You know social media is a huge asset when it comes to growing your business. From finding audiences to engaging followers with your brand, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms.
If you aren’t already, you have to get on the ‘gram. Instagram is a unique visual platform that allows you to give followers a glimpse into your business, style, and brand.
But posting consistently is important for appealing to your demographic, especially now that they use an algorithm to feature more popular posts.
A killer Instagram is important, but figuring out Instagram post ideas can be a pain. Here are 15 trendy Instagram post ideas for when you aren’t sure what to post.
Flat Lay
Even if you aren’t sure what a flat lay is off the top of your head, you’ve probably seen them. Everywhere.
So, what is it? The name is actually indicative. A flat lay is when you shoot items or products lain out from above.
It’s a popular Instagram post idea for trendy product and food posts. It allows you to arrange items and showcase them stylistically with different backgrounds and themes.
Pick one theme and curate everything around that. Is this a luxury makeup product haul? Is it a kitchen themed flat lay? Pick the theme and style around it for the most effective flat lay.
Holiday & Theme Posts
There’s nothing like a holiday to help you curate a trendy, popular Insta post. Holidays take a little of the guessing game out of things because you can curate posts around a given theme. Plus, since a lot of people will be actively celebrating, holiday specific hashtags are very popular.
Use color palettes and patterns in line with the theme. Red, white & blue for the 4th of July. Hearts & candy on Valentine’s Day.
Theme posts are also really popular. Some themes are hugely popular on a large scale. Fall, for example, is a great theme to post under. Fall weather, fall desserts, fall outfits of the day, pumpkin patches, and PSL’s are all amazing theme post ideas that fall under a vastly popular category.
Themes like this always have a slew of super popular hashtags to use and have no shortage of amazing post ideas, so you can basically bleed it dry, so the speak.
Food
This speaks for itself. Food pics are not only popular, but they’re also great excuses to go out and try a new trendy food or drink.
The trick to food posts is that they need to be extremely well lit and styled. Whether you’re showing off a meal you cooked or a latte you purchased, natural lighting is the key. There are a lot of different styles people use to showcase food, from aerial to holding a drink up against a colorful background.
Food pics need to be styled in order to stand out and pop. Curate the table with little accents like a sugar bowl, artisan salt shakers or kitchen tools. Find a cool background like a colorful wall or mural to hold food up against.
And always use appropriate hashtags. Hashtag the restaurant you ordered from or any hashtags that people search often, like “#foodporn.”
Products
Products are also great things to post. Post reviews of amazing products you’re using along with a cute pic of it in action.
Love a new moisturizer you’re using? Snap a pic of your glowing skin with the moisturizer in hand. Or, if you’re loving the new fragrance you just purchased, create a style pic of the fancy bottle. Place the bottle on a cute tray or mirror and add accents like lavender sprigs, fancy jewelry or anything that creates a mood and style.
Write up a little review in your caption, use hashtags, and definitely hashtag the manufacturer/designer. If you have a business or niche, like fashion, food, makeup, fitness, etc, promote products that you use. Tagging other brands is an effective way to gain exposure to new audiences.
Your Workspace
Take a picture of your workspace – be it your home, your desk, or a studio. Your workspace is unique because your business is unique―so show it off!
Show us a flat-lay of your desk, or snap a pic of yourself in action. Whether that’s testing out recipes in the kitchen, creating content on your laptop, or trying out new products for review.
Quotes
Post a #motivationmonday and upload an inspirational quote or affirmation. The internet is bursting with them. Just do a quick search and find a quote that resonates with you. Or, compile a list of quotes you feel drawn to for future use.
Use Canva to create your own cute, Insta-worthy images. It lets you pick from tons of amazing backgrounds and choose fonts and colors that align with your brand or style.
This is a great way to personalize a borrowed quote and create a post that still blends with your aesthetic.
Brand Colors
Share a pic of something that’s in your brand’s colors. Any branded image or pics that reinforce your branding is good for keeping your social media and business consistent.
The post doesn’t necessarily have to be business related, but any opportunity to flaunt your brand colors, even if it’s a free stock image, you might as well take.
Funny
Post something funny or humorous! People love humor and social media is a great place to post memes or relatable or ironic thoughts.
You can use Canva to turn funny internet memes or one-liners into Insta-worthy images.
Lifestyle
Snap a lifestyle shot! Lifestyle shots are really anything that encapsulates your aesthetic. It’s your expertly decorated living room. It’s the cute coffee mug that you just bought. It’s the amazing bullet journal you created to keep your biz ideas in order.
Give people a glimpse at the lifestyle you’re trying to lead and start to create posts around that.
Are you trendy, minimalist, classic, professional, fit or a combination of a few different things? Think about your own style identity and your business’ style identity. Post Instagram photos of that style and vibe coming to life.
Before & After
Post before & after shots! People like progress. Are you on a fitness journey? Did you train a client who gained 5 lbs of muscle? Did you renovate a home, DIY a project, or bake a killer cake?
Show us the before and after, side by side comparison shots so that followers can see your in action progress from Point A to Point B.
Stories
Stories are one of the best ways to boost engagement. Although Insta-stories are relatively new, they have been so well received that their active daily users surpass Snapchat. Followers love stories and they’re great ways to gain visibility.
If you aren’t using stories in your business, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to drum up engagement. Think of stories similar to snap stories.
Recurring Theme
Recurring themes are amazing because they take the guessing out of what you’ll post on a particular day each week. It also forces you to get out of your comfort zone to find new content to post and assigns accountability for you to continue to post consistently.
I have a good friend who does #muralmonday and posts a picture of herself in front a new mural every Monday. Her followers love seeing what she found each week and they come to expect and know her for her fun mural pics.
Choose a recurring theme and post weekly. People will begin to expect these posts and if you choose a theme that appeals to a demographic in your business, it’s a good way to gain exposure to a new audience.
Landscapes/Surroundings
We love selfies, but sometimes it’s refreshing to post your physical surroundings.
Post that breathtaking waterfall, the cool architecture of the buildings around you, or the garden you finally got to start blooming.
Are you on a business trip? Vacation? Just a quick weekend hike? Post it. These updates followers on what you’re doing while also giving them a glimpse at what you’re experiencing.
Recommendations
Post a recommendation about something you learned, somewhere you’ve been, or something you’ve used. Recommending experiences, products, and advice is a great way to shake up your Instagram feed. Recommend the amazing coffee place you go to for meetings. Recommend the advice someone else gave you and explain how you use it in your day to day operation.
Selfies
An oldie but a goodie. You probably already know that selfies are an option, but regardless of whether your Instagram in personal or business oriented, posting some selfies helps humanize your account.
It puts a face to the name and helps link you to your own social media presence.
Come back to this list when you know you need to post but are drawing a blank. Or, use it to create your own social media calendar with a different trendy Instagram post idea for each day of the week.
