With over 2 billion monthly active users, standing out on the platform requires strategy and content planning.
A content plan is an essential blueprint to help you keep your posts aligned with your strategy and your overall marketing goals.
Posting without a plan can just be a wasted effort without clear direction.
To support your brand’s conversion and success, this guide has a free Instagram content plan template and helpful tips that you can customise for your brand.
So, let’s try to capture some of those users.
1. Create Your Content Calendar
A well-structured plan is your roadmap to guide your path, help you meet your goals, and schedule campaigns effectively.
For this purpose, our template comes with an Overview tab and monthly planning tabs with flexible weekly layouts to give you a bird’s-eye view of your content.
It will help you know when you’ve met your goal and can readjust and analyze ways to improve your content strategy for your next one.
Plus, an Instagram content plan can keep ideas, budgets, themes, and marketing initiatives categorized. It also helps you identify any content gaps and build consistency – a key to Instagram success.
Begin with the Overview tab by outlining campaign cycles, including key conversion goals, strategic themes, and content pillars with associated budgets.
Move to the main weekly sheet to refine execution. Decide topics and post type, craft appropriate captions, align with campaign types, and define CTAs that support your marketing funnel objectives.
Finally, after you have the above laid out and initial captions, you can move to the next step: Create or assign the necessary key visuals or assets.
Breaking content planning into smaller, actionable steps makes it easier to create a content calendar.
Bonus Tip: Sync With Existing Marketing Initiatives
With a helpful overview or dashboard (included in our Instagram Content Plan), you can map out your seasonal themes, align your topics with days you’re posting, and have your captions and hashtags ready to easily copy and paste when you’re ready to schedule your content.
Screenshot by author, July 2025
If you already have some marketing initiatives, it’s the perfect time to incorporate them into your marketing campaign. For example, maybe you have a new product release.
You can then build a content series around it. Tease the product release with a few posts, run a giveaway, feature an influencer using the product in a video, and highlight key benefits throughout.
Events and holidays offer opportunities to boost engagement and attract new customers. They are another fun and positive way to get customers talking about your brand. Holiday giveaways or deals are another way to grow brand awareness and gain followers.
If you have an event coming up, you can create a campaign hyping the event and discussing the speakers involved, products that will be there, or awesome grab bags you’re giving away at the event.
We recommend pairing our Marketing Calendar for 2025 when creating your Instagram content plan to tie in your creative campaigns with holidays and seasonal themes for the week, month, or even quarter.
2. Define Your Goals
Once you have your content template and before you plan your posts, what you want to do is create your Instagram goals.
What do you want to accomplish? Is it to grow your audience, drive more engagement, or increase product sign-ups?
Once you know this, you can set the key performance indicators (KPIs) to mark different points of analysis you want to observe along with your Instagram campaign.
For example, you want to grow your audience by 20% by the end of the campaign cycle, or you wish to increase your engagement rate to at least 0.43%.
After you select your conversion goals, it’s beneficial to break down your goal into milestones you would like to reach.
This way, you can map out the type of content needed for each and track your progress using the KPIs you’ve set above.
Screenshot from author, July 2025
Ask yourself: What milestones can you mark to achieve that goal along the way? What types of content, topics, or content series can you create to increase engagement?
Write down all the goals you think your brand can reasonably achieve (Pro tip: the trick is to make it SMART).
3. Keep Your Theme And Tone Consistent
If you want to keep your posts engaging, ensure visual and tonal consistency by developing a brand guide. You’ll also want to maintain a cohesive theme across all posts, including style, typography, and color palette.
For inspiration, you can look at your website, content, and logos to help create the proper tone and theme for your posts.
Think about the look of your content for both pictures and videos, and consider a consistent angle or filter to set the right tone and look for your content.
It’s also vital to create standard operating procedures (SOPs) about your messaging, whether for captions, comments, or responses to direct messages, because chances are, multiple people are managing the account.
How you respond to consumers on Instagram matters, especially if you have multiple people responding to comments and messages, to ensure it’s within the brand’s tone.
4. Showcase Your Creativity: Instagram Post Types (With Examples)
Instagram is more than just an aesthetic photo-sharing app. It’s a significant platform that can showcase your product in different formats to entertain, engage, and educate audiences.
There are various ways to create content for Instagram that can highlight your brand and increase engagement.
Let’s talk through them for best practices for each use case:
Photos
Pictures are a great way to showcase products’ USPs, share thought leadership quotes, relatable memes, or announce new feature updates.
It’s also great for posing questions that you can answer in your image caption, or promoting deals or giveaways through the use of compelling captions.
Example: HubSpot’s AI-generated meme of its customer service rep as a toy figure catches attention and serves as a conversation starter.
Carousels
What can your company do when you have multiple photos from your high-end photoshoot but don’t want to post them into a grid or oversaturate your feed? Try beautifully crafted carousels to ensure return on investment (ROI).
Carousels have been a mainstay on Instagram since 2015. It is a collection of 10 photos you can post all at once, now expandable up to 20.
To entice your audience, make it interesting to swipe right with chronological storytelling, collage/magazine cutout elements, text overlays, or a narrative.
Example: Clickup’s photo of its new AI calendar features text overlay, seamlessly transitioning between both static and dynamic photos and tutorial short videos.
Reels
Next, videos are an excellent way to show sneak peeks of something coming up or create product teasers. You can also use videos for behind-the-scenes content to build product hype.
Consider using Instagram Reels, or short videos, to showcase products, share stories, and grow your audience.
By the way, Instagram discontinued IGTV, or Instagram TV, back in 2021, but you can post longer videos in-feed. Brands use these to go more in-depth into describing a particular topic.
Stories
Meanwhile, Stories are photos or videos that last 24 hours (unless you add them to your highlights on your profile), where you can share posts from your profile or post new content.
It’s a popular way to gain more followers and engage with consumers.
Example: Even if Stories expire after 24 hours, they still remain valuable. Sprout Social curated its Stories into its “Trending” highlights, showcasing key events and social media insights, such as the Oscars, Coachella, and Art Basel.
User Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content, or content created by influencers, customers, or other users, is a great way to extend your reach to different audiences and further promote your products.
People are more intrigued to learn about a new product if it’s promoted by someone they already follow. Likewise, it can help build trust with consumers new to your brand if they see a post by a customer who already loves it.
Example: Slack featured its No. 1 “Slacker,” Rox (a senior social media manager at Gozney), as a fun UGC post, where she apparently sent the most Slack messages in a year.
But what content goes viral? It can be beneficial to look at what your competitors are posting on Instagram and put your brand’s unique twist on it.
5. Craft Compelling Captions And CTAs
While it’s great to have high-quality pictures and engaging videos, the captions and call to action still matter.
If you hooked the consumer with your picture or video, you still want to reel them in with your caption and CTA.
Screenshot by author, July 2025
It’s essential to craft the right CTA to ensure consumers follow your page, engage with your post, or purchase your product.
Consider A/B testing to identify the right approach for your campaigns. A compelling call-to-action is clear, concise, and written in an active voice.
6. Choose The Correct Hashtags
Researching and choosing the right hashtags is crucial to ensure your posts reach the intended audience and some new ones that might be interested in your niche and brand.
Hashtags allow your content to reach users beyond your profile’s following as you create content for specific hashtags. Note which posts perform particularly well.
That way, you can create future posts for specific hashtags that will increase your content’s visibility to a broader audience, helping you achieve more brand awareness.
7. Know The Best Time To Post
Planning posts ahead of time can help alleviate some stress from social media strategy.
You can use Meta Business Suites to schedule posts for Facebook and Instagram and set posts for a week or a couple of weeks.
If you’re unsure when to post, here are suggested days and times where analysis points to where you’ll get the most engagement and views.
It would be beneficial to do some research specific to your industry to see the best time and day for you to make your posts.
One important thing to keep in mind when you’re planning your content is the upcoming holidays.
Are you going to post celebrating the holiday, use the holiday to do a promotion or give away, or choose not to post on that day altogether?
No matter what you pick, keeping holidays in mind is crucial.
8. Measure Results And Adjust
Instagram Insights, both on the app and through Meta Business Suites, can show how many views a post gets and statistics on the engagement with the posts to help you see which types of content are working best. You can see your content’s likes, shares, comments, and saves.
Brands can also use Insights to get metrics on the paid activity. Insights are a great way to see trends so that you can adjust your content strategy.
You’ll also be able to see metrics about your followers to see how many you’re receiving, the age of your followers, and information on when they are most active online. This way, you can adjust your post times to ensure you are better at reaching your audience.
If your Instagram isn’t getting results, it may be due to a lack of planning.
Don’t miss the opportunity to tie your conversion goals, marketing campaigns, trends, holidays, and creative campaigns together and give it the well-planned, in-advance budget it deserves.
It can only help, not hurt, to create a proactive content plan for your social media team to stay aligned, maintain consistency, and deliver measurable results.
Achieving your goals by developing an Instagram-specific content calendar guided by current marketing objectives and data-driven themes will help your brand engage on the platform.
Download our Instagram content plan and start being more effective with your Instagram strategy.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
For many verticals, Instagram should be an essential part of their digital marketing strategy to help grow their audience and their brand. With over 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a strong social media channel where brands can connect with their audience.
However, when building your following on Instagram, don’t fall into the trap of chasing numbers. Engagement counts.
Engagement is a much better measure of your brand’s impact. It tells us how well your content was received, how active your audience is, and how those interactions translate to conversions or loyalty.
We reviewed the engagement rates for some of the top brands on Instagram to see who is engaging their customers and not just shouting into a void.
To achieve engagement, the brands below aren’t just posting randomly or frequently – they’re leveraging storytelling, jumping on timely trends, and cultivating communities.
By the end of this article, you’ll have actionable insights and inspiration that could help your marketing team rethink how to connect with your customers on Instagram.
Note, the following brands are grouped by theme and not ordered by engagement rate*.
12 Brands & Their Winning Strategies On Instagram
Storytelling & Brand Identity
1. Nike (@nike)
Followers: Approximately 302 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.03% (While this seems low, this measurement is “average” given its massive number of followers, and the same goes for the big brands listed below.)
Average Likes: 103,000.
Target Audience: Millennials and Gen Z, aspiring athletes from all generations.
Nike’s bio – “You can’t win. So win.”– sets the tone for its entire Instagram presence, mixing in high black-and-white images and motivational quotes. Their Instagram posts feel like a tough but encouraging coach, pushing followers to strive for more.
This is all exemplified in their recent post: Nike teamed up with Grammy-award-winning rapper Doechii to voice their new mantra, featuring powerful women in various sports challenging what they’re told they can’t do and breaking free from societal expectations.
Meanwhile, high-energy neon colors bring sneaker shots to life. Nike is doing an awesome job inspiring its audience with its motivational content.
The flood of comments are jam-packed with flame emojis, trophies, and applause hands – clearly shows the deep connection they’ve built with their audience. Their powerful messaging truly resonates and hits the mark.
2. McDonald’s (@mcdonalds)
Followers: 5.3 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.93%.
Average Likes: 49,000.
Target Audience: Fast-food lovers, Gen Z, Millennials, and nostalgia-driven consumers.
McDonald’s Instagram takes audiences straight back to the ’90s with its use of bright, bold colors, disposable camera-style photos, and the return of McDonaldLand characters.
Its strategy blends product promotion with collaborations with culturally relevant brands, like the Pokémon Happy Meal, to appeal to Millennials.
Creating user-centric content – like polls, memes, quizzes, and teasers – for established brands like McDonald’s goes a long way.
With only 360 posts, it has an engagement rate of 0.93% in followers in the past month, averaging 882 comments per post.
This success isn’t just due to its fame but because it consistently produces simple yet engaging content that resonates with Gen Z and Millennials. Fast food brands can take a cue from McDonald’s.
User-Generated Content (UGC) & Community Building
3. GoPro (@gopro)
Followers: 20.8 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.07%
Average Likes: 14,800.
Target Audience: Adventure seekers, extreme sports athletes, and content creators.
It’s easy to see why GoPro has 20 million followers – their account is filled with immersive, adrenaline-pumping POV shots. But that’s not all.
By showcasing real user experience through UGC and contest giveaways, like its #GoProLineOfTheWinter winners’ post, the brand is engaging its audience of GoPro users and thrill-seekers while offering a clear demonstration of the product in action. And that is a strategy you can replicate for your product.
The blend of pro tips to sleek product shots, seamlessly tying in dynamic POV footage and photos from users against stunning landscapes drive genuine engagement with its audience – they’re genuinely excited, as shown in this product post of Go Pro Hero13 that received 8,000 comments.
Social media managers should remember to collaborate with, not against, their fans, rewarding their efforts and keeping corporate branding to a minimum.
4. Shopify (@shopify)
Followers: 1.6 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.08%
Average Likes: 1,012.
Target Audience: Ecommerce entrepreneurs, online business owners, and small business startups.
Shopify’s strategic use of blue, green, and yellow neon accents enhances its visually appealing feed. With carousel tutorials and reels featuring entrepreneurs, it caters to online shop owners who are short on time or frustrated potential business owners who lack motivation to finally open up shop.
Similar platforms could benefit from emulating Shopify’s optimistic branding on Instagram so that users are enticed to demo their products. Takeaway: clearly upbeat messaging not only attracts users to try your product but also builds a community of hopeful business owners.
5. Zendesk (@zendesk)
Followers: 46,000.
Engagement Rate: 0.36%
Average Likes: 160.
Target Audience: Customer service professionals/teams, small- to medium-sized businesses.
Zendesk’s Instagram feels like a small, welcoming community of customer service professionals. Each post feature a white text overlays that clearly introduce the topic, from customer success advice to thoughtful discussions on AI integration.
For example, posts about the “perfect service customer voice” or “ideal hold music” are conversational and approachable, helping build rapport with support professionals rather than focusing solely on product specs.
This approach fosters authentic connections and conversations, which could eventually lead to conversions, making its customer support-focused feed both useful and genuine.
SaaS brands would do well to take this humanized approach so they can demystify their technology while provide a safe space for their users, in this case, customer service pros and SMBs.
Humor & Relatable Content
6. Liquid Death (@liquiddeath)
Followers: 5.1 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.24%
Average Likes: 11,932.
Target Audience: Millennials, Gen Z, alternative lifestyle consumers.
Definitely standing out from the crowd, Liquid Death feels more like a heavy metal band than a beverage company.
While it may seem like an alcohol brand at first glance, its non-alcoholic drinks carve out a unique niche as an alternative to mainstream alcohol and sugary iced teas.
On Instagram, the brand embraces edgy aesthetics, featuring metallic gold accents, dark colors, and bold typefaces.
Its brash, in-your-face marketing strategy drives engagement – evidenced by its collaboration with The Deep (from Amazon’s The Boys), which racked up 24,000 comments.
Since launching in 2019 in the highly competitive F&B space, Liquid Death has skyrocketed in popularity thanks to its clever, viral marketing – amassing millions of views on TikTok and tens of thousands on YouTube – proof that unconventional approaches can engage and create new communities, too.
For marketers building new brands or even existing ones, this is proof that unconventional strategies can work, especially when tailored for specific social media platforms.
Target Audience: Foreign language students, meme lovers, and Gen Z.
Educational technology need not be boring, and Duolingo’s Instagram page is anything but. It has capitalized on how users have a love-hate relationship with Duo, its ubiquitous green owl mascot, and its endless reminders to take their next language lesson. And so it has ‘killed’ er, announced the bird is dead.
With posts full of Gen Z/Millennial humor and commentary on current trends, it manages to keep a very high engagement rate (the highest on this list as seen above and a whopping 265% increase in followers in the past month), and yet still reminds everyone to use the app and continue the learning process.
“Successful and viral memes should match their interests and values, such as entertainment, informative, trend–relevant, and reflect the unique characteristics of tech–oriented, innovative, curious Generation Z.”
Social media managers of EdTech should learn to speak the slang of their target audience on Instagram as it works. Overall, playful content with cultural memes and trending events mixed with education connects with younger, digital natives – use memes to your advantage to increase your brand awareness.
8. Ryanair (@ryanair)
Followers: 1.6 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.16%
Average Likes: 2,500.
Target Audience: Budget travelers, frequent flyers, and meme culture enthusiasts.
Ryanair’s Instagram bio reads, “Catch flights, not feelings with Europe’s favorite airline.” It perfectly sums up its brand and sets the tone for the entire page – meaning it is not afraid to poke fun at its audience.
It posts hilarious short videos, and every post to the left on its grid features a relatable flying meme in its signature royal blue branded template.
Budget travel apps and sites should take note: Knowing your target audience and tailoring your messaging, whether funny or serious, is key. They switch between funny and practical content without losing their brand personality.
Ryanair’s Instagram works because it has mastered content that resonates with budget travelers who just want to be entertained and at the same time, pick up useful travel info.
Influencer & Partnership Strategies
9. Vans (@vans)
Followers: 16 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.06%
Average Likes: 10,000.
Target Audience: Skateboarders, streetwear fans, and music culture enthusiasts.
Vans appeals to various groups of people around the world as a lifestyle choice instead of just a shoe brand.
Loyal fans flock to its page to check if old favorites have been restocked. Fashion brands managers, you should take note of showcasing your brand as a lifestyle for and in order for this strategy to work, carefully choose collaborations that represent their target audience.
Vans mixes grainy, quirky product shots with lifestyle imagery and behind-the-scenes takes that make viewers feel like they’re part of the club.
It has done this over the past decade, yet this strategy still works to engage people subconsciously, with seemingly low-effort content, but the charm takes some effort to pull off.
10. Red Bull (@redbull)
Followers: 26 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.33%
Average Likes: 85,000.
Target Audience: Extreme sports fans, adventure seekers, and adrenaline junkies.
As expected from the world-famous energy drink, Red Bull’s Instagram is packed with adrenaline.
Red Bull’s Instagram showcases jaw-dropping feats by legendary athletes doing the seemingly impossible, with nearly every post being a collaboration.
Like Vans, Red Bull highlights a wide range of sports and stunts – on foot, two wheels, or four – and is also well-known for its F1 team, Oracle Red Bull Racing, with some posts dedicated to pushing speed boundaries.
This strategy ties in perfectly with Red Bull’s unique selling point and sparks engagement from fans, who fill the comments with witty jokes, like in this skydiving post.
Between these stunt posts, it mixes in product updates, like new flavors or pop quizzes. It’s a great example of sticking to what works, showcasing what your product is known for, and expanding your talent network to appeal to an energetic audience.
Stunning Visuals & Interactive Content
11. The Sill (@thesill)
Followers: 734 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.08%
Average Likes: 551.
Target Audience: Houseplant lovers, home decor enthusiasts, and young professionals.
Like their logo, The Sill’s Instagram page feels balanced, featuring eye-catching florals, lush greenery, and elegant, cozy home gardens.
Its branding is strong across the board, with posts highlighting its online shop – like this carousel of a red-and-pink pigmented plant shaped like a heart as part of its Valentine’s Day offering. Scroll past the first image and you’ll see multiple close up slots of violet-tinged leaves and flowers – it simulates receiving a bouquet of flowers and admiring them individually, making it creative.
Every picture on The Sill evokes warmth, sunshine, and various shades of green.
To ensure customers enjoy visiting their page, social media managers of small brands should prioritize high-quality visuals over stock images. Don’t scrimp on the budget for creative shoots. Invest in them and over time, your Instagram page can evoke a soothing atmosphere, too.
Especially for B2Cs, whatever your brand sells, showcasing it beautifully on Instagram with a mix of close-ups, overviews, and short videos is key to maintaining engagement and awareness.
12. National Geographic (@natgeo)
Followers: 279 million.
Engagement Rate: 0.03%
Average Likes: 84,500.
Target Audience: Nature lovers, photographers, and educational content consumers.
Wildlife content takes the spotlight on National Geographic’s Instagram, with every other post featuring fun facts about animals, the environment, or notable figures.
For example, this post about first-documented encounter with a deep sea fish: the black seadevil is accompanied by detailed scientific descriptions. The same goes for this listicle of five fun fact about female samurai, featuring colorful drawings and well-placed image captions with arrows to help accessibility.
While lengthy, it effectively engages users in the comments section, who share their knowledge and opinions about the subject.
This works because Nat Geo’s audience enjoys exploring and learning about the world. There’s no need to brand every post, but the subtle use of a yellow rectangle and yellow font helps viewers recognize the brand.
Media and publishing companies can thrive on social media, using it not just for entertainment but also as an educational platform for consumers who may not watch TV.
Continue adapting your documentaries, interviews, and more into digestible formats on social media. Make every post as accessible as you can for viewers of all ages and grow your page into an educational hub where people foster learning from each other in the comments section.
Level Up Your Instagram Strategy This 2025
While you can emulate these brands above, true engagement will always come from your brand’s authenticity.
Maintain authenticity by being clear with your brand identity and values.
Engaging content is possible in any niche, whether B2B SaaS, multinational food & beverage, travel, or education.
Even topics that Gen Z might find boring can be turned into bite-sized, entertaining formats, and austere-sounding brands can still humanize their content by partnering with the right influencer.
Staying in tune with trends, including key U.S. holidays and events, and short-form video formats, whilst layering in your brand identity and messaging can help.
When done right, creating content that resonates with your audience will result in genuine interactions and thoughtful engagement.
*All stats above are taken from Social Blade but the engagement rate has different benchmarks depending on the industry, so the order is not a comparable measure for all the engagement rates above. According to the 2024 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report from Rival IQ, 0.43% is the median engagement raacross all industries.
Plus, they’re easy to create if you have a plan and the right tips. Lucky for you, we have all the tips you need right here in this article.
Let’s get started.
Start With A Story
When designing an Instagram carousel, starting with a clear theme or story is crucial in helping you select images or videos that create a cohesive post.
Like any social media content, think about the message you want to convey and the content you want to showcase.
What content would resonate with your followers and align with your brand message? This could be a theme based on your industry, your brand values, or a particular aspect of your products or services.
For instance, if you’re a food blogger, you could create an Instagram carousel featuring a step-by-step recipe, with the first image being a shot of the finished dish.
Then, follow it up with images of each ingredient and each step in the cooking process. This way, your carousel tells a story while providing followers with value.
You can also showcase your products or services in action.
For example, if you run a fitness brand, create a carousel of exercises or workout routines featuring your products – like this apartment and travel-friendly workout routine from fitness influencer Kayla Itsines.
A fashion brand, on the other hand, might create a carousel showcasing different ways to style a particular item of clothing.
Another effective carousel format is to share behind-the-scenes content or personal stories, such as photos of your team at work, personal stories about your brand journey, or the inspiration behind your products.
Whatever you choose, the key is to pick a theme or story that is both relevant to your brand and interesting to your audience.
Content Order
The order in which you display your content is crucial to creating an effective Instagram carousel.
The first image or video is typically the most important, as it will set the tone for your content, capture your audience’s attention, and encourage them to swipe through the rest of the carousel.
It’s typically the first frame that people see (though occasionally, they may see the second frame first – so bear that in mind when creating your content).
Use subsequent images or videos to tell a story or provide additional context.
How you do this will depend on your carousel’s goal. What is the one thing you want a follower to “leave” with?
No matter what type of content order you choose, it should create a logical flow between slides, making it natural for audiences to swipe through.
Here are some examples of common Instagram carousel structures:
Narrative Structure
What It Is: The images are arranged logically to tell a story or share a message.
When To Use It: This method can be particularly effective for product launches or brand campaigns where you want to build excitement and engagement around a specific theme. It’s great for explaining specific concepts or breaking down stories linearly. This is why list style carousels are so popular.
Why You Use It: Narratives and stories get followers emotionally engaged in the content.
What It Is: The images have no specific narrative or message.
When To Use It: This structure is ideal for showcasing various products or services or sharing behind-the-scenes content that doesn’t necessarily follow a specific sequence.
Why You Use It: Not only can a random structure be fun, but curiosity and spontaneity can be extremely helpful, particularly if you want to build up some buzz around an event.
Still trying to figure out how to present your images? Consider the visual appeal of the images and how they will look when viewed as a group.
You can alternate between different image types, such as close-ups and wide shots, or use consistent color schemes or filters to create a cohesive look and feel.
An engaging Instagram carousel starts with aesthetically appealing, eye-catching, high-quality images or videos. These will help grab your audience’s attention and encourage them to swipe through the entire carousel.
It’s important to choose visuals that have exceptional clarity and decent resolution, though you should also bear in mind that recent trends show audiences value authenticity over perfection.
Here’s an example of a carousel from Airbnb that leverages beautiful imagery to pique the attention of audiences.
You should also consider using consistent color schemes or filters. This will help create a cohesive sense of visual unity across the entire carousel and make sure your brand is present in the content.
In short, you want the carousel to feel like an experience, not just a collection of pictures.
Your Instagram carousel plan should also include the type of visuals you want to showcase in it.
Will you only have product images and videos? Would lifestyle shots, behind-the-scenes footage, or user-generated content (UGC) be more effective?
Another option is to mix up the type of content in each carousel to keep things interesting and varied.
You could alternate between videos and images and try out different approaches, but the key here is to choose visuals that align with your brand message and resonate with your audience.
Once you’ve selected your content, you can think more about the composition of the carousel itself and how you’ll order it. You might want to experiment with different layouts, such as grids or collages, to create a unique and striking post.
Finally, keep the context of your post in mind. Instagram users scroll quickly through their feeds, so you’ll need bold, bright colors or to incorporate text or graphics that interrupt this habit and stop them long enough to swipe and consume the content.
Text Overlays, Captions, And Music
Text, captions, and now even music are important aspects of creating engaging and effective Instagram carousel content.
These components work together to convey your message, build excitement around your products or services, and encourage your audience to take action.
Captions
First, keep your captions concise and engaging. You want to capture attention quickly and communicate your message efficiently, so use short, punchy sentences and clear language. If it makes sense, include some emojis to catch people’s eye.
Second, consider the tone of your captions and how they align with your brand identity.
If your brand is playful and lighthearted, your captions should be the same: fun, humorous language. Use an informative and educational tone if your brand is more serious or professional.
Third, use your captions to contextualize the story or experience you present in your images. This will help bring your audience along for the journey and encourage them to engage with your brand.
Finally, include a call to action (CTA) to increase engagement and drive more traffic to your website or other digital channels.
This could be as simple as encouraging your audience to swipe through the carousel, asking them a question, or prompting them to visit your website for more information.
Text Overlays
Your use of text goes beyond captions. Text overlays can be highly effective in adding context and additional information and can enhance the visual impact of your carousels.
Here are a few tips:
Choose a legible and visually pleasing font that matches your brand aesthetic. Remember that users will be viewing it on small mobile screens.
Keep your text concise and to the point. Instagram users scroll quickly through their feeds, so your text needs to be easy to digest and understand.
Only include essential information and ensure that each overlay only has one job. For example, to provide more information about a product or provide context to a narrative.
Ensure that overlay text doesn’t obscure important parts of your images and is visually balanced with the other elements in your carousel.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking of text overlays as extra ad space, however. Use them strategically to add value to your content.
For example, you may want to use text overlays to provide additional context or details about your products or services or a CTA that encourages your audience to engage with your brand.
Music
A newer feature to the platform, adding music to Instagram carousels has become a dynamic way to enhance engagement with your content.
We know that music can evoke emotions, set the tone, and add another layer of storytelling to your content. However, it bears mentioning that business accounts are typically more restricted in the songs that they can use.
Here are a few tips for effectively adding music to your carousels:
Choose music that aligns with the theme or message of the content within your carousel.
Leverage music that reflects your brand’s personality and tone.
Where possible, utilize music that can enhance the narrative of your carousel.
If you’re (legally) able to, engage your audience by including songs that are trending or popular.
By thoughtfully integrating elements like text, captions, and music, you can take your Instagram carousels to a whole new level and significantly enhance their performance and engagement.
Design Instagram Carousels With Mobile In Mind
Instagram is primarily a mobile app, so you must prep and design your content for mobile users.
If you’re designing an Instagram carousel featuring a long infographic, for example, break it down into several slides so that it’s easier for your audience to view on a mobile screen. You might also need to use larger text or adjust the font size.
But it’s more than that.
You should consider the quality of the images you’re using and how they will appear to a mobile viewer. Make sure that the resolution and specs fit with Instagram’s guidelines and that the details of the image will be viewable on mobile.
You may even want to consider arrows, buttons, ribbons, or other elements that run off the right side of the image to push users from one image to the next.
Conclusion
Once you’ve posted your Instagram carousel, engage with your followers by prompting them to like, comment, or share your post.
Encourage them to leave comments or questions about the product they see or the story you’ve presented.
Just remember to respond to these comments promptly and continue the conversation by answering questions or addressing concerns.
And if you follow the tips we’ve provided for you here, there will be many of them!
Meta just released multiple updates to Meta AI which brings advanced image generation and editing capabilities directly to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp feeds, plus availability in more countries and languages.
New Meta AI Creative Tools
Meta AI is bringing AI generated and AI Edited photography that can be generated at the moment a user is making a post or sending a message with a new tool called Imagine Me.
Imagine Me is a prompt that can be used to transform an uploaded image that can be shared. This new feature is first rolling out as a beta in the United States.
Meta explains:
“Imagine yourself creates images based on a photo of you and a prompt like ‘Imagine me surfing’ or ‘Imagine me on a beach vacation’ using our new state-of-the-art personalization model. Simply type “Imagine me” in your Meta AI chat to get started, and then you can add a prompt like “Imagine me as royalty” or “Imagine me in a surrealist painting.” From there, you can share the images with friends and family, giving you the perfect response or funny sidebar to entertain your group chat.”
New Editing Features
Meta products like Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram now have advanced editing capabilities that allow users to add or remove objects from images, to change them in virtually any manner, such as their example of turning a cat in an image into a dog. A new Edit With AI button is forthcoming in a month that will unlock even more AI editing power.
Adding AI generated images to Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp within feed, posts, stories, comments and messages is rolling out this week in English and coming later to other languages.
Meta AI In More Countries And Languages
Meta AI is now available in seven additional countries, bringing the total countries to to 22. It is also available in seven more languages.
List of Seven Additional Countries:
Argentina
Cameroon
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Mexico
Peru
Meta AI is now also available in the following seven additional languages:
French
German
Hindi
Hindi-Romanized Script
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
Advanced Math And Coding
Meta AI is making their most advanced model, Llama 405B, available for users to take advantage of its advanced reasoning abilities that can answer complex answers and excells at math and coding.
Meta AI writes:
“You can get help on your math homework with step-by-step explanations and feedback, write code faster with debugging support and optimization suggestions, and master complex technical and scientific concepts with expert instruction.”
In a recent Instagram Reel, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, revealed a top signal the platform uses to rank content: sends per reach.
This metric measures the number of people who share a post with friends through direct messages (DMs) relative to the total number of viewers.
Mosseri advises creating content people want to share directly with close friends and family, saying it can improve your reach over time.
This insight helps demystify Instagram’s ranking algorithms and can assist your efforts to improve visibility on the platform.
Instagram’s ‘Sends Per Reach’ Ranking Signal
Mosseri describes the sends per reach ranking signal and its reasoning:
“Some advice: One of the most important signals we use in ranking is sends per reach. So out of all the people who saw your video or photo, how many of them sent it to a friend in a DM? At Instagram we’re trying to be a place where people can be creative, but in a way that brings people together.
We want to not only be a place where you passively consume content, but where you discover things you want to tell your friends about.
A reel that made you laugh so hard you want to send it to your brother or sister. Or a soccer highlight that blew your mind and you want to send it to another fan. That kind of thing.
So, don’t force it as a creator. But if you can, think about making content that people would want to send to a friend, or to someone they care about.”
The emphasis on sends as a ranking factor aligns with Instagram’s desire to become a platform where users discover and share content that resonates with them personally.
Advice For Creators
While encouraging creators to produce shareworthy content, Mosseri cautioned against forced attempts to game the system.
However, prompting users to share photos and videos via DM is said to boost reach
What Does This Mean For You?
Getting people to share posts and reels with friends can improve reach, resulting in more engagement and leads.
Content creators and businesses can use this information to refine their Instagram strategies.
Rather than seeing Instagram’s focus on shareable content as an obstacle, consider it an opportunity to experiment with new approaches.
If your reach has been declining lately, and you can’t figure out why, this may be the factor that brings it back up.
Meta announced an update to its AI labeling policy, expanding its definition of “manipulated media” to go beyond AI-generated videos, to now include deceptive audio and images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
An important feature of the new policy is it’s sensitivity on being perceived as being restrictive of freedom of expression. Rather than adopt the approach of removing problematic content Meta is instead simply labeling it. Meta introduced two labels, “Made with AI” and “Imagined with AI,” to make clear what content was created or altered with AI.
New Warning Labels
The AI-generated content will rely on identifying the signals of AI-authorship and self-reporting:
“Our ‘Made with AI’ labels on AI-generated video, audio, and images will be based on our detection of industry-shared signals of AI images or people self-disclosing that they’re uploading AI-generated content”
Content that is significantly misleading may receive more prominent labels so that users can get a better understanding.
Harmful content that violates the Community Standards, such as content that incites violence, election interference, bullying or harassments will qualify for removal, regardless if it is human or AI generated.
Reason For Meta’s Updated Policy
The original AI labeling policy was created in 2020 and because of the state of the technology it was narrowly defined confined to addressing deceptive videos (the kind that depicted public figures saying things they never did). Meta’s Oversight Board recognized that technology has progressed to the point that a new policy was needed. The new policy accordingly expands to now address AI-generated audio and images, in addition to videos.
Based On User Feedback
Meta’s process for updating their rules appear to have anticipated pushback from all sides. Their new policy is based on extensive feedback from from a wide range of stakeholder and input from the general public. The new policy also has the flexibility to bend if needed.
Meta explains:
“In Spring 2023, we began reevaluating our policies to see if we needed a new approach to keep pace with rapid advances… We completed consultations with over 120 stakeholders in 34 countries in every major region of the world. Overall, we heard broad support for labeling AI-generated content and strong support for a more prominent label in high-risk scenarios. Many stakeholders were receptive to the concept of people self-disclosing content as AI-generated.
…We also conducted public opinion research with more than 23,000 respondents in 13 countries and asked people how social media companies, such as Meta, should approach AI-generated content on their platforms. A large majority (82%) favor warning labels for AI-generated content that depicts people saying things they did not say.
…And the Oversight Board noted their recommendations were informed by consultations with civil-society organizations, academics, inter-governmental organizations and other experts.”
Collaboration And Consensus
Meta’s announcement explains that they plan for the policies to keep up with the pace of technology by revisiting it with organizations like the Partnership on AI, governments and non-governmental organizations.
Meta’s revised policy emphasizes the need for transparency and context for AI-generated content, that removal of content will be based on violations of their community standards and that the preferred response will be to label potentially problematic content.
Instagram is the third most popular social channel, with 500 million daily active users and one billion monthly active users.
That’s a lot of targeted audience to tap into; naturally, there is no shortage of brands leveraging the social platform.
Like all social media channels, with those huge numbers of users, it’s easy to fall through the cracks. Just because you put effort into your posts doesn’t mean your posts will be seen.
It’s worth knowing that Instagram’s algorithms promote recent posts alongside interest and relationship, so determinng when your users are active is crucial.
Knowing when is the best time to post can be the difference between hundreds or thousands of engagements.
To find the best time to post on Instagram, we reviewed a range of data studies from social media tools and compared the data below.
It’s worth remembering that data like this is only a starting point and you should experiment to find what works for your audience.
The Best Time To Post On Instagram
Before you look at your specific audience, having an idea of general trends when Instagram users are posting is a useful starting point for you to experiment with.
We reviewed data studies from social media tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, HubSpot, and Later to gain insight into the best posting times.
Between them, they analyzed millions of posts to find when users are most active across different days and time zones.
What stands out is that each study and social tool shows a different day and time as the best time to post on Instagram. This highlights the importance of analyzing your niche and data to find the best times and what works for you.
Never take another study as the rule when you should post.
They are a guide only; putting in the time to experiment and analyze your data will help you get the best results.
Always be testing.
Best Time To Post On Instagram, Social Tool Data Studies Compared
Source Study
Hootsuite
Later
Hubspot
Sprout Social
Time Zone
Pacific time
Local time
Local time
Local time
Monday
12 p.m.
5 a.m.
7 – 9 p.m.
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Tuesday
9 a.m.
7 a.m.
8 – 9 p.m.
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesday
11 a.m.
3 a.m.
8 – 9 p.m.
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Thursday
11 a.m.
3 a.m.
9 p.m.
Friday
2 p.m.
7 a.m.
9 p.m.
9 – 11 a.m.
Saturday
9 a.m.
1 a.m.
6 – 11 p.m.
Sunday
7 p.m.
1 a.m.
4 -9 p.m.
Sources, June 2023:
HubSpot reviewed 110M posts across 1M Instagram users.
Sprout Social analyzed 2B engagements across 400,000 profiles.
Best Time To Post On Instagram By Location
If you have a global audience, you should be considering and posting at the best time for their time zone and not the time where you are.
If you are working across multiple countries, you should consider staggering posting across different time zones or trying to find overlaps between countries.
Plot what time your Instagram users are most active (see below) and then adjust for local time.
According to Hootsuite, the worst day to post is a Sunday.
Later and Sprout agree that Wednesday is one of the best days to post on Instagram.
Later thinks Monday mornings are all about “early to rise and early to post” for the best views and engagements.
Social Tool
Day of Week
Time To Post
Later
Monday
5:00 a.m. Local
Sprout Social
Tuesday & Wednesday
9/10 a.m. – p.m. Local
Hootsuite
Wednesday
11 a.m. PT
Source – as above.
Best Times To Post Reels On Instagram?
There is no doubt that video-based content is on the rise across all online platforms, including social media. TikTok has created an increasing market for short-form videos.
If you are experimenting with Instagram Reels, then according to:
Hootsuite, the best time to post on Instagram Reels is 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., Monday to Thursday.
SocialPilot, the best time to post is between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. from Monday to Thursday.
As I mentioned, this can take trial and error – and depend on your industry and target market.
What Time Are Instagram Users Most Active?
As a starting point, consider your audience and what sort of routine and habits they might have. For example, many people check their social media as soon as they wake up and before they start work.
This can vary depending on the demographic and age, but 7 – 8 a.m. (local time) is generally a good time for a morning post.
When people wake up, they often check social media, spending a couple of minutes or more scrolling through their newsfeeds or watching Instagram Reels.
So, around 7 – 8 a.m. can be a great time to post in the morning.
Another time when people are often on their phones is when they take their lunch break. Posting around 11 – 1 p.m., when people are likely to be breaking for lunch, can help ensure your post will make it closer to the top of their feed.
People also tend to scroll through social media right after work or before bed.
Don’t forget that posting times can depend on your target audience’s age, demographic, and industry.
Understanding your audience and demographic is critical as a starting point to consider what they might be doing during the day and what time they might be active in the evening.
Best Times To NOT Post On Instagram
Weekends tend to see lower engagement levels, but don’t count them out altogether. Saturday can be a decent time to post if you post at the right time.
Brands that offer consumer goods tend to see high engagement on Sunday evenings.
But the consensus has been that Sunday is generally the worst day to post on Instagram, as people are decompressing or preparing for the week ahead.
So, typically, they will spend less time scrolling through social media.
How Often Should You Post On Instagram?
That depends on a couple of factors.
First, do you have enough product images, content, and ideas to post a couple of times per day or week? The goal here is to post consistently.
On the other hand, don’t put content out there for the sake of posting regularly. Instead, spend time conducting a thoughtful customer journey-based content strategy.
That might take more time on the front end but it will help your content strategy as the weeks go on.
That way, you can spend more time managing social media and engaging with followers and less worrying about getting enough content out there.
If you don’t have an abundance of post ideas, try posting three times a week. Then you can adjust accordingly by measuring your ongoing insights.
How To Find The Best Time For You To Post On Instagram
Studies and shared data are useful as a benchmark and a starting point for you to test with your own posts.
To find the best times to post on Instagram for you, experiment and test different times to see when you get the best response.
You will most likely find that different types of posts will get different reactions at different times, and you will also want to experiment across a range of posts relevant to your audience and brand.
As we said above, think about creating a journey, aim for posting types of messages, and try to post content consistently to encourage follower expectations.
To help inform when you should be posting, you can check the following:
Evaluate your top-performing posts, measuring when they were posted and what you posted.
Check when your audience is online to know where and when your audience is online and active.
As an extension to when your audience is online, you must be aware of the different time zones your brand operates across and post at the times relevant to those time zones.
To measure most of the above, you can use Instagram Insights to get valuable data.
Using Instagram Insights
First, set up your account as a business or creator – that’s required to view Instagram Insights.
Once you have 100 followers, you can see your audience’s demographics: including the age, gender, and location of your followers.
Instagram Insights also gives you the ability to analyze high-performing posts.
When reviewing the data, ask yourself, what worked here? Was it a high-quality image? Was it the post time? Maybe it was the copy and hashtags? Or was it a mix of all of these?
Analyze and test. Analyze and test.
The only way to learn is to just keep experimenting with different ideas. It’s worth noting that some pieces of content just won’t perform well, while others do.
Don’t get hung up on creating something perfect. Just keep trying.
Other Social Media Tools
You can also use other tools like Brandwatch or Iconosquare to view analytics and schedule posts.
If you regularly post on Facebook, you can also use Meta Business Suite to schedule and analyze posts across both platforms in one place.
Check Competitors’ Content
Another thing you can do is check out your competitor’s content.
Look when your competitors are posting. For example, are their Tuesday 2 p.m. posts performing well, or was another time working better for them?
Analyzing the competition to see when they get the most engagement can be the best insight for a new brand when you don’t have history to measure.
Keep Testing And Be Consistent
Over time, the more content you have, the more accurate your Insights will be in analyzing your Instagram post strategy.
Then, you can change up your content strategy based on your systematic analysis.
Ultimately, you and the brand must determine what success looks like.
Maybe it’s more likes, comments, follows, or general brand awareness.
While posting times are a crucial part of overall engagement, you still need to select the right hashtags, visuals, and copy for your posts – and pay attention to promoted posts, as this can impact how you look at your Insights.
Ultimately, you must balance all these variables to grow your follower base and increase engagement consistently.
The important thing is to stay consistent. Post regularly and check back often to see how your posts are doing.
More resources:
Featured Image: PixieMe/Shutterstock
FAQ
What factors influence the best times to post on Instagram?
Determining the optimal posting times on Instagram is not a one-size-fits-all process. Several dynamic factors influence this timing, such as:
User Behavior: Audience activity patterns, which vary based on demographic, habits, and routines.
Time Zones: Geographic location of the audience which dictates the local times they are most active online.
Content Type: Different types of content, like images, carousels, and videos (including Reels), may perform differently at various times.
Social Media Algorithms: Platforms like Instagram prioritize recent content but also consider user interest and relational factors.
Industry-Specific Trends: Audience engagement can vary significantly depending on the industry or niche of the content being posted.
Competitor Activity: Understanding when competitors are posting can provide insights into potential optimal posting windows.
Experimentation: Testing different posting times and analyzing performance data to see which times yield the best engagement for your specific audience.
How can Instagram Insights help in determining the best posting times?
Instagram Insights is a valuable tool for content creators and marketers to understand their audience and optimize their posting strategy. Some ways Instagram Insights can assist include:
Audience Demographics: Insights into follower demographics such as age, gender, and location can help tailor content to the audience’s preferences.
Engagement Patterns: Information on when followers are most active on the platform allows marketers to post at times when their audience is online.
Content Performance: Analyzing which posts have the highest engagement can indicate which posting times are most effective.
Historical Data: Looking at trends over time to understand when your content typically performs best.
Optimization: Using insights to tweak and test different content schedules to find the best time to post for your brand.
By interpreting this data, brands can schedule posts to align with when their audience is most likely to engage, making their content strategy more effective.
What are the recommended considerations for brands posting across multiple time zones?
For brands with a global audience, considering multiple time zones is crucial to ensure consistent engagement. Some key considerations include:
Staggering Posts: Scheduling content to go live at optimal times in each target time zone to maximize visibility.
Overlap Identification: Finding time slots where multiple time zones have high engagement rates and posting during these windows.
Audience Analysis: Understanding the geographical dispersion of the audience and tailoring the posting schedule to their local peak times.
Content Localization: Customizing content to resonate with audiences in different regions, which may involve varying the content itself or the timing of posts.
Utilizing Analytics Tools: Employing advanced analytics and scheduling tools to manage and automate posting across time zones effectively.
These practices can help in creating an effective content calendar that addresses the global nature of the brand’s audience and fosters engagement from different regions.
Having trouble logging into Facebook and Instagram? It appears that both Facebook and Instagram have gone down. Users are reporting issues logging into either platforms.
Attempts to log into Facebook results in an unrecognized password.
Over Half A Million Reports Of Facebook Outages
The DownDetector website shows the outage beginning about 7:01 AM Pacific/10:01 EST, rapidly escalating to over half a million users reporting issues through the Down Detector website by a half an hour later.
Facebook Outage Reports By Users
Screenshot DownDetector
The unknown problem is affecting the ability to login and it affects both Facebook and Instagram on the web and the app.
Where Facebook Outage Affects
Screenshot Down Detector
Instagram Outage Reports
Perhaps reflecting the user base of Instagram and the likelihood of them reporting the outage, a smaller amount of users have reported the inability to use the site. By 8:40 AM PST there were only +92,000 reports of an outage at the DownDetector website.
Instagram App Outage
The statistics related to the Instagram users reporting an outage shows that most users who reported an outage reflects how they use Instagram. The clear majority of users are reporting an outage in the Instagram App.
Instagram App Affected
Sceenshot DownDetector
The reporting for Facebook shows that 75% of reports were about problems logging in, whereas that is only 12% of reports for Instagram.
Meta has announced new features for Instagram’s Direct Messaging (DM) platform to enhance user experience and foster better connections among friends and family.
The updates include editing messages, pin chats, toggling read receipts, saving favorite stickers, and personalizing chats with new themes.
Edit Messages Up To 15 Minutes After Sending
One of the most significant updates is the introduction of message editing. You can now edit their messages within a 15-minute window after sending them.
To make changes, press and hold a sent message and select “edit” from the dropdown menu.
This feature can assist with correcting typos or rephrasing messages for better clarity.
Pin Up to Three Chats For Easy Access
Instagram will soon allow you to pin up to three group or one-on-one chats to the top of your inbox for quick access.
To pin a chat, swipe left or tap and hold on a chat, then tap “pin.” You can unpin a thread at any time.
Customizable Read Receipts
Instagram now offers the flexibility to turn read receipts on or off for all chats or specific ones.
To adjust this setting, navigate to your account settings, tap “Messages and story replies,” and then toggle the “Show read receipts” option.
Enhanced Sticker & Reply Options
Instagram has introduced the ability to save favorite stickers in DMs for easy access. By pressing and holding on a desired sticker, you can save it for future use.
Additionally, when replying to a message, you can use stickers, GIFs, videos, photos, and voice messages.
To access these options, press and hold on the message you want to reply to and select “reply.”
Personalized Chat Themes
To further enhance the chat experience, Instagram has rolled out new chat themes.
You can set the mood for your conversations with a variety of themes, including the soon-to-be-animated “Love” theme, “Lollipop,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” and many more.
To change the theme for a chat, tap the chat name at the top, go into themes, and select one of the available options.
In Summary
As an Instagram user, you can now access a range of new features to enhance your messaging experience.
Take some time to explore these updates and see how they can help you better connect with people, express yourself, and organize your inbox.
FAQ
How do the Instagram DM updates improve user experience and communication?
Instagram has recently made several updates to its Direct Messaging (DM) feature, which aims to improve the user experience and facilitate more engaging communication. These updates include:
The ability to edit messages within a limited time frame
Pinning important chats for easy access
Customizable read receipt settings
Saving favorite stickers
Using various media types when replying to messages
Personalizing the appearance of chat threads with different themes
These changes provide users with more control over their messaging experience and offer new ways to express themselves while communicating with others on the platform.
What implications do the new Instagram DM features have for marketers and professional communicators?
Recent updates to Instagram’s Direct Messaging feature have several potential effects on marketing and professional communication strategies:
Easier message editing may result in more refined and professional customer interactions
The option to pin important conversations can help prioritize significant customer exchanges or collaborations
Flexible read receipt settings give brands more control over managing customer expectations for response times
Additional options for media replies can facilitate more engaging, personalized follower communications
Chat theme customization might be used to create distinctive branded environments for customer service
How can marketers leverage Instagram’s saved sticker and reply features to enhance customer engagement?
Instagram’s new features for direct messaging can be beneficial for marketers looking to enhance customer engagement:
Saved stickers can be used to maintain brand consistency and provide quick responses to customer messages.
Marketers can create more engaging and memorable interactions by incorporating various media types, such as GIFs, videos, photos, and voice messages, in their replies.
The new features can help streamline the process of responding to customer inquiries, enabling faster and more varied communication.
As one of the most popular social media networks in the world, Instagram is a crucial component of any digital marketing strategy.
Building an engaged community of followers on Instagram can go a long way in increasing awareness for your brand, establishing trust with consumers, and ultimately, boosting your bottom line.
But garnering followers on Instagram is easier said than done. And no – buying followers isn’t a great idea.
If you’re looking to gain more Instagram followers, but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, we’ll uncover 24 strategies to significantly increase your Instagram following by leveraging the right tools, tactics, and trends for maximum impact.
1. Develop A Dynamic Content Strategy And Editorial Calendar
We usually focus on ideas, delivery, and optimization when we create great content.
Sharing content on a brand’s Instagram account should be no different.
Building a community of engaged followers on Instagram is almost impossible without a dedicated content strategy.
This will help you understand what your goals are, who your audience is, what topics your posts will cover, and much more – which will then allow you to build a robust calendar of content.
It’s important to take time to brainstorm engaging content ideas that align with seasonal moments, cultural holidays, and tentpole events for your business or industry, as well as your overall traffic and company goals.
Having a library of ideas and a tentative schedule will keep you ahead of the game, so you don’t find yourself scrambling for what to post.
Your strategy should be flexible and responsible, allowing you to adapt to trends and audience feedback while still maintaining a consistent posting schedule.
Depending on your business and audience, it’s ideal for you to post at least several times a week.
While Instagram has undergone plenty of changes and evolutions over the years – and continues to do so – it remains, at its heart, a platform focused on visual content.
For brands, success on Instagram relies on capturing peoples’ attention – and the best way to do so is through high-quality, thumb-stopping visuals.
Remember that you only have a few seconds at best to pique someone’s curiosity in the Explore tab or on their feed.
Focus on posting high-quality content. This includes:
High-resolution, well-composed images, videos, and Reels.
Crisp audio that is easy for audiences to understand.
Accessible and legible text (in terms of sizing and color contrast).
Content that fits within Instagram’s recommended dimensions.
And more.
Avoid pixelation or cropping issues in your content; your brand should not be sharing images or videos that are blurry or have part of the content cut off.
This isn’t to say your content needs to be at the standard of National Geographic; it should just be of a high enough quality to compete on Instagram.
It’s not about spending lots of money or getting professional photographers, but making authentic and engaging content.
Low-quality content will not drive engagement and might even cost you followers.
Screenshot from about.instagram.com, February 2024
By now, we’re all aware: Social media users love video content.
The explosion of TikTok in recent years, as well as the continued dominance of YouTube, has proven the power that video wields in the social media space – and Instagram is no different.
The company has focused its attention on building out Instagram Reels, its competitor to TikTok – and thus, it often gives preference to Reels content when serving new content to users. By creating your own Reels, you’ll not just capture the attention of users, but appeal to Instagram’s algorithm.
Utilizing Instagram Reels and other videos on Instagram can significantly boost your impressions and engagement and, ultimately, attract new followers.
Just make sure your videos are interesting, concise, tell a compelling story, and that they are visually optimized for the platform and its dimensions.
On that note, do your best to stay on top of Instagram’s evolving features.
Right now, Instagram is more dynamic than ever, and the platform is continually introducing new features to enhance user engagement – and staying abreast of these can set you apart from the crowd.
Just like it pays to create Reels – as that’s a content format that the company is actively investing in – you will often find an increase in performance when you use the latest features and tools.
Keep an eye out for new functionalities such as enhanced or advanced Reels editing tools and options, new interactive stickers or features for Stories, new filters, and more.
Then, find fresh ways to adapt this to your target audience and content strategy – and get ready to welcome some new followers to the fold.
6. Leverage Instagram Analytics For Deeper Insights
An Instagram Business account is free; it gives you access to insights and analytics that tell you more about how your content performs with your Instagram audiences.
Within Instagram insights, you can track things like the number of accounts you’ve reached and engaged, your follower growth over time, and detailed metrics on the engagement generated by your different pieces of content.
You can even see things like metrics for individual Instagram Stories slides.
This data can all be incredibly useful in gaining insights into your audience’s behavior and content preferences, as well as the formats, topics, and types of content that drive the highest performance for you.
Use this to optimize your content calendar and posting schedule – and maximize your chances of expanding the size of your community.
Just like video has taken the social media world by storm over the past few years, so has ephemeral content.
After Snapchat burst onto the scene in 2011, ephemeral (or “disappearing”) content experienced a sudden surge of popularity – and it never really died down. In fact, it led to the creation of Instagram Stories, which are now an integral part of how people use Instagram.
For businesses, Instagram Stories offer a way to garner user attention and get your brands in front of your target audience.
Supercharge your Instagram Stories by making them interactive.
Leveraging features like polls, questions, quizzes, link stickers, and other interactive stickers in Stories can help you increase engagement and make your account more visible to a broader audience.
The more people who interact with your content, the more the algorithm will serve it to others, and so on.
In the past few years, Instagram SEO has become its own standalone strategy.
Where once social media platforms focused almost exclusively on the “newsfeed” for content discovery, they have now evolved to promote discoverability, in alignment with shifting user behaviors.
Instagram SEO refers to the strategy of optimizing your content on Instagram to make it easier for users to discover you on the social platform.
This means including keywords in your relevant content areas so that you’re more visible in Instagram search.
Areas where Instagram SEO applies include:
Bio: You should strive to include strong keywords, search terms, and hashtags here.
Profile name and Handle: Choose a name that includes keywords people might search for when looking for a brand or product like yours.
Alt text: These are text descriptions of visual content that help enhance accessibility and searchability on Instagram. From an SEO standpoint, it helps the platform “read” your visual content and potentially serve it to users who are searching.
Optimizing your profile and content for Instagram’s search function can help new users discover your account more easily, and boost your follower count.
On a similar note, you should optimize your profile so that users who do land on your account can quickly decide whether to follow you.
Your Instagram bio lets users discover who your brand is and whether they will follow you – so it typically features a description of your business (or tagline), a link to your website, any branded hashtags, and/or any calls-to-action (CTAs) you might want to include.
You might also want to include a link to a Linktree or something similar, which allows you to share multiple links to articles, webpages, etc., over time.
Let users know what you’re all about, but try not to sound desperate or come across as spammy.
Update this section as frequently as needed with new information.
Outside of your bio, you should focus on choosing a compelling and recognizable profile picture that will generate interest and excitement from users. If you’re not sure what to feature here, choose a high-resolution logo.
Another feature launched on Instagram recently is the collaborative post, which can be an excellent tool for garnering new followers.
Collaborative posts – or “Instagram Collabs” – allow two or more accounts to co-author content. One Instagram creator can post a piece of content, whether image or video, and invite another account as a collaborator.
Once that person accepts the invite, the post will be automatically shared with both accounts’ followers and show up on their profile, which essentially doubles the visibility of the post.
In this way, it’s a clever strategy to partner with other brands or individual influencers whose followings align with your target audience.
By sharing a collaborative post with them, you’ll get your brand in front of those followers, and hopefully convince them to follow you as well.
Speaking of influencers – it’s always worth considering influencer partnerships as part of your strategy to generate new followers.
Partnering with influencers is a popular tactic for a reason; it can be an effective way to gain visibility, tap into their established trust and loyalty, and reach new people.
While influencer partnerships aren’t new to Instagram, there has been a noted shift towards “micro-influencers” – smaller influencers with highly engaged communities – over macro-influencers with massive, but less active, audiences.
This is great news for brands, as it means they don’t necessarily need to have huge budgets in order to work with influencers.
Focus on finding the right influencers for you, whose values, messaging, and audience align with yours – and then put together creative partnerships to be successful on Instagram.
Screenshot from business.instagram.com, February 2024
Instagram Shopping, the platform’s ecommerce offering, is useful not just for driving sales but also for attracting new followers interested in your brand and products.
With Instagram Shopping, businesses can set up a digital storefront of sorts, and enable users to shop your brand’s photos and videos right in the platform.
If you’re a business with products that can easily be sold direct to consumers, this could be a great option for you.
And there’s plenty of potential here, given that nearly half of people say they use Instagram to shop weekly.
Once your Instagram Shop is set up, you can have plenty of options to customize it by adding new items, creating collections, and more. You also have the ability to tag products in your posts so that people can learn more and make purchases.
Tagging, in all its forms, is a great way to expand your reach on Instagram and drive new followers.
Below are a few ways you can use tagging strategically to broaden your exposure.
Tag People Or Brands In Your Posts
You can tag other brands or individuals in your content where it makes sense to drive engagement in a few ways.
Firstly, you might benefit from the authority or trust your audience has in said brand or individual if they are already familiar with them.
Additionally, whoever you tag might go out of their way to engage with that content, which could lead to a boost by the algorithm.
And lastly, tagging relevant accounts means you show up in their tagged feed.
Let’s say you own a fitness studio, and you take a group shot after a fitness class and tag every person in the photo. That post will then populate in the “Tagged” feeds of every person tagged – meaning their followers have the opportunity to see the post and discover your studio.
Use Location Tags To Reach Local Audiences
Another way to be discovered by users who aren’t already following you is to geotag your content.
You could use your actual physical location, so people can find you and see what you’re all about.
Alternatively, try using your city or a nearby (relevant) landmark that gets many searches. When people are searching for that nearby location, they can now come across your content.
If your content is doing exceptionally well, it can even be featured at the top of the search.
Tags improve searchability, as people are looking at locations for things to do and what’s going on in the area
This is also true for events. If you have a presence at a big event or simply want to reach people interested in that event, try geotagging your post with that location.
Another best practice for how to get followers on Instagram is to look at what your competitors are doing and learn from it.
Researching their accounts might reveal hashtags you didn’t think of, influencers you have yet to reach out to, or other strategies that can inform your own.
Also, note which of their posts are performing the best – that can serve as another clue as to what can work on your account.
Regularly analyze your competitors’ strategies to identify effective tactics and trends. Adapt these insights to your unique style and audience.
Screenshot from about.instagram.com, February 2024
As with any other social media platform, it pays to pay attention to what’s trending on Instagram.
From content formats to trending topics and even the most popular audio tracks, you should stay on top of what users are engaging with the most and see if there are ways to adapt it for your own content.
For example, is there a particular meme format that’s taking Instagram by storm right now? Are you seeing the same photo of Taylor Swift adapted for different jokes or brands?
Think about whether it makes sense for you to jump into the conversation and perhaps reach people that are already part of it.
Similarly, engage with content in your Explore tab to see what’s performing well. Are there specific types of Reels that seem to be very popular? Or a type of creator that you’re seeing more of?
Staying on top of this will help guide you in the right direction to make your content pop.
If you want people to engage with you and your content, start by doing so yourself.
Make an effort to authentically engage with your community. This includes following, liking, and commenting on the content of your followers and others, but it’s more than that.
You should be focusing on having genuine interactions with people, not just clicking “like” and moving on.
Strategically engage with users who might be interested in your brand. This could be potential customers, brand allies, current followers, or even people who are posting similar content and using the same hashtags as you.
The more you engage, the more you’ll show up in other people’s feeds and get noticed.
Plus, it shows you’re an authentic, real account who believes in reciprocity!
Accessibility is a non-negotiable when it comes to Instagram content – and ensuring your content is accessible could mean the difference between someone following you, or just continuing on with their day.
To make your content accessible, focus on ensuring that all text is legible (even on a mobile phone screen), that you’re considering color contrast, and that you provide captions for any video or audio content.
Try to steer away from packing a ton of text into an image post. Not only will it be hard to read on a small screen – especially for those with vision challenges – but it can also just be a visual eyesore.
Use text sparingly and strategically in your images to add context or highlight key points. Everything else you need to say can go in the caption!
Nobody wants to open up Instagram and be confronted with a bunch of brand logos and not much else.
Stamping your logo on your Instagram posts can disrupt your content and your users’ experience – and doesn’t always provide much incentive to follow you.
While it’s totally okay (and often recommended) to include your branding or logo on a post, be thoughtful about how you do it and how often.
Always lean towards subtle branding. Rather than overt logos, opt for branded colors, themes, or background elements to create brand recognition.
The more you can make your content feel authentic and organic, the more likely it is that people will want to follow you – as they won’t be worried about having their experience disrupted.
21. Use The Right Hashtags To Capture New Audiences
Using hashtags on Instagram will get you in front of new audiences searching for the type of content you’re posting, whether they’re following you or not.
If you have a local business, make sure to include local hashtags, as well.
Take the time to research hashtags and find the best ones for your particular content, as well as those that get the most traction.
You can manually search hashtags within Instagram and see how many posts have been made around that word.
Hashtagify.me is also an excellent tool for finding hashtags that are getting a lot of attention. You can type in your primary hashtag, which will show you its reach, related hashtags and their reach, all the hashtags related to those, and so on.
Bear in mind that you want to use popular hashtags, but you should also consider how much competition you’ll have for any given post.
How Many Hashtags Should I Add To An Instagram Post?
While you can add as many as 30 hashtags to a post, that can quickly look spammy.
And while we’re on the topic, try creating a branded hashtag for your next event.
It will give your brand exposure, curate a unique stream of all the content from your event, and allow others to connect and engage with your brand and other people at the event.
Leading up to the event, you can use your branded hashtag to promote the event, and after that, you can use it to post follow-up content.
23. Use Instagram Ads To Get In Front Of Your Audience
If you really want to increase your follower count, consider devoting ad spend to running Instagram ads.
With Instagram ads, you can turn any of your existing Instagram content into paid ads easily. Beyond that, you can target your ads to specific audiences so the right people see them and track ad performance.
With various ad formats available, you’re able to tailor your ads to meet your marketing goals – whether that’s driving website traffic, generating brand awareness, or, of course, boosting followers – and reach new audiences.
Instagram ads are managed within Ads Manager. To get started, you’ll need a Facebook Business Page, which will give you automatic access to an Ads Manager account.
Then, you can begin creating Instagram ads directly in the Ads Manager platform.
Getting verified on Instagram (or any other social media platform) is a great way to boost engagement.
The little blue tick gives your brand credibility, trust, and authenticity. While only some will qualify for Instagram verification, it’s worth submitting a request.
Getting verified is one more way to stand out from your competition and deliver a trust signal that your business is real.
While there’s no surefire way to gain followers on Instagram (without buying them, which we don’t recommend), these tips are your best path forward.
By posting high-quality content, making use of the latest trends and features, and prioritizing the value you can provide to Instagram users, you will expand your reach, drive exposure for your brand, and entice new audiences to follow you.
Try leveraging as many of these tips as you can, and you’ll set yourself up for success on one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.
Screenshot by author, July 2025
Screenshot by author, July 2025
Screenshot from author, July 2025
Screenshot by author, July 2025
