings with subscribers.