21 Content Ideas for Your Instagram Marketing Account

Content Ideas for Your Instagram Marketing Account

Here’s something we can both agree on: Content ideas generation is the most challenging part of running a business page on Instagram for many social media marketers. With 200+ million business accounts sharing 100 million photos and videos each day, developing creative posts ideas that regularly engage the audience looks daunting.

Numbers speak volumes:

According to statistics, an average brand posts on Instagram four times per week. To stand out on this plumbless sea, you need to keep your content fresh all the time.

But what to post on Instagram besides Stories, product photos, or news from your brand? How to get creative with your business account to engage users and communicate your brand values?

In this post, you’ll find the list of 20+ content ideas for your Instagram account. Feel free to use it as a checklist whenever you feel stuck and don’t know what to publish next.

You may also like to read: Best Instagram Followers Apps for Getting Real Followers

21 Content Ideas to Post on Your Instagram Account

We’ve gathered these content ideas in one place for you to forget the “What should I post on Instagram today?” question once and for all. You can leverage each of them for your brand, add them to your Instagram content plan, or refer to this list when thinking about the strategy for your next Instagram marketing campaign.

So, let’s dive right in!

#1: Product Displays

It’s one of the best options for brands to promote their products to a broader audience. You can post a shot of models using your products or just share high-quality images of them on a surface, adding your shoppable hashtags in captions.

However, do your best to make product images eye-catching and authentic. Get creative with photos: let them tell a story and help users imagine what it would look like to use your brand.

#2: Brand Journey

Tell your brand story to the audience: how you started, what challenges you met on your way, what you did to deal with problems, and so on. Brand storytelling is a powerful technique to build user trust and loyalty and inspire them to action. 

It’s not about writing autobiographies but short stories on your steps to success. You can format such Instagram posts as carousels or create a series of posts, with each one covering a particular period.

#3: Behind the Scenes

Make your brand look more human in the eyes of customers. Instagram posts sharing your working day, product creation process, or special event are perfect for building a genuine connection with your audience.

Show them what happens “behind the scenes” of your business, but make sure your posts look honest: A stolid picture of a cup of coffee near a laptop or artificial-looking scenes of your office will look fake. Be authentic, friendly, and fun.

#4: Tutorials

One of the best methods to engage the audience and make them confident of trying your product is to show them how it works and how to use it. Craft a how-to or DIY video, create a carousel post with instructions, design an appealing infographic — help your followers solve a problem related to your niche.

Are you a cafe? Show them how to make a cappuccino. Teach them to apply makeup if you’re a cosmetic brand. The audience will appreciate the added value their favorite brand brings on social media.

You may also like to read: 1000 Instagram Followers Free Trial to Get Real, Organic Followers

#5: Seasonal Posts

We all love the holiday spirit, so it’s the perfect time to post something corresponding to your Instagram account. Create a calendar of major holidays in advance and prepare visuals you’ll share during that time. Consider relative hashtags to increase visibility and reach: #christmasshoping, #happynewyear, #blackfridaydiscounts, and many others do wonder.

General seasonal posts like the first snow or summer vacations also work. But do your best to research your target audience’s demographics to ensure they’ll join the holiday spirit your Instagram account brings.

#6: Meme Trends

Humor can help make your Instagram posts viral and your brand — more memorable. Make your audience smile or laugh, and they are likely to share your content hundreds of times. Memes work best for this goal, especially if they are up-to-date and what your followers love.

Design humorous memes in the forms of text, image, or video but ensure they are relevant to your business and the tone of voice you use to communicate with the audience. Just don’t re-use outdated jokes; stay tuned.

#7: Questions

This content type is great to share for user engagement. Just ask a question related to your business and encourage the audience to answer in the comments. Their answers can help you learn and understand your prospects better. More than that, they can share some insights for you to improve your product or services; or, they may share ideas for your future Instagram content.

But try asking simple questions that don’t require long answers or too much thought. It will maximize engagement: People love sharing their opinion, but they don’t want to spend much energy on social media.

#8: Inspirational Quotes

People love reading quotes, especially if they inspire them or motivate them to take action. If you lack Instagram content ideas, you can post sayings from your CEO, employees, customers, favorite celebrities, and others.

But make sure they are relatable for your target audience and designed to hook their attention.

You may also like to read: Best Instagram Unfollow Apps to Bulk Unfollow Accounts

#9: “Before” and “After” Posts

It has been a standard marketing approach for years, and now Instagram has become the perfect platform for this type of content. Create an image, a short video, or a carousel post showing visitors the result of using your product:

For health and beauty brands, it may be posting about personal transformation (muscle gain, hair color change); for home decor businesses, publications demonstrating changes from a renovation will be the best option, etc.

#10: Giveaways and Discounts

These posts are your chance to boost engagement and get new loyal followers for your brand. Giveaways encourage people to comment on your content, share it with their audience, tag friends, and participate in your proposed activity.

Ensure you host Instagram giveaways right: flag this event in the bio for users to see, offer a relevant prize, add the word GIVEAWAY to captions; well, you know what to do.

#11: Influencers

Influencer marketing continues to call the shots, so why not consider it to draw some extra attention to your brand? Start working with influencers, especially with those whose views and niches relate to yours most. Thus you’ll get more exposure and social proof.

First, you need to find Instagram influencers and agree on collaboration: share their posts mentioning your brand, publish their photos in your feed, you name it. With a limited marketing budget, consider working with micro- (up to 100,000 followers) or even nano- (up to 1,000 followers) influencers: Their audiences are loyal, and they often create more authentic content. Working with influencers is another great way to reduce SaaS churn rate indirectly. They can spread the word about your brand and engage their followers with you

Users are happy to read reviews before joining your brand community or buying your products. It’s your chance to build social proof and turn your customer reviews into beautiful Instagram posts. And do your best to design it according to your brand identity: use brand colors, come up with an appealing background — thus, you’ll hook users and make them stop scrolling their feeds to read your post.

#12: AMA Sessions

Instagram helps brands connect with their audience, personalize their funnels, and look more authentic in prospects’ eyes. Help your followers solve problems by sharing the Instagram post that would invite them to AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions. They’ll get a chance to ask questions and get answers from your brand representatives directly.

You may also like to read: Know and Beat Instagram’s Daily Limits

#13: Carousels

Post multiple images in a row to create a sensation of a story for users. Informative carousels on Instagram improve engagement, engaging followers to spend more time on a post, and are a great tool to share information that can’t be represented as a Story or a caption. 

Plus, multiple-picture Instagram posts are easy to navigate, and you can delete one image out of multiple if necessary.

#14: Illustrations

To strengthen your brand communication, consider sharing engaging illustrations on Instagram. It can be an infographic, a funny chart, or a creative display of your best-selling products. Think of custom templates for such pictures: They perform best when consistent in style and speaking your brand’s voice and tone with the audience.

#15: User-Generated Content

You can monitor brand mentions on Instagram and share your followers’ content on your business page. User-generated content on social media is a big deal, and many brands like Canon or GoPro actively use it for their marketing campaign:

It helps build social proof and trust, engages the audience in communication, and makes businesses look human-centric.

#16: Latest Events

Feel free to support current events happening in the world if they relate to your business, audience, or are what your brand stands for. Follow the lead of major brands that always share solidarity with world events like Me Too, BLM, Pride Month, and others.

Or, if your brand hosts some events, document it via Instagram for your audience. Share short videos, carousels with the best moments, or individual images summarizing your conference, webinar, or whatever you have.

You may also like to read: How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram

#17: Statistics

Design some numbers related to your brand or product in the form of appealing infographics, timelines, or graphs. It can be a post about your accomplishments, some exciting information about your niche, or random facts that would be interesting for your target audience to check.

#18: Contests

Along with giveaways and discounts, contests on Instagram are a great instrument to get Instagram followers, engage them in communication with your brand, and influence your account’s metrics for better visibility and organic growth.

Think of what participants should do, provide them with clear instructions, and choose the prize you’ll offer to picked winners.

#19: Brand Views

Most users want to see authenticity, sustainability, and social responsibility from brands to follow them and become their loyal customers. Don’t hesitate to share this side of your business with the audience: Instagram posts on climate change, women empowerment, or any other values your brand stands for will help gain trust and attract the audience with the same values.

#20: Busting Myths

Create Instagram posts to help the audience understand your niche better and get rid of some myths or prejudices about it. Such publications are informative and helpful, and they work great to build social trust. Make a list of notions the audience might believe, but that isn’t true about your brand or niche — and add it to your Instagram content calendar.

You may also like to read: How to Mass Delete Instagram Posts with an IG Post Deleter

#21: Interactive Content

Consider content types like polls, puzzles, quizzes, or games for more extended engagement and exciting communication with your target audience on Instagram. They catch attention, motivate users to participate, and thus keep your account active. Think of topics relevant to your niche, get creative — and voila!

Final Words on Best Content Ideas for Your Instagram Marketing

So now that you have this list of Instagram content ideas for your business account, it’s time to leverage them for your brand and see which ones your audience will like most. Here’s a quick recap:

  • Craft engaging posts to communicate with the audience and listen to them: ask questions, organize IG polls, motivate them to participate.
  • Don’t be shy to demonstrate the human side of your brand: share “behind the scenes” photos, introduce your team, tell about your achievements and failures, share your brand story.

Authenticity is what users value on Instagram today. Show them who you are, be honest and friendly — and they’ll follow you.

You may also like to read: How to Mass DM on Instagram Easily with a Bulk Message Sender


Author:

Lesley Vos is a seasoned web writer who helps peers develop the confidence and skills for better content creation and promotion. Don’t hesitate to read her works on the Bid4Papers blog to discover the world of college writing, and feel free to get in touch on Twitter.