When You Need Content for Instagram Marketing

If you’re social media team is lacking content ideas for your brand’s Instagram, take a look at this list of 10 ideas that will hopefully spark some inspiration!

1. Host a contest or giveaway.

This is definitely one of the easiest ways to engage your Instagram followers. Who doesn’t love winning free product from a company? When you host a contest or giveaway, make sure to call your followers to action by writing a caption that contains all the information on how to win your giveaway or contest.

Here is an example of how Dormify, a lifestyle product company, promoted their most recent giveaway. Dormify calls their followers to take action and enter the giveaway by directing them to click the link in their bio.

Image: Dormify Instagram

2. Ask your followers a question. 

Use your content to engage in conversation with your followers. Asking a question and, more importantly, asking for a reply will create a dialogue. It’s also a great way to get feedback from your followers when you ask questions specifically geared towards what your company could do to improve.

Here, HubSpot posted a fill in the blank question and asked their followers to leave their answers in the comments below. This is a great way to start a discussion amongst your followers and create more connections.

Image: HubSpot Instagram

3. Post something funny.

Funny Instagram posts definitely get sent back and forth between users in their direct messages, especially when they’re relatable. Humorous posts are extremely engaging and create a reaction from your followers. Make sure that your funnier posts still relate to your company and showcase your brand’s personality.

TheSkimm is a subscription newsletter that provides subscribers with daily news updates centered around a variety of different topics. Their goal is to make the way they relay news more engaging and easier to read. TheSkimm does a really good job in this post by creating a funny, relatable way to talk about LeBron James’ new docu-series called “Shut Up and Dribble”.

Image: TheSkimm Instagram

4. Create videos to promote your product. 

Instagram videos are great to showcase every aspect of your product, as well as your brand’s personality. There are so many directions you can go when creating video content for your Instagram feed. From behind-the-scenes videos to short tutorial videos, the options are endless.

Coca-Cola, for example, created a weekly video series called “One Last Summer” as another way to promote their #ShareACoke campaign. They showed clips from the series on their Instagram and provided a link in their profile to the full video.

Image: Coca-Cola Instagram

5. Repost your followers.

Definitely check out posts from followers that you’ve been tagged in. Reposting your followers’ content is a great way to show support and create engagement between your brand and your customers. Make sure to pick high-quality content and give credit to the original source.

Starbucks frequently reposts Instagram pictures from fellow Starbucks lovers, and they always make sure to tag the original follower who posted the picture.

Image: Starbucks Instagram

6. Post inspirational quotes to inspire your followers. 

Posting quotes that are relevant to your brand can inspire your followers to move forward and purchase your product or service. Sometimes your followers might just be searching for an additional piece of motivational and inspirational content to help them progress through the buyer’s journey.

Rent the Runway posted a quote from Gloria Steinem that is motivating and inspiring. It sparked a lot of engagement in the comments. Followers commented their love and support for the quote and for Rent the Runway.

Image: Rent the Runway Instagram

7. Share behind-the-scenes content.

Behind-the-scenes content is one way to show off the company culture and the work that goes into making your company successful. Followers are interested to know what a day is like at the companies they like so they can get a feel of what kind of company they are getting involved with.

Microsoft posted a behind-the-scenes look of Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, at CBS promoting his new book.

Image: Microsoft Instagram

8. Promote your other social media accounts on Instagram. 

When you post about another one of your social media accounts, it calls your followers on Instagram to migrate over to your Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. You want to drive as much traffic as you can across all of your social media accounts.

HubSpot reposted one of their Tweets on their Instagram account, which motivates their followers to go respond to the tweet on Twitter and look at some of the other Twitter content.

Image: HubSpot Instagram

9. Create content around holidays or other celebrated days.

There are a TON of different types of special days to be celebrated around the world. For example, National Book Day wasn’t long ago and a lot of social media posts were centered around books and reading. Creating content centered around different holidays and other celebrated days will show what your company cares about and what you support.

For example, Coca-Cola created a cool graphic of a woman holding a coke bottle for National Women’s Day.

Image: Coca-Cola Instagram

10. Ask your followers to tag their friends in the comments. 

Post pictures where your current followers can engage their friends in the comments. Not only could this increase your follower count, but it spreads the message of what you’re promoting in the post.

Dunkin’ Donuts, for example, asked their followers to tag their friends to let them know that they were giving away one free donut with a purchase of a beverage.

Image: Dunkin’ Donuts Instagram

Next time your social media team is generating content for Instagram, take a look at these 10 Instagram ideas. Hopefully, they will motivate and help your team create engaging and creative content for your followers.