34 creative Instagram post ideas you can apply to your own business

There are multiple ways of making money off social media, but all of them require a constantly growing following on the platform of your choice. Keeping up with the competition for eyeballs on Instagram can be hard. 

Here are 34 creative Instagram post ideas by big businesses and Sellfy users that you can copy in your account.

Make a repost 

Making a repost is one of the most powerful things you could do on any social media. User-generated content impacts shopping decisions of 79% of people, and that is only by their own report. Repost a beautiful photo made by a subscriber, and you’ll let people know you care about your audience.

Source: Starbucks/Instagram

A company as huge as Starbucks caring enough to repost a photo posted on an account with a bit over 300 subscribers is just priceless. Your repost will be well received as well.

Customer feedback

84% of people trust reviews as much as their friends when they’re looking for a great product to buy. This makes a post that features a customer review not only interesting but useful for marketing.

Source: Starbucks/Instagram

But there’s a catch. You can just post a random comment. That’s boring. Make this post entertaining by picking the funniest feedback in your collection. If you don’t have any funny feedback, don’t force it. After all, you have another 32 great ideas to browse through.

Shoppable post

This feature is one of the most functional things that Instagram offers. Create a beautiful image of someone using your products and spice it up with shoppable tags. Mobile users will be able to instantly go to your website to purchase the items you mention.

Source: H&M/Instagram

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A downgrade from shoppable Instagram

If you want to make your shoppable posts more interesting, or just want to bring more ecommerce into your posts, steal Ikea’s style. You’re a business, after all, so there’s no shame in bringing up the price of your products. Make sure it looks well, and you’re on the right path. 

Source: IKEA/Instagram

Before and after

This format can be considered a classic. If you execute it well, it’s going to be both great entertainment and great marketing for your products.

Source: IKEA/Instagram

Before and after posts for furniture and makeup are straightforward, but you can do the same for any business if you get creative.

User-generated content contest

Remember about the power of user-generated content? Don’t be passive in gathering it, go out and announce a contest. Offer a good prize and ask people to create photos of your products and post them on their accounts. Or, you could get creative like Ikea.

Source: IKEA/Instagram

Ask a question

Comments on your posts are not only flattering. They’re a way for the Instagram algorithm to mark your posts as worthy of promoting. Write an intriguing post and ask users to share their opinion. Go for provocative topics to spur more discussion, but take a neutral position not to alienate the audience.

A funny video

Silly videos made YouTube the ad giant that it is, and judging from the popularity of TikTok, they’re not going away any time soon. People like them, and will like that type of content on your page.

Source: Starbucks/Instagram

Show that you’re not afraid to laugh about yourself, but make sure the humor doesn’t change to self-deprecation.

Original artwork

The world of web design is bored out of its mind by the flat vector design. It’s now paying a lot of attention to independent artists and is featuring their work all across the web. Instagram is no exception.

Source: Starbucks/Instagram

You can commission a piece of art for the same price you’d get a quality photoshoot, so it won’t be a strain on your budget. 

Over the top photoshop

Can your brand remain interesting to potential customers if you take the jokes to the next level? If you market to a young audience, you may be hitting a gold mine with humor in marketing. Come up with a quirky way to market your products and create hilarious photoshop art about it.

Source: KFC/Instagram

The art still has to highlight your best traits. This KFC image may look funny, but it’s showing subscribers how dedicated the company is to fast delivery and announces their partnership with a delivery app.

Color background

You probably know about the concept of Instagram-worthy wall. It’s a brightly colored wall that looks as though it wants to be in your Instagram feed. Explore this, either in real-life photography or by creating bright highlights like this one in post-production.

Source: McDonald’s/Instagram

Instagram grid layout

Want to impress your subscribers with a really impressive photo? Splice it up in 9 smaller images, and post it so it would show up as a huge image taking up that whole layout of your account.

Source: KFC/Instagram

You have to make sure this image is exceptionally good, though. Doing all this work to showcase a regular lifestyle or product photo won’t make your audience that interested.

Thematic stripes

Want to keep the impressive effect of making your Instagram account feel special without creating images that take up 9 posts? Create smaller thematically connected collections of photos. Here’s how Zara manages to do this with a series of three posts.

Source: Zara/Instagram

You can posts that are similar by the color palette, the setting, or the products. Or anything that your creative genius comes up with.

A top-down picture

A top-down picture is another classic style of Instagram photography. You don’t want to litter your Instagram with it, but throwing it in there once or twice can be a good idea.

Source: KFC/Instagram

Go creative with it and think of things that can be relevant to your industry. Only laying out your products is too easy to be interesting.

Create a unique template with brand colors

It can be challenging to keep enough great photos on hand to accompany every announcement with amazing imagery. You can cheat in a creative way and a template art poster in your brand colors. Change it a bit to fit the topic you’re posting about, and you have a great way of attracting attention without having to hire a photographer every time.

Source: Ukrposhta/Instagram

Inspirational quote

Inspirational quotes are an Instagram classic that will never stop being popular. A good photo and an inspiring phrase written in an artsy font will always attract attention.

Source: Yivesrocherfr/Instagram

Here’s a pro tip: take a photo from the public domain and write over it to make it truly yours. This will save you when you need to make a post but you don’t have any good photos in stock. Make sure not to overuse it, or your account will become monotonous pretty soon.

Include influencers

Leveraging the influence some people have on Instagram is one of the easiest ways to advertise on the platform. People trust influencers more than brands and paid ads that intrude in their feed. They’ll convert more as well because it’s one of the ways to support their favorite influencer.

Source: Notsobasik/Instagram

While you should definitely ask the influencers you work with to post photos on their accounts, asking for some photos for yourself is a good idea too. At the very least, you can use them to announce your new partnership.

Announce a discount

Posting photos and writing great texts to accompany them may not be enough to improve your sales in a short period of time. If you need a quick boost, make a post announcing a sale, a discount, or another hot deal. Asking one of the influencers you work with to make an announcement works well too.

Source: Magarisan/Instagram

A meme

Memes are the major units of culture these days. Using them in advertising is not as straightforward as posting a meme on 9gag, though. Do it right, and you’ll get a ton of likes and comments. Do it too forcefully, and you won’t get anything except a scold from your subscribers.

Source: Nyxcosmetics/Instagram

Now, the problem with this type of post is that while you can hire an essay writer, an SMM expert, a photographer, but you can’t hire a meme expert. You’ll have to either come up with the meme yourself or borrow somebody else’s meme.

Include a pet

There’s only one thing that people on the Internet love more than memes. It’s animals. Include a cute pet in your post and it will get more likes.

Even the brands that have a “cool” air about them, are not afraid to use animals in their social media.

Source: Harley Davidson/Instagram

A travel photo

This may not beat animals and memes, but travel photos are big on Instagram. Posting one is always a good idea. This photo of this Sellfy entrepreneur gathered thousands of likes.

Source: Justine/Instagram

But there’s a problem with travel photos. You have to travel to make them. It doesn’t mean you can’t create at least some travel photos for your business. Here are your options:

• Repost user-generated content
• Take photos on your private trip
• Take photos on a business trip
• Ask employees to share their photos

If none of these options work, try the next Instagram post idea.

The view

There are many variations of this photo, but what it boils down to is this: get in a high place and take a panoramic shot. Well-photographed skylines always look good, and you don’t need to travel very far to make this photo.

Source: Justine/Instagram

Urban design

You don’t even need to use an elevator to make great urban photography. Walk around your city, and you will find countless great shots. Put your products into the frame, and you have yourself a post worthy of attention.

Source: Kasparsalkins/Instagram

A personal photo

Your Instagram profile doesn’t have to be strictly formal and corporate. After all, this social network exists to showcase your life in the beauty of the moment, so why not post a personal photo.

Letting the audience know you better also leads to better branding. Knowing they’re buying from a likable person, not just a good brand will help the sales.

Source: Arnaud Krakowka/Instagram

A work photo

Another Sellfy entrepreneur shows you an example of a post you can duplicate on your Instagram account. Show your audience how your workplace or work process looks like. Lifting the curtain and letting people see what does it look like behind the scene is often interesting, regardless of the industry.

Source: Arnaud Krakowka/Instagram

If you work in the office and the only equipment you use for work is a laptop, it can be a bit underwhelming. Go for things that are out of the ordinary. At the very least, you can show your office working from a coffee shop, or hanging out after work.

 

The people behind the product

The other work-related post that would work extremely well is telling the stories of your employees or partners. Few people would pass if given the opportunity, so you can probably tell the world about all your employees. This will make your Instagram page even more personal and foster the relationship with the subscribers.

Source: Teespring/Instagram

A collage

Sometimes the photos you can mention on Instagram are good but don’t seem to work on their own. Is that the case for your business? Unleash your creativity and create a collage of photographs to make them stand out.

Source: H&M/Instagram

There are no strict rules for creating a collage, but you can buy presets to make it easier for you.

Image overlay

Here’s another easy visual trick you can base your Instagram post on. Do an image overlay with the same photo, or two photos. The image that’s presented here is of nature, but you can use any photo you want.

Source: Kasparsalkins/Instagram

Make your product the king

Don’t be afraid to make a statement about your product. Make it the focus of the photo. You can go as bold as Starbucks with that idea.

Source: Starbucks/Instagram

Use your product creatively

Your Instagram has to showcase your products. The thing is if you showcase the products in the same way over and over again, you may be boring your subscribers. Put a bit of creativity into the photos you take. Try to find a new, interesting way to mention your products in the Instagram posts.

Source: Lush UK/Instagram

Creative set

Unfortunately, not all products are as fun to play with as Lush’s cosmetics. You couldn’t possibly do something interesting with, say, a lipstick, could you? Well, you could do what Oriflame did and feature your products in an unusual environment.

Source: Oriflame/Instagram

Natural props

One of the surroundings you could come up with when you’re making a set for your products is products of nature. It’s an especially good idea if you want to emphasize the fact your brand is organic.

Source: Oriflame/Instagram

Use stones, pieces of wood, branches, plants, or whatever natural prop you can find. There is no right or wrong here, so let your creativity loose and come up with something truly unique.

Pop-culture reference

Hashtags are so big on social media because they unite people around an event and let them discuss it. But not every topic needs an introduction. Events like the newest episode of a popular show or something that aired on TV need only a brief mention to make people interested. Form your next post around such an event to make them more interested.

Source: Burger King/Instagram

A reference to a cult classic would word too.

Holiday announcement

Everybody loves a holiday. Make your next Instagram post about a holiday to engage more people.

Source: Teespring/Instagram

Don’t worry if there isn’t a big holiday like the 4th of July coming up. You can always look up some weird holiday like the ice cream day.

Tell a story

Posting a great photo is always a good idea. However, nothing is as interesting to users as a good story. Couple a good photo with a story that spurs interest in the audience, and you have a perfect post for Instagram. Here’s what you can write about:

• Relate a personal story
• Tell the readers what motivates you
• Tell a funny story from work
• Share your expertise
• Share your opinion on an interesting topic

Keep in mind that telling your subscribers about how great your product is is not a good story.

Wrap up

You must be very dedicated if you’ve finished this monster of a post. Don’t let that dedication fade. While you can take a lot of tips from this article, you need to be creative about each of them to really make your Instagram posts stand out.

Experiment, look at how your audience receives the posts, and use Instagram marketing tools to make your efforts easier.