10 Instagram Marketing Strategies That Work

Instagram had grown past 800 million users by late 2017, and the platform had matured well beyond simple photo posts, with Stories, a maturing ads platform and early shopping features all giving marketers real tools to work with. Here are ten tactics that were delivering results, not generic “post consistently” advice.

1. Use Stories for the content that doesn’t fit the grid

Stories, launched in 2016 and growing fast through 2017, gave brands a place for the rawer, more casual content that felt out of place on a curated main feed: behind-the-scenes moments, quick polls, time-limited promotions. Businesses that treated Stories as a different content type, rather than just re-posting feed content, saw noticeably higher engagement, since audiences responded to the more authentic, less polished feel.

2. Run Stories ads once organic Stories traction is proven

Instagram opened Stories to advertisers in 2017, giving brands a full-screen, immersive ad format that sat inside the same swipeable experience users were already engaging with organically. Businesses that had already built an organic Stories habit and understood what content performed there had a real advantage when they moved into paid Stories placements, since they weren’t guessing at what would work.

3. Partner with micro-influencers, not just big names

While celebrity and macro-influencer partnerships got the most press, a lot of businesses found better return working with micro-influencers, accounts in the tens of thousands of followers rather than millions, who typically had higher engagement rates and audiences that trusted their recommendations more. This also made influencer marketing accessible to businesses without celebrity-tier budgets.

4. Build a consistent visual identity across the grid

Instagram is a visual-first platform, and accounts with a recognizable, consistent aesthetic, consistent color treatment, consistent photo style, tended to build stronger brand recall and follower loyalty than accounts posting visually inconsistent content. This didn’t require expensive production, just a deliberate, repeatable visual approach applied consistently.

5. Use carousel posts for content that benefits from multiple images

The multi-image carousel format, which let users swipe through several photos or graphics in one post, worked especially well for tutorials, before-and-after content and product features that benefited from more than one image to tell the story. Carousels also tended to keep users engaged with a single post longer, which the algorithm favored.

6. Get the caption strategy right, not just the image

Captions had become a real content opportunity by 2017, not just an afterthought under the photo. Longer, storytelling-style captions performed well for brands building genuine connection with an audience, while short, direct captions worked better for straightforward product or promotional posts. Matching caption length and tone to the actual goal of the post, rather than using the same formula every time, improved engagement.

7. Use hashtags strategically, not maximally

Research and platform experimentation through 2017 suggested a moderate number of well-chosen, relevant hashtags, mixing broader and more niche tags, outperformed simply stuffing the maximum allowed hashtags onto every post. Niche, specific hashtags with an engaged but smaller audience often drove better-qualified engagement than extremely broad, high-volume tags.

8. Test shoppable posts as the feature rolled out

Instagram began piloting shopping features in 2017, letting select retail accounts tag products directly in posts with pricing and purchase links. Businesses in the pilot who tested this early got a preview of a much shorter path from discovery to purchase, and it signaled where the platform’s ad and commerce tools were heading for the following year.

9. Post at times based on your own audience data, not generic best-practice charts

Generic “best time to post” advice circulated widely, but actual audience behavior varies by industry, geography and audience age. Businesses that checked their own Instagram Insights data for when their specific followers were most active, rather than following a one-size-fits-all chart, consistently got better reach and engagement.

10. Track engagement rate and saves, not just follower count

Follower count is a vanity metric that doesn’t reflect whether content is resonating. Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares relative to reach) and saves, which Instagram’s algorithm weighted as a strong signal of valuable content, gave a much more honest read on what was working and what needed to change.

Putting it together

None of these tactics require a huge team or budget individually. The businesses getting the most out of Instagram in 2017 typically picked two or three of these that fit their specific product and audience, executed them consistently and used their own data to refine rather than copying a generic playbook wholesale.