If you're unsure about which Instagram post formats will
work great for your account or brand, then this blog will end your search.
Having started as an image-sharing platform, Instagram has
evolved over the years and added more post formats to its platform.
Many new engaging formats were successfully beta-tested and
made public like image carousel posts, Stories, and now the Reels.
This blog will explore the popular post formats to increase
likes and followers on Instagram.
Interested to learn?
Let's dive in.
In this blog:
- Why Instagram is great for marketing?
- Popular Instagram Post Formats
- Carousel
- Insta Stories
- Instagram Reels
- Lives
- Final Words
Why Instagram is great for marketing?
Instagram remains the favorite social medium for businesses
and brands to find and connect with their potential customers online.
With over 1 billion monthly active users (yes! That's a
billion with a B), Instagram is the go-to place for brands to market and grow
their business online.
Even Gen Z choose to pick the platform over other social
media - yes, that includes TikTok as well.
90% of the app users follow at least one business. That
provides a huge opportunity for brands and influencers to connect with their
target audience and grow their influence and business.
The prime edge that Instagram has over other platforms is
its visual nature. If your business benefits from aesthetic product visuals or
if you can show the results to your audience, then Instagram can be huge to
grow and scale your business.
People hop onto the app to get inspired and make buying
decisions - not just swipe the funny videos. So, if you're a business owner,
using Instagram to grow and scale your business is a great option you should
consider if you're not already.
Popular Instagram Post Formats
On any online platform, certain content formats attract a
hyped engagement while others simply fall flat. This section will explore
popular post formats that will help you gain more likes and followers on
Instagram.
Carousel
Carousel posts usually attract great engagement from the
audience for a couple of reasons;
- They are perfect for educating your audience.
- Carousels allow you to post up to 10 images or videos in
one post, which your audience can swipe left to go through all of them. People
love to swipe. Really!
- They are handy in delivering educational and motivational
content where one image or video can't get the message across.
- Carousels are used to share engaging and relevant stories
with the viewers. This gives you, as a brand or marketer, a wide space to help
your audience connect with you.
Carousel posts get 1.4 times more reach and 3.1 times more
engagement as compared to normal posts on Instagram.
A lot of brands, businesses, and creators use carousels to
increase engagement on their content and grow their followers.
Another clever strategy to grow followers and likes is to buy Instagram auto likes from a credible service provider.
This helps encourage the algorithm to show your content to a
wider audience, hence growing your likes and followers even more.
Insta Stories
With over 300 million people using Insta Stories on daily
basis, you can't afford to miss out on this immensely popular format.
The Snapchat-inspired feature has grown in popularity in no
time. Perhaps this is the second most popular content format after Reels.
Instagram Stories are image and video posts that normally
disappear after 24 hours. They're temporary yet they attract a lot of
engagement from the viewers because of their dynamic nature.
This format is available to both regular and business
accounts. Doodles, stickers, and on-screen text make them even more interesting
and engaging, which is one of the reasons behind the lot of engagement they
get.
Stories can be used to build and strengthen relationships,
increase brand awareness, grow followers, and for repurposing content.
To increase the shelf life of your Stories, you may add them
to highlights on your profile. Highlights are individual collections of your
content that stay on your profile until you remove them.
Instagram Reels
Reels are vertical short videos that are extremely popular
on Instagram right now.
Inspired by the insane popularity of TikTok's 1-minute
videos, Instagram decided to catch this new trend and attract more and more
people to the platform.
And things went so great for them, so and so that Instagram
decided to promote Reels more over other formats.
As a result of this push, a lot of Reels are getting
millions of views - an unheard-of reach on the platform before.
Reels are being used by marketers and businesses to get more
eyeballs, reach new audiences and grow their brands.
You can be as creative as you want in sharing educational,
inspirational, and motivational content using Reels.
Along with using Reels, an increasing number of brands and
influencers buy Instagram comments to push engagement for their content.
This tells Instagram bots that your posts are engaging and
getting comments, so it will promote your Reels further organically and grow
your reach and following even more.
Lives
Instagram Lives offer a unique opportunity for content
creators and brands to connect with their audience in real time and establish
their credibility.
Sharing live and unedited content establishes your
authenticity and people like and trust you more.
It also provides a way for your followers to know you and
your products in a better way and give their feedback for making
improvements.
Lives are one of the most-effective ways to gain high
engagement and customer loyalty.
Many influencers are using their lives to promote and sell
products with amazing results.
Here are a few stats about Lives that should encourage you
to use the format right away;
- Over 1 million Instagramers watch Lives every day,
- 2 of 3 say that Lives make it easier to engage with
brands,
- 14% of the marketers used the Instagram Live feature in
2021,
- 43% of people aged 18-34 have used Instagram Live.
Final Words
In today's blog, we've covered the most popular formats that
can increase the likes and followers of your Instagram account.
We hope that this will help inspire your content marketing
strategy for the platform.
It's time to hear from you.
Where are you in your Instagram journey, right now?
What has been your most successful content format on the
platform?
Are Reels working great for you, or is it Stories that you
get the most engagement on?
In any case, let us know in the comments below.
