12 Best Instagram Post Ideas You Must Know in 2020
Do you want to consistently publish highly engaging Instagram posts? Would you like some Instagram post ideas that you can use again and again?
One of the best things about Instagram is the variety. You can publish different types of posts such as stories, in-feed posts, highlights, live videos, and IGTV videos.
Even though there are multiple posting options, people prefer publishing more in-feed posts. As everyone has gotten accustomed to publishing and interacting with them on other networks. Also, there are so many types of content you can post in the feed.
Therefore, to help you regularly publish more top quality in-feed posts consistently, I have shared my top Instagram post ideas below…
Quotes:
One of the easiest posts you can create is a quote post. All you require is a photo editing tool and a background image. You can simply find a quote on a site like Goodreads or by analyzing your competitors’ accounts to see which of their quote photos get the most engagement. Then you can take a quote and overlay it on a relevant image and schedule it onto Instagram.
It’s that easy. And people love quotes. So you will generate a ton of engagement. The only thing you need to be careful about is finding a quote that is relevant to your brand. Other than that these are very easy to create. Several online photo editors even have templates for Instagram quote images. All, you need to do is copy and paste the quotes and schedule them.
Here’s an example of a simple quote image from Lululemon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CD99AAYJKGb/
Anyone can create something like this in a few minutes.
Anyone can create something like this in a few minutes. The team at gaming site Solitaired started posting quotes from their users about why they found solitaire is so relaxing. Not only did they engage their community by sourcing user generated content, but these quotes were liked and engaged with more than any other type of content they had posted. Sharing quotes that resonate with your audience, in this case why people love a classic game like solitaire, can go a long way to drive engagement.
User-generated content:
Want an Instagram post idea that will save you time?
People love looking at user-generated content. It’s because it is real. When your customers take a natural photo of themselves using the products it seems more real than an extremely professional photo.
Publishing user-generated content can also help solidify the relationship between your company and your followers and customers as they will feel like a part of your company.
So, always be on the hunt for user-generated content. You can easily find these posts by getting customers to use special hashtags. Most will do that if you let them know that you will publish their post on your page. They all want their 15 seconds of fame.
Even if they forget to do that, you can use a social listening tool to track keywords on Instagram. Every time they publish a post with your company name, you will be alerted and you can contact them and republish the post.
Some social listening tools even let you track photos to see if your products are in them.
For some UGC ideas, you should check out Gymshark’s Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCi3yA6Cq15/
Almost all of their posts are UGC posts. They help them build a strong relationship with their customers.
Before and after pics and videos:
Case studies are a great way to show your credibility on Instagram. This is why you will notice that a lot of people share weight loss pics from their clients on Instagram.
Whenever you can show a result with before and after pictures or videos, you should do it. Before and after pics aren’t just meant for fitness bloggers and personal trainers.
A company that understands the importance of before and after pictures is Nu Infinity, an interior design company.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMopjBJygp/
They publish before and after pictures like the above one to demonstrate their results.
Latest offers:
Whenever you are running an offer, you should share it on Instagram as your followers would like to know about it. Instagram should actually be one of the first places you share. This will get more people to follow you as they will know that if they follow you here they will see it before everybody else.
You can even run Instagram exclusive offers to encourage more people to follow you.
Here’s an example of a post from Decathlon promoting an offer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFAZEmJhfcH/
Behind the scenes:
Nowadays with all the online activity, people want to know about the people behind the project. So, make it a habit to share personal pics from both your life and everyone in the company ( if they are okay with it).
Share pictures of them at work and doing fun this away from work. If people feel a connection with your employees and you, they will want to work with you more.
Here’s an example of a behind the scenes post from Starbucks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEx9oDRDXx-/
This helps their followers and customers learn more about where their coffee comes from.
Collage:
Collages are a great way to create a unique picture on Instagram. They can really stand out and generate a ton of engagement. So, make it a habit to regularly publish them.
It can take more time to create collages than regular pics. But they can be a lot of fun.
Videos:
I know it takes a while to create video posts, but they generate 49% more interactions than photo posts. Also, 31% of people who view video ads go ahead and make a purchase. So, publish videos regularly. They might take more time, but they will pay for themselves with all the extra engagement and sales.
There are also a lot of Instagram video creation tools that come with templates. You can use them to quickly create videos.
Califia farms shares videos regularly.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE-hwb1Fkrr/
Make sure you check them out to get some ideas.
Carousel:
If you still don’t want to video posts, I recommend you to create carousel posts. As they drive 24.9% more interactions than one photo posts.
They are also good for creating video posts as videos can be just 60 seconds long. But if you create a carousel video post, you can add up to 10 video slides. In total, this can be 600 seconds long.
You usually see a lot of fitness bloggers use carousel video posts to share a series of workouts.
Here’s a good simple carousel post from Birchbox.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDw5U1lDJQ5/
Question posts:
If you want to get more comments on Instagram, you should share question posts where you ask questions in the photo or the caption or in both and encourage people to leave an answer as a comment. This can really boost up engagement levels.
And when you get an answer make sure you respond to the comment as this will help you build a stronger relationship with your followers.
Giveaway posts:
People love giveaways and contest posts. You can make it compulsory for people to follow you in order to take part in the giveaway and grow your following quickly.
So, run a giveaway once a month or once every few months at least. You can list your own products as prizes. This way you will be advertising your products at the same time.
The giveaways don’t have to only occur on your own account. You can also work with influencers and create sponsored giveaways and get more exposure.
Here’s an example of a giveaway post from Lloyds Pharmacy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFAI5-ZIXhb/
They ask you to like the post, comment on it, and follow it in order to take part. This is an effective way to increase both engagement and followers.
Tag products in product posts:
One of the biggest problems with Instagram has been that you can’t share links in in-feed posts. But fortunately, they gave ecommerce stores the option to tag products in posts. So, if you are running one take advantage of this. The next time you publish a photo of your product, tag it in, and make it easy for people to find the product.
The popular link in bio method can be tedious, especially for mobile users.
This will also free up the bio URL and you can promote a landing page there. You won’t need to constantly modify it.
Infographics:
If you can break down difficult concepts with easy to understand infographics, you will get a lot of likes on Instagram. So, get yourself a good infographic maker that has templates for Instagram and create viral photos.
They need to break down information that your audience wants to learn about but find it difficult to understand.
Conclusion:
These are the 12 best Instagram post ideas. Give them all a try over the next 2 to 3 weeks and keep repeating them in unique ways if they bring about a positive result.
These are only a handful of the hundreds of post ideas out there. People are constantly experimenting and coming up with new post ideas everyday.
So, make sure you follow the top content creators to find more ideas. You can put these together and create your own unique ideas.
Which of the above Instagram post ideas is your favorite? Did I forget to include anything important? Please leave your comments below.
