Instagram is not only a go-to social community for people anymore. Many entrepreneurs have caught wind that it is a highly effective social community the place they should have some form of presence.
The platform’s heavy emphasis on visible content material like pictures, movies, illustrations, and GIFs is turning into a crucial approach for manufacturers to speak their story and message. Plus, it is a superb approach for companies to humanize their model, recruit future staff, showcase their merchandise and content material, and delight and have interaction clients.
Take a look at these 18 concepts for movies, pictures, and different content material you possibly can publish on Instagram. (And for extra inspiration, take a look at our record of the most effective manufacturers to observe on Instagram.)
Issues to publish on Instagram
- Behind-the-Scenes Content material
- Person-generated Content material
- Inspirational or Motivational Quotes
- Fascinating Statistics
- Well timed or Present Occasions Posts
- Humorous Pictures or Movies
- Compelling Drawings or Graphics
- Content material Promotions
- Product Promotions
- Compelling Movies, Reels, and Tales
- Hyperlapse Movies
- Enjoyable, Lighthearted GIFs
- Contests and Giveaways
- Mosaics
- Asks to Tag A Good friend
- Reposts From Your Workers
- Cross-promotion of One other Social Media Account
- We’re Hiring.
18 Content material Concepts for Movies, GIFs & Images to Put up on Instagram
1. Behind-the-Scenes Content material
Instagram is a good platform for humanizing your model, and giving your viewers a sneak peek at what goes on behind the scenes is a technique to try this. It is also a great way to point out followers what it is wish to work there, which is nice in your recruiting efforts.
Here is an instance from the Boston Purple Sox, exhibiting what batting apply appears like close-up (with a extremely cool, fish-eye shot).
And this is one from a small arts and crafts retailer known as Cherry Tree Beads. We love how this one makes use of the hashtag #employeetakeover to share one of many faces behind the model, giving followers the possibility to get to know who’s on the within.
Professional Tip: Posting candid pictures of your work surroundings will help humanize your enterprise and permit your clients to attach along with your staff, which might translate into stronger model loyalty.
2. Person-generated Content material
A few of the finest pictures on manufacturers’ Instagram accounts are curated by followers and followers. (In truth, FedEx‘s Instagram feed is virtually totally made up of curated pictures.)
Take a look at the posts folks have tagged you in, and in the event you love them, take into account reposting them to your followers. Not solely does it make the unique poster really feel good, but it surely additionally reveals everybody that you simply’re listening to your followers. Simply make certain the pictures you are reposting are high-quality and that you simply @-mention the unique poster in your caption.
Here is a reposted picture from ASOS. Pay attention to how they write the caption: They write a wholly new caption, which features a tidbit on how their followers can get featured on their Instagram web page (by utilizing the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe). Then, they credit score the unique poster utilizing the digicam emoji and the poster’s username.
To repost a photograph on Instagram, you possibly can merely screenshot and crop it. It’s also possible to repost a photograph to your Instagram story by tapping the share icon beneath the publish you need to repost and tapping “Add video to your story.”
3. Inspirational or Motivational Quotes
Some folks poke enjoyable on the variety of quotes on Instagram. However in the event you publish them sparingly, they have an inclination to encourage your followers. If the publish speaks to your viewers, folks like to share it and tag their buddies within the feedback. Quotes are additionally an ideal alternative to share what your model stands for, whether or not it is religious, inspiring, humorous, or one thing else.
To create a quote picture, you may need to obtain an app that allows you to add a photograph and overlay it with textual content. Listed below are some good ones:
- Canva: A free app that you should use to create graphics with textual content overlays to share on social media.
- Phonto: A free app that you should use to overlay textual content on pictures with textual content resizing, alignment, and positioning instruments.
- Snapseed: A free app with skilled photograph modifying instruments that pairs fonts with completely different photograph filters.
It’s also possible to create a quote publish by means of your Instagram story. To create a quote publish in your Instagram story, merely add a picture out of your gallery to make use of as a background and add a textual content overlay of the quote.
Listed below are a number of examples of quotes performed properly, beginning with this one from TheSkimm. The important thing to this publish’s success is that it is hilarious to their particular viewers — which reveals that the quote does not should be fancy to thrill folks.
Here is a extra fantastically designed quote from activewear model Lorna Jane, which carries an empowering message from their founder:
Professional Tip: Need to mess around with phrases and pictures? WordFoto is a $2 app that allows you to flip your photos into photographs made from phrases as an alternative of simply including phrases on prime of pictures.
4. Fascinating Statistics
One other cool option to overlay textual content on a picture is by posting a statistic that resonates along with your viewers. Attempt utilizing statistics from your individual analysis or discovering some related to your message, your worth proposition, and so forth. (Learn this weblog publish to learn the way and the place to search out correct, compelling information.)
Here is an instance from the meditation app Headspace, with a easy textual content field overlaying a coloured, nondescript background.
5. Well timed or Present Occasions Posts
Is one thing cool occurring on the planet or the nation the place your goal market lives? A selected vacation? Nationwide Pet Day? Get in on the motion by posting one thing pleasant. Bear in mind to make use of logic when newsjacking — the very last thing you need to do is publish inaccurate data or offend anybody.
What are some examples of pleasant, well timed posts? Here is one from a Mediterranean restaurant known as Cava Mezze Grill to have a good time Halloween.
And this is a enjoyable instance from Starbucks for Nationwide Croissant Day.
Professional Tip: Arrange Google Alerts to get notified of breaking information associated to your enterprise’s business. Information tales are an ideal supply of inspiration for well timed social media posts.
6. Humorous Pictures or Movies
If you may make your followers giggle, they will possible take pleasure in your photograph — and should even share it with others. In any case, typically essentially the most memorable pictures are those that make us giggle.
Attempt posting pictures and pictures you assume will make your viewers giggle like Oreo did with this faux textual content message dialog with “Milk.”
Here is one other instance from BuzzFeed Dad and mom, which reveals how easy an excellent shareable publish may be.
And on this one from Pabst Blue Ribbon. All they did was put an empty case of Pabst beer on a canine’s head, and it labored like a appeal.
7. Compelling Drawings or Graphics
Have any artists in your workforce? One option to stand out in a sea of photographs is to publish a cool, compelling illustration. They do not even should be tremendous fancy — take a look at this easy, black-and-white instance from Oreo:
Here is a extra advanced one from Pabst Blue Ribbon:
8. Content material Promotions
Lovely photographs are crucial to your Instagram advertising technique as a result of they inform a narrative and draw folks in. Coloured visuals improve folks’s willingness to learn a chunk of content material by a whopping 80%.
So in the event you’re creating a chunk of compelling written content material like a recipe, a report, or a weblog publish, why not use a visible platform like Instagram to market it?
Merely pair an attention-grabbing and related picture with a caption that promotes the content material, after which ask folks to observe the hyperlink in your bio or publish description. (Once more, make sure you make that hyperlink trackable.)
Here is an instance from Staples that promotes their hard-copy planners for Nationwide Planner Day:
And this is an instance from Nature’s Path Natural, which reveals off the completed product of a recipe that is linked of their bio:
9. Product Promotions
Instagram is not the place to publish product-centric posts day by day — however that does not imply you possibly can’t use it to showcase merchandise each infrequently. We propose utilizing the 80/20 rule on social media: 80% of the content material you publish to social media must be useful and precious to your viewers, and 20% may be self-promotional.
Making promotional content material that’s enjoyable, compelling, and lovable is much more necessary when posting on Instagram. To spotlight a particular product, publish an image or video about it, after which inform folks the place they will discover the product utilizing the product names and codes or a trackable hyperlink in your bio.
Here is an instance from the net clothes firm ASOS. (Take a look at how informal and funky the caption is.)
Here is one other one from Frank Physique, which makes use of a picture and a few humor within the caption to pique followers’ curiosity within the product with out being overly promotional.
Professional Tip: Once you publish is sort of as necessary as what you publish. We recommend posting to Instagram on Saturdays within the mid-to-late afternoon.
10. Compelling Movies, Reels, and Tales
Instagram customers can report and add movies as much as 60 seconds lengthy, reels of a number of video clips which can be every as much as 15 seconds lengthy, and tales composed of photographs and quick movies that disappear after 24 hours.
When executed properly, movies, tales, and reels are a good way in your Instagram content material to face out. You may report a video from scratch (together with recording a number of video clips) or add movies to your feed, tales, or reels out of your telephone’s library the identical approach you’d add a photograph.
Professional Tip: By default, each Instagram video will begin taking part in with out sound — after which viewers can select whether or not or to not flip the sound on. Due to this, you may must add movies that do not want sound to be properly understood or entice folks to show the sound within the first second or two.
Here is an ideal video from Purina that delights viewers with some cute pet love.
11. Hyperlapse Movies
Need to use video to face out from the gang whereas additionally fixing in your followers’ quick consideration spans? Attempt making a Hyperlapse video.
Hyperlapse is a free app by Instagram that condenses movies into transient, shifting, hyper-speed movies. The movies use built-in stabilization know-how to movie these time-lapse movies with out conserving your arms nonetheless. (Need to make your individual? Listed below are step-by-step directions.)
Here is considered one of our favourite examples, which comes from Starbucks.
12. Enjoyable, Lighthearted GIFs
GIFs are in all places these days, and other people love them as a result of they assist precisely convey concepts, messages, ideas, and emotions in a snackable (and infrequently laughable) approach. On Instagram, you possibly can add a GIF similar to a video (so long as it is lower than 60 seconds lengthy).
Take a look at the examples of GIFs on Instagram beneath for some inspiration. (Click on right here for directions for creating your individual animated GIF utilizing Photoshop.) Here is an instance from Staples.
And one from Starbucks.
13. Contests and Giveaways
Are you making an attempt to assist the launch of a brand new product? Contests are probably the greatest methods to increase your attain and have interaction your neighborhood on Instagram. A research by Tailwind discovered that internet hosting an Instagram contest or giveaway will help you develop your followers 70% quicker over three months than not holding a contest.
Instagram does not make capturing leads and data out of your followers straightforward, however a contest or giveaway is one option to do it.
Simply make sure you name your followers to take motion by utilizing the house in your caption to clarify the competition and even information them to a hyperlink in your bio.
Professional Tip: Make the hyperlink trackable so you possibly can see how a lot site visitors your Instagram publish is driving. Learn to add a trackable hyperlink to your Instagram bio by studying #6 on this weblog publish.
There are numerous, many various kinds of contests you possibly can publish on Instagram. Listed below are a number of concepts, beginning with the one beneath from Social Print Studio. Their call-to-action asks for feedback on the publish, from which they will select winners.
Here is one from Root Effectively Being Studio asking folks to enter a contest by liking the publish and following their account. Individuals can earn an additional entry by sharing the publish to their Instagram story and tagging Root Effectively Being Studio.
14. Mosaics
Not many manufacturers use this tactic, but it surely’s a extremely cool, distinctive person expertise. It is also a intelligent option to get customers to go to your enterprise’ account web page.
Most of your followers will not take a look at your Instagram pictures out of your account web page, as they will sometimes take a look at them of their Instagram feed.
Once you begin scrolling by means of the pictures beneath from MyStory Wiesbaden in your feed, it could take you a second to determine what’s occurring. MyStory Wiesbaden posted snippets of a tattoo, which is a cool teaser that entices you to go to their essential account web page, the place you possibly can see the total image.
15. Asks to “Tag A Good friend.”
When you can tag buddies on Fb and Twitter posts, it occurs most often on Instagram. There is a tradition round tagging your folks in the event you see a publish that resonates with you or reminds you of somebody. This helps you each improve engagement and broaden your attain.
If you wish to encourage your followers to share the publish with others, typically all you have to do is ask. Within the caption, embrace a call-to-action asking folks to tag their buddies and provides them a immediate to take action.
For instance, the publish beneath from Lease the Runway asks followers to “Tag your future RTR BFF!”
Our publish beneath from HubSpot requested followers to tag their workplace espresso buddy.
On this cute video from Headspace, they requested followers to tag somebody they love to assist have a good time Valentine’s Day.
Much like asking your followers to tag a buddy, you possibly can ask them to “double-tap,” which is how your followers can like your photograph or video. The usual language for a request like that is: “Double-tap if…”
Within the instance beneath from The Parentologist, she asks followers to double-tap in the event that they’re on the lookout for a last-minute reward for a dad or mum, which is a enjoyable option to have interaction her followers.
16. Reposts From Your Workers
Reposting your staff is an superior option to showcase what occurs behind the scenes at your organization, whereas actually serving to your followers “bond” with the individuals who work there.
For instance, the folks behind the Boston Purple Sox’s Fenway Park account usually repost pictures and movies from their grounds crew.
New Look has a extremely cool strategy: They repost Instagram content material from their staff, who operate as model life-style ambassadors with accounts particularly related to New Look. Their deputy supervisor @newlook_georgia and their costume designer @newlook_emilie are a few New Look’s staff who act as model ambassadors.
Whereas the principle New Look account posts largely their very own content material, they usually repost from their staff, like within the picture beneath.
17. Cross-promotion of One other Social Media Account
Cross-promotion of different social media accounts on Instagram is a good way to let your Instagram followers know the place else on social media they will discover you. That approach, you will get your Instagram followers to develop into your followers on Fb, Twitter, and so forth.
18. “We’re Hiring.”
Lastly, let your followers know you are hiring each infrequently by posting a easy call-to-action in your Instagram web page, together with a trackable hyperlink to your jobs web page in your bio.
Here is an instance of a “we’re hiring” publish from Arey’s Pond Boat Yard:
Put up Like A Professional
Now that we have gone over some tricks to get your creativity flowing, it is time to create a publish of your individual. Use these content material concepts for Instagram to extend model consciousness and join along with your neighborhood in new methods.
Editor’s observe: This text was initially printed in October 2019 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
