Instagram isn’t only a go-to social networking for individuals anymore. Many marketers have captured wind that it’s a strong social network where they have to have some sort of presence. 
The particular platform’s heavy focus on visual content like photos, videos, illustrations, and GIFs has become a critical way for manufacturers to communicate their own story and information. Plus, it’s an excellent way for businesses in order to humanize their brand name, recruit future workers, showcase their products and content, and pleasure and engage customers.
Check out these types of 18 ideas meant for videos, photos, along with other content you can write-up on Instagram. (And for more inspiration, take a look at our list of the best brands to follow on Instagram. )
18 Content material Ideas for Movies, GIFs & Photos to Post on Instagram
1 . Behind-the-Scenes Content
Instagram is a great platform to get humanizing your brand, and giving your own audience a sneak peek at what goes on behind the scenes is one way to do that. It’s also a good way to display followers what really like to work right now there, which is great for your recruiting efforts.
Here’s an example from your Boston Red Sox, showing what batting practice looks like close-up (with a really cool, fish-eye shot).
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Plus here’s one from the small arts and crafts store called Cherry Tree Beads. We love how this one uses the hashtag #employeetakeover to share one of the faces behind the brand, providing followers the chance to get to know who’s on the inside.
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Pro Tip: Posting genuine photos of your work environment can help humanize your company and allow your customers for connecting with your employees, which can translate into stronger brand loyalty.
second . User-generated Content
Some of the best photos on brands’ Instagram accounts are curated simply by fans and fans. (In fact, FedEx’s Instagram feed is nearly entirely made up of curated photos. )
Check out the posts people have tagged you in, and if you love all of them, consider reposting them to your followers. Not only does it make the unique poster feel good, it also shows everyone that you have been listening to your followers. Just be sure the pictures you’re reposting are high-quality and that a person @-mention the original poster in your caption.
Here’s a reposted image from ASOS. Make a note of how they write the caption: They compose an entirely new caption, which includes a tidbit about how their followers can get featured on their Instagram page (by using the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe). Then, they credit the initial poster using the digital camera emoji and the poster’s username.
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To repost a photo on Instagram, you can simply screenshot plus crop it. You may also repost a photo for your Instagram story simply by tapping the talk about icon below the particular post you want to repost and tapping “Add video to your tale. ”
several. Inspirational or Motivational Quotes
Some individuals poke fun at the number of quotes on Instagram. But if you post them sparingly, they tend to encourage your followers. If the post speaks for your audience, people like to share it plus tag their close friends in the comments. Quotes are also a great chance to share what your own brand stands for, whether it’s spiritual, inspiring, humorous, or something else.
To create a quote image, you’ll want to download a good app that enables you to upload a photo plus overlay it with text. Here are some great ones:
- Canva: A free app that you can use to create graphics along with text overlays to talk about on social media.
- Phonto: A free app that you can use to overlay text on photos with text resizing, alignment, and setting tools.
- Snapseed: A free app with professional photo modifying tools that sets fonts with different picture filters.
You may also create a quote submit through your Instagram tale. To create a quote write-up on your Instagram tale, simply upload a picture from your gallery to use as a background plus add a text overlay of the quote.
Here are a few examples of estimates done well, starting with this one from TheSkimm. The key to this post’s success is that they have hilarious to their particular audience — which shows that the quotation doesn’t have to be fancy to delight people.
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Here’s a more beautifully designed quote from activewear brand Lorna Jane, which bears an empowering message from their founder:
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Pro Tip: Want to play around with words and pictures? WordFoto is a $2 app that lets you turn your pictures into images made from words instead of just incorporating words on top of pictures.
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4. Interesting Statistics
Another cool way to overlay text on an image is certainly by posting the statistic that resonates with your audience. Use statistics from your own analysis or finding some relevant to your information, your value task, and so on. (Read your blog post to learn just how and where to find precise, compelling data. )
Here’s an example from the meditation application Headspace, with a simple text box overlaying a colored, nondescript background.
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5. Well-timed or Current Events Posts
Is certainly something cool taking place in the world or the nation where your target market lives? A specific vacation? National Puppy Time? Get in on the activity by posting something delightful. Remember to use good judgment when newsjacking — the last thing you want to do is publish inaccurate information or offend anyone.
What are some examples of delightful, timely blogposts? Here’s one from a Mediterranean restaurant known as Cava Mezze Barbeque grill to celebrate Halloween.
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And here’s a enjoyable example from Starbucks for National Croissant Day.
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Pro Tip: Set up Google Alerts to get notified of breaking news associated with your business’s industry. News stories are a great source of inspiration for timely social media content.
6. Amusing Images or Movies
If you can create your followers laugh, they’ll likely take pleasure in your photo — and may even share it with others. After all, sometimes probably the most memorable photos are the ones that make all of us laugh.
Consider posting photos plus images you think can make your audience chuckle like Oreo do with this fake text conversation with “Milk. ”
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Here’s an additional example from BuzzFeed Parents, which shows how simple a super shareable post can be.
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And in this one through Pabst Blue Bow. All they did was put a clear case of Pabst beer on a dog’s head, and it worked well like a charm.
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7. Persuasive Drawings or Images
Have any artists on your group? One way to stand out within a sea of pictures is to post an awesome, compelling illustration. They will not even have to be super fancy — take a look at this simple, black-and-white example from Oreo:
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Here’s a more complex one from Pabst Glowing blue Ribbon:
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8. Content Promotions
Attractive images are essential to your Instagram online marketing strategy because they tell a story and draw people in. Colored visuals increase people’s determination to read a piece of content material by a whopping 80 percent.
So if if you’re creating a piece of persuasive written content like a formula, a report, or a post, why not use a visible platform like Instagram to promote it?
Simply pair a fascinating and relevant image with a caption that promotes the content, after which ask people to follow the link in your bio or post explanation. (Again, be sure to create that link trackable. )
Here’s an example from Staples that promotes their hard-copy planners with regard to National Planner Time:
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And here’s an example from Nature’s Path Organic, which shows off the finished product of a recipe which is linked in their bio:
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9. Product Marketing promotions
Instagram genuinely the place to publish product-centric posts every day — but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to showcase products every once in a while. We suggest using the 80/20 guideline on social media: 80% of the content you post to social media marketing should be helpful and valuable to your audience, and 20% can be self-promotional.
Producing promotional content that is fun, compelling, and lovable is much more important when posting on Instagram. To highlight a specific item, post a picture or video about it, then tell people where they can find the product using the product names and codes or perhaps a trackable link in your bio.
Here is an example from the on the web clothing company ASOS. (Check out exactly how casual and cool the caption will be. )
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Here’s another from Frank Entire body, which uses a picture and some humor within the caption to pick up followers’ interest in the product without being overly promotional.
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Pro Suggestion: When you post is almost because important as that which you post. We recommend posting to Instagram on Saturdays in the mid-to-late afternoon.
10. Compelling Movies, Reels, and Stories
Instagram users can record plus upload videos as much as 60 seconds long, reels of multiple video clips that are each as much as 15 seconds long, plus stories composed of images and short video clips that disappear right after 24 hours.
When executed well, movies, stories, and fishing reels are a great way for your Instagram content to stand out. You can record a video from scratch (including recording several video clips) or even upload videos for your feed, stories, or reels from your phone’s library the same method you’d upload a photo.
Professional Tip: By default, every Instagram video will start actively playing without sound — after which viewers can pick whether or not to turn the sound on. Because of this, you will have to upload videos that don’t need sound to be well comprehended or entice people to turn the sound in the first second or two.
Here’s a great video through Purina that delights viewers with some adorable puppy love.
11. Hyperlapse Video clips
Want to use video to stand out from the crowd whilst also solving for the followers’ short attention spans? Try developing a Hyperlapse video.
Hyperlapse is a free of charge app by Instagram that condenses video clips into brief, moving, hyper-speed videos. The videos use built/in stabilization technology in order to film these time-lapse videos without maintaining your hands still. (Want to make your own? Listed below are step-by-step instructions. )
Here’s one of our favorite examples, which usually comes from Starbucks.
12. Fun, Lighthearted GIFs
GIFs are everywhere nowadays, and people love them because they help accurately convey ideas, text messages, thoughts, and feelings in a snackable (and often laughable) way. On Instagram, you are able to upload a GIF just like a video (as long as that it is less than 60 seconds long).
Check out the examples of GIFs on Instagram below for some motivation. (Click here for guidelines for creating your own animated GIF using Photoshop. ) Here’s a good example from Staples.
And one from Starbucks.
13. Contests and Giveaways
Are you trying to support the launch of the new product? Contests are one of the best ways to increase your reach plus engage your local community on Instagram. A study by Tailwind found that hosting an Instagram contest or even giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% quicker over three months than not holding the contest.
Instagram doesn’t make taking leads and info from your followers easy, but a contest or giveaway is one way to do it.
Just be sure to call your fans to take action by using the room in your caption to explain the contest as well as guide them to a hyperlink in your bio.
Pro Suggestion: Make the link trackable so that you can see how much traffic your own Instagram post is definitely driving. Learn how to put in a trackable link to your Instagram bio simply by reading #6 with this blog post.
There are many, many different types of competitions you can post upon Instagram. Here are a few tips, starting with the one beneath from Social Print Studio. Their call-to-action asks for comments around the post, from which they’ll choose winners.
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Here is one from Main Well Being Studio requesting people to enter the contest by liking the post and following their accounts. Participants can receive an extra entry by sharing the posting to their Instagram story and tagging Main Well Being Studio.
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fourteen. Mosaics
Very few brands use this approach, but it’s a very cool, unique user experience. It’s also a clever way to get users to visit your business’ accounts page.
Most of your followers won’t look at your Instagram photos from your account page, as they’ll typically look at all of them in their Instagram give food to.
When you start rolling through the images below from MyStory Wiesbaden in your feed, it might take you a second to find out what’s happening. MyStory Wiesbaden posted thoughts of a tattoo, which is a cool teaser that will entices you to go to their main accounts page, where you can view the full picture.
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15. Asks to “Tag A Friend. ”
While you can tag friends on Facebook and Twitter blogposts, it happens the majority of regularly on Instagram. There’s a culture close to tagging your friends if you see a post that will resonates with you or even reminds you of someone. This helps you both increase engagement and broaden your reach.
If you want to encourage your own followers to share the particular post with other people, sometimes all you’ve got to do is ask. In the caption, include a call-to-action asking people to tag their friends and give them the prompt to do so.
For example , the publish below from Lease the Runway requests followers to “Tag your future RTR BFF! ”
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Our write-up below from HubSpot asked followers in order to tag their workplace coffee buddy.
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On this cute video through Headspace, they questioned followers to tag someone they like to help celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Similar to asking your followers in order to tag a friend, you can ask them to “double-tap, inch which is how your own followers can the photo or video. The standard language for a request like this is usually: “Double-tap if… inch
In the example below from The Parentologist, she asks supporters to double-tap if they’re looking for a last-minute gift for a parent, which is a fun way to engage her followers.
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16. Reposts Out of your Employees
Reposting your employees is an awesome way to showcase what happens behind the scenes at your company, while actually helping your followers “bond” with the people that work there.
For example , the people behind the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Recreation area account often repost photos and videos from their coffee grounds crew.
Change has a really cool method: They repost Instagram content from their workers, who function as brand name lifestyle ambassadors with accounts specifically related to New Look. Their deputy manager @newlook_georgia plus their dress designer @newlook_emilie are a couple of New Look’s employees who act as brand name ambassadors.
As the main New Look accounts posts mostly their own content, they often repost from their employees, similar to the image below.
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17. Cross-promotion of An additional Social Media Account
Cross-promotion of various other social media accounts on Instagram is a great method to let your Instagram followers know where else on social media marketing they can find you. That way, you can get your own Instagram followers to become your followers upon Facebook, Twitter, and so forth.
18. “We’re Hiring. ”
Finally, let your followers know you’re hiring every every now and then by posting an easy call-to-action on your Instagram page, including the trackable link to your own jobs page within your bio.
Below is an example of a “we’re hiring” post from Arey’s Pond Boat Yard:
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Post Just like a Pro
Now that we’ve gone over several tips to get your creativity flowing, it’s time for you to create a post of your. Use these articles ideas for Instagram to increase brand attention and connect with your community in brand new ways.
Editor’s note: This short article was originally released in October 2019 and has been up-to-date for comprehensiveness.
