Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 2 billion monthly users. That represents a big opportunity for businesses and marketers to connect with their prospective customers.
In fact, it is not just a social media platform anymore, but also a place for people to discover new products, connect with their favorite brands, and shop.
However, there is a lot of competition on the platform and it is difficult to stand out. That is why we have curated this list of some brilliant Instagram post ideas that can help you ace your Instagram game.
These are 13 great Instagram post ideas that you should definitely try out in 2024.
13 Instagram Post Ideas You Need to Try in 2024:
1. How-to Content
Benefit: Establish yourself as an industry expert.
This is one of the most effective types of content and works almost on all platforms. You can use this type of post to guide your audience on how to use your products. It can also be about new and innovative ways of using your products.
For food and beverage businesses, this would be in the form of recipes. For the beauty industry, it could be in the form of a product tutorial.
Essentially, most businesses can find some form of “how-to” content that their audience will be interested in. This, not only drives engagement on your post, but also establishes you as an industry expert.
2. Sneak Peek
Benefit: Create buzz around upcoming products or events.
These types of posts are used to create buzz around your upcoming product launches or events. You can show a picture of an upcoming product, without revealing too much information about it. And, you can ask your audience to guess what it could be. This will also have the added benefit of getting more comments on your post.
You can also use this to give a sneak peek of an upcoming brand event and get more people to attend it.
3. High-Quality Pictures
Benefit: More views and engagement on Instagram.
No matter how many smart tactics you try with your Instagram posts, you can never underestimate the importance of pictures. High-quality, visually-appealing pictures attract people and make them interested in checking out your content.
This type of posts are especially good at standing out from other posts on a user’s feed and immediately grab attention.
Such posts are most useful for businesses in a creative field like travel, design, home decor, fashion, etc.
Here’s an example of the home decor brand, Havenly, that simply posts beautiful pictures on its Instagram feed and has managed to build a massive following.
4. Product Displays
Benefit: Get people interested in your products and get conversions.
A lot of people go to Instagram to discover new products and even shop. Instagram has evolved into a mainstream retail channel and not just a social-sharing platform.
That is why many businesses are now using it to display their products and even get leads and drive sales. The Shoppable Posts feature makes this even more effective as you can not just get people interested but also direct them to your website to buy the product.
Here’s an example of such a post by the shoes brand, Vans.
5. Pop Quizzes and Puzzles
Benefit: Get more engagement on posts.
If your aim is to simply get more likes and comments on a post, then there’s nothing better than to ask your audience a question. Quizzes work because they not only engage your audience but also get them to share their responses.
The same is the case with puzzles as they generate curiosity among people to find and share the answer. The sense of competitiveness that it evokes in people is what makes such posts truly effective.
See this quiz post, for example, which got several comments as answers.
6. Illustrations
Benefit: Generate engagement and show products in use.
Illustrations are basically images that show a concept and explain it in an easy-to-understand manner. They look interesting and immediately stand out from other types of images on a user’s feed.
People, almost always, feel the need to read the text on an illustration. Such posts are very good at grabbing your audience’s attention and engaging them. Needless to say, the concept explained through such illustrations should be relevant to your brand or niche.
You can also show ways to use your products by creating an illustration. Any type of “how-to” content can be shown in the form of an illustration.
Here’s an example from a mattress brand that posted this illustration on how to get better sleep. It’s useful for their audience, relevant to their niche, and engaging.
7. Caption This
Benefit: Get more comments.
These are the posts where you post a random, often weird, image and ask people to caption it. And, if the image is interesting enough, chances are that people actually will. These can be used as filler posts that you can post from time to time to improve your engagement rates.
8. Behind-the-Scenes Pictures or Videos
Benefit: Humanise your brand and form better connections with your followers.
These are the posts where you post pictures or stills from your brand events or from inside your office. These often show your employees doing their jobs or some fun activity. It could also show things that went into the making of a product or advertisement or preparations for an event.
This is especially helpful for IT or services companies that are not usually customer-facing. Such posts help show the faces behind the brand and help humanise the brand.
Here’s an example where the computer giant, Dell, has posted behind-the-scenes pictures from a workshop.
9. Memes
Benefit: Drive engagement and establish a fun brand voice and image.
Memes are fun and engaging and can be used to help you engage your audience in an effective manner. These can also be used if you want to people to think of your brand as fun and humorous.
Regular use of memes or other humorous content in your posts sets your brand voice and tone. Some brands use humour in all their content to keep a consistent brand voice and maintain that brand image.
10. Contests and Giveaways
Benefit: Increase in followers and engagement.
Contests and giveaways are very useful if you want an immediate rise in your follower count or get a lot of engagement on your post. Brands generally set some conditions for people to participate in the giveaway that help drive engagement.
You can ask them to comment on the post, tag their friends, and follow your social media accounts. So, you get more followers as well as great engagement all from a single post.
Here’s an example of a giveaway.
11. Tips, Tricks, and Hacks
Benefit: Drive engagement.
This type of posts is great to provide your customers with innovative and alternative ways to use your products. This is not the same as simply showing your products in use, but actually thinking of out-of-the-box ways to use them.
A lot of Instagram accounts simply focus on such DIY crafts and have amassed tons of followers by only posting such content. However, it’s not limited to just DIY pages and anyone can use this type of post to engage their followers. Here’s an example.
12. Cause-Based Marketing
Benefit: Establish a clear brand image and connect with consumers.
These posts are usually part of a long-running campaign that uses cause-based marketing. The intent behind such posts and campaigns is to strike a nerve with your target audience and improve your brand image.
Dove, for example, is a brand that often shares such posts. They have long been associated with female empowerment and breaking beauty standards. Their target customers are women, who associate with the cause and, therefore, this strategy works for the brand.
13. User-Generated Content
Benefit: Build better customer connections and establish a positive brand image.
Last, but definitely not least, is using user-generated content for your posts or reposting customer posts. This strategy is good for so many reasons.
First, by reposting user posts, you make them feel special and help strengthen their relationship with your brand. Second, it provides you with free content that you can simply post without putting any effort into creating that content.
Another benefit of user-generated content is that it is considered more authentic than branded content. People believe other people promoting a product more than they would believe a brand promoting its products.
Daniel Wellington, for example, is a brand that often reposts pictures of its customers wearing its watches.
Wrapping Up
These are some really interesting and effective Instagram post ideas for you to try in 2024. You can use a combination of these to revamp your Instagram feed and get more followers and engagement.
Pick the ones that you like best and see which ones work best for your audience. Good luck!
