Instagram is a powerful tool to increase your brand’s engagement on social. But inconsistency often comes between those efforts to make it big on The Gram! What if you can find new Instagram post ideas and publish exciting content quickly enough to make a lasting impression on your audience?

In this post, we bring 51 creative ideas on what to post on Instagram and increase engagement as you do it.

What to Post on Instagram: 51 Creative Instagram Post Ideas

1. Answer an FAQ

If you receive some commonly asked questions about your business, take them as an opportunity to post on Instagram. A creatively crafted post on one of the questions your audience mostly wonders about is a great tactic to win those sitting on the fence.

You can even invite questions from your community and answer them over a series of Instagram posts, something like this post from a popular beauty influencer bregha:

2. Product Demo or Display

Your product or service offerings are a big part of why your Instagram followers show up on your page. You can demonstrate or display your products or services in a clever, engaging way. Use compelling backgrounds, high-quality images or videos and highlight how your products solve your audience’s problem.

Here’s a template to help you take the first step:

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3. Product Sneak Peek or Launch

Launching a new product or service? Focus on positioning it on your Instagram right with sneak peeks and previews. Highlight the qualities of your new product and tell the world the advantages it offers as you generate excitement around it.

Take a look at how Zara publicized its new launch in this eye-catching Instagram post:

4. Client Testimonial

Customer testimonials and reviews can help build trust and social proof. You can be creative with your Instagram content by weaving customer testimonials, reviews, and positive feedback into posts and sharing them with your followers. In addition, you can share quotes or videos from happy clients on using your products or services and how they fix their pain points.

Here’s a template from Wave.video you can try:

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5. Share UGC

One of the most excellent Instagram post ideas to increase engagement is incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your social media strategy. People love to see other people using your products and services. Along with making your brand seem more authentic and reliable, it also adds to some brand love from existing customers.

You can share your followers’ images or videos while using your products and services or put a spotlight on your most loyal customers. Starbucks keeps winning us over with their UGC posts on Instagram, like this one:

6. Recent Project

To acquire and retain followers on Instagram, don’t underestimate the power of your existing clients. Apart from posting UGC, you can also share pictures or videos of a recent successful project to grab more eyeballs – just like atelier riri has done in this post:

7. Past Project

As long as we are sharing projects, go back to your old projects and put up the images/videos of some of your favorite work. It’s an incredible way to generate hype and get more engagement by asking people what they think of your portfolio.

Need an example? Look at this amazing piece of art shared by artist aiko fukawa on their Instagram page:

8. Request for Feedback

Nothing makes your target audience feel more special than inviting views and opinions about your work. So, ask for feedback from your Instagram followers and follow through with the advice you receive. From inviting ideas on the next product upgrade they’d love to see to asking for help deciding the top seller from a particular product category, ask them what they think.

See how Stylevana does that in this post:

9. Travel

Even if you’re not a travel vlogger, you can always resort to travel photos or videos to ramp up audience engagement and lighten up your page with some fun content.

Need help to craft that perfect Instagram travel post? Check out this template from Wave.video:

Customize this template

10. Countdown

An exciting way to make an announcement on Instagram is through countdowns. Add a simple photo or jazz it up with a countdown sticker to encourage your followers to get a reminder when D-day comes.

Here’s how Orangetheory Fitness Brooklyn Park dials up their audience’s anticipation with a countdown:

11. Blog Promotion

Your brand’s Instagram marketing efforts should utilize blogs to foster long-term conversations. To this end, you can post an image or video telling your audience about your latest blog post and build a readership through personal connections.

Find out how The Maker Designer Kitchens does it by informing their audience on what they’ll learn by reading their recent blog post and sharing its link in the bio to access:

12. Video Promotion

If you’re a video creator or YouTuber, consider posting an image on Instagram from your latest video and promoting it with a quirky description to direct views to your video. Learn the ropes by checking out this post from MrBeast:

13. Extreme Sports & Stunts

Yet another way to increase your engagement on Instagram is to share stunts or clips featuring extreme sports, if that’s relatable to your niche. GoPro aces this post type with stunning footage. Check this out and see it for yourself:

14. Tutorials and How-to Videos

Want to teach your audience something that you’re good at? Why not spread your knowledge through Instagram posts? Pick this idea to showcase your talent or help your followers understand how you do what you do.

Take a cue from this catchy makeup tutorial template from Wave.video:

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15. Behind-the-Scenes

Customers appreciate transparency and sharing what goes behind-the-scenes builds brand credibility and affinity. So, you can let your Instagram followers sneak a peek into your workplace or the making of your product or service.

The key is to stay authentic as you create Instagram posts that highlight exclusive information about your brand. See how video creator Michael Cioni does that in one of his posts:

16. Infographics

Sharing statistics in a fun way can help you deliver information without losing audience interest. Create an infographic for Instagram to turn data into shareable content like Pull & Pour Coffee can be seen doing in one of their posts:

17. Podcast Promotion

Striving to cultivate a community of listeners through your podcast episodes? Promote them on your Instagram page to expand your audience and spark conversations around the topics you care about. In addition to promoting new podcast episodes, you can also direct your Instagram followers to older ones and unearth the audience you’ve been looking for.

Check out this editable video template from Wave.video which can work great in driving new subscribers:

Customize this template

18. Caption this or Fill-in-the-blank

Increasing engagement becomes easier when you ask people to pitch in developing your brand content. Posting images with “caption this” or “fill-in-the-blank” prompts are definite conversation builders. Just ensure that you ask for thought-provoking entries that are beyond the ordinary, like Homer, Alaska does here:

19. Workspace-related Posts

With the ever-evolving workspace landscape, a tried-and-tested tactic is to give your audience a glimpse into your office. How do you bring results and spend time creating the things that add value to your customers’ lives? Show them what it takes to build your brand, like the_ghome does in one of her posts:

20. Introduce your Team

Like your workspace, your audience would love to learn about your team. So, if yours is not a one-person show, humanize your brand by bringing your team to the front. For example, you can spotlight a team member every month and share their story briefly.

You can also start a program to appreciate your staff members and introduce the winners like The Royal Richmond Hotel does in this post:

21. Hyperlapse Video

Transform the otherwise boring, regular images into a hyperlapse video and present a product or idea in a fresh way. Take this video from thewildiswaiting as an example:

22. Photo Dump

Instagram’s photo dump doesn’t need an introduction. A fixture on most feeds, it’s an easy way to amp up engagement. Take your favorite photos and dump them on your page to drive engagement like video creator Emily can be seen doing here:

23. Listicles

Viewers love to go through listicles, either in carousel posts or videos. However, the bar is high for listicle content and you must create exciting first slides to get the viewers to pause and engage with the content. To help you, Wave.video offers stunning listicle templates like this one:

Customize this template

24. Offers and Promotions

Offers and promotions can help you attain new customers and retain the existing ones. Regularly post your offers and promotions to spread the word and make the buying journey shorter. For example, this post from Zuma Nutrition informs their followers about current offers:

25. Process

Now, more than ever, people love to learn things online. Sharing a clip or photo of your work process acts as a determining factor on whether to engage with your brand. You can put a video depicting the steps you take to complete a project or create a series of posts for each step.

Check out how artist OKSANA SCHÖNDESIGN shares this fantastic process video:

26. Fun Social Posts

Still wondering what to post on Instagram? Share fun posts on your page and reach customers in a more engaging, personal way than regular posts. This bright Wave.video template allows for fun to make way to your Instagram followers:

Customize this template

27. Habits or Personality Traits

Instagram users like to consume content that delivers value to them. If you’ve built a personal brand and your followers would love to know you better, share a habit or a personality trait with them, like entrepreneur Ed Mylett often does on his page:

28. Holiday Post

As a brand aiming to further audience engagement, you can’t afford to ignore holidays. Prepare a social media calendar with holidays marked for the entire year, pick the ones that are related to your niche and add them to your Instagram editorial plan. It’s a sure-shot trick to gain traction on days that matter to your audience.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to add holiday-related hashtags to further your posts’ reach.

Here’s a template from Wave.video to get you going:

Customize this template

29. Throwback or Flashback

It’s always amazing to see how far we have come in our personal or professional lives. So, post an old photograph or video to share how your brand has evolved over the years. Celebrate your little achievements and the hard work you have done in making your brand what it is with “throwback” or “flashback” posts like UNICEF does here:

30. Influencer and Celebrity Endorsement

Collaborate with an influencer and tap into their audience by posting about the collaboration on your Instagram page. You can also go for celebrity endorsements to boost your marketing campaigns and get your brand in front of a new group of people.

Take a leaf from Reebok’s book as they team up with Cardi B for their new collection and publish a post about the same on their feed:

31. Event Promotion

Kick your events off with Instagram posts and improve your audience engagement as you draw attention to your upcoming events. From webinars to conferences, workshops and even meet-and-greet events, you can promote them all using Wave.video’s event promotion templates for Instagram, such as this one:

Customize this template

32. Thought Leadership

Every industry has certain myths and controversial facts that need to be busted. There are also some challenging topics that are not discussed as often. If you want to position your brand as an industry authority and build social trust, showcase your expertise through an image or video, as Collective has done here:

33. Ask a Question

Put a little effort into knowing your audience better by asking them questions. Apart from giving you ideas about future content, it also drives engagement. For example, you can ask your followers what they like or dislike about your product or service. Or, just pose a simple question about your audience to break the ice as positivelypresent does here:

34. Tips or Hacks

Similar to tutorials, tips and hacks help your audience learn something new. Be it something you do differently from others or some information you have as an industry insider, tips and tricks never go out of fashion.

For example, at Wave.video, we share 22 awesome tips to become more comfortable in front of the camera:

35. Timeline

If you have been a part of the industry for many years, coming up with a timeline post is an excellent way to share your milestones with your followers. CEW UK has done it well on their 30^th anniversary. Take a look:

36. Challenges

Challenges work on the “attract, delight, engage” model and bring more views and comments to your Instagram page. Create challenges that pique your followers’ interest and are easy enough to involve them. This one from Asana Rebel is a perfect example:

37. Job Opening or Hiring Posts

This list of what to post on Instagram would not be complete without hiring posts. If your followers include your ideal team members, ensure you attract the right talent through Instagram posts centering around current job openings.

You can ask the candidates to DM you, follow the link in your bio to a Google Form with relevant questions, apply on your website or follow the link on your Instagram stories like smartly done in this post from thesmallbusinesshandbook:

38. Tell a Story

Storytelling is an integral part of Instagram conversations. People love to learn from others’ experiences. So, win your audience and add a human touch to your brand by sharing a story or an anecdote from your business journey.

Inspire, entertain or educate your followers using this Instagram post idea and build connections beyond social. Here’s how Lindsey from createdcolorful used storytelling to inspire moms all around the world with her brand’s journey:

39. Recipe Videos

One of the winning entries to this list of Instagram post ideas, posting a recipe video is a great way to engage your audience. You can either include the steps in the description or add a link to the full recipe video in your bio.

Wave.video brings you many recipe video templates for Instagram. Here’s one such easy-to-edit template that you can work on to create your mouth-watering recipe video:

Customize this template

40. Before & After

Before and after Instagram posts are evergreen marketing assets for brands involving transformations.

You can show your followers how the product/service results after you put in your efforts. But back it up with a great description of how you achieved the intended results. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of curly hair care by digital creator Molly:

41. Puzzles & Quizzes

Interactive content like puzzles and quizzes helps you remain top of mind for your followers and works excellently in improving engagement. Create exciting quizzes to keep your audience hooked and drive conversations by making participation fun and more straightforward.

Learn a thing or two from this word search puzzle by Subway:

42. Contests & Giveaways

With an Instagram contest or giveaway helping you grow your followers 70% faster, it makes sense to include them in your Instagram feed. Besides increasing engagement, hosting giveaways also assists with brand awareness. Just make sure you keep the contests easy enough to boost participation, like Shoes & Sox:

43. Thank You

Make an emotional connection with your audience by thanking them for their likes, comments, shares, follows and even purchases. A simple thank you post (with or without an offer/discount) can build brand loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.

Four Little Monkeys Co brought it down to brass tacks with this superb thank you post that leads to more emotionally connected customers:

44. Share a Tool

Love using a particular tool for your work? Help your audience see success more quickly by sharing a tool they can benefit from. Although this post works great for affiliate codes, you can keep it authentic by sharing your genuine review about the tool.

You can even share a tool that you crafted, listing the entire process as marksengineering does in this post:

45. Quotes

Quote posts are a great way to move out of the inconsistency rut. While you can always share others’ quotes and keep your audience’s feed motivational yet enjoyable with viral-worthy thoughts, you can occasionally share your own words of wisdom. Make sure that the quotes you post resonate with your brand’s mission.

Need some inspiration? Here’s a stunning video quote template from Wave.video you can edit and add to your Instagram page:

Customize this template

46. Stats & Numbers

Did some research that’s pretty useful for your followers? Add the stats or numbers to a post and share the insights in an interesting way like Upwork can be seen doing here:

47. ASMR

If your followers like ASMR-style posts, try giving them a unique virtual sensory experience by including soothing ASMR on your Instagram page and break free from the ordinary posts. Learn how to do it best with Microsoft:

48. Art & Craft

Another way to gain new followers and increase engagement on your Instagram page is by posting art and craft posts if they fit your niche. From sketches to doodles, calligraphy and DIY posts, a lot can be shared to leave a good impression on your audience.

Take a look at this city sketch by artist Pedro Barahona Rodríguez which he shared on his Instagram feed and garnered thousands of views in just a couple of days:

49. Memes

Oh, who doesn’t enjoy a good meme? Posting occasional memes on your Instagram page is a fantastic way to encourage followers to browse through your content. With a tendency to go viral faster than other types of content, memes are not just fun but also high on engagement.

So, the next time you want to add something new and interesting to your page, craft an original meme or repurpose an existing one to suit your industry and audience. You can even create a gif from a video and make entertaining content in a few simple steps.

Looking for a meme template? Here’s a super fun one to get started:

Customize this template

50. Industry Trends

Share a post on industry trends to establish brand authority. Besides boosting visibility, such content can be your brand advocate as well. However, a caveat here is to avoid jumping on trends that are not relevant to your business or don’t resonate with your audience. Instead, stick to trends in your niche to strike the right chord in the hearts of your followers.

Find out how wmevfitnessclub does it with this post on the latest gym trends:

51. Cause-Related Posts

If you’re wondering what to post on Instagram, an interesting idea is to share your contribution to your favorite cause. Cause-related marketing is a wonderful way to represent your brand’s values and build customer loyalty.

For example, this post from UNIQLO Global where they tell the world how they recycle used garments through their circular sustainability programs:

Over To You

We created this super-awesome list of Instagram post ideas to help you make the most of your Instagram marketing efforts. So, if you have your work cut out for you when deciding what to post on Instagram, this list will come in handy.

Go ahead, prepare a content calendar, create mesmerizing posts using Wave.video, and engage your audience like a pro.

And if you are looking for some terrific Instagram poll ideas, here’s a must-read: 14 Easy and Creative Instagram Poll Ideas for Your Stories.