On average, users spend almost 30 minutes daily on the Instagram app, and 63% of them log in at least once a day. There’s no denying that Instagram has become deeply integrated into how people learn, shop and connect, so it’s worth elevating your approach to marketing on this network.
In 2025, you’ll see trends that blend educational content, lifestyle content and product discovery for content that feels relatable. Users want to see authentic content that builds real connections. They want branded content that feels more like getting advice from a friend than being marketed to. For brands, this means prioritizing genuinely helpful content over perfectly polished Instagram posts. You’ll also need to stay current with today’s video editing trends to keep your Instagram channel fresh, relevant and engaging for your audience.
16 Instagram trends that will unlock this channel's potential
In 2025, marketers are getting comfortable with experimentation. Testing new features and storytelling is important if you want your Instagram business account to attract attention. Focus on quality over quantity and track metrics across your entire funnel to understand what truly resonates.
Trying out new trends as a part of your Instagram marketing strategy can help you grow but not at the expense of maintaining your authentic voice. Successful brands balance innovation with identity to create a social media presence that feels both current and distinctly their own.
The following 16 trends can help you take your social media marketing strategy to the next level. Experiment with the ones that are likely to resonate with your audience and discover how far your brand can go with Instagram this year.
1. Interactions
Every winning Instagram marketing strategy in 2025 will include a plan for interacting with an audience. Talk to your customers through comments, direct messages (DMs) and reply reels to build real connections. When you show your face in replies, people engage more.
Thor Bradly, a gym owner who sells C4 pre-workout, responds to comments with reply reels, which makes the experience feel much more personal.
Showing your face in responses can turn criticism into an engaging conversation.
Try to answer within 24 hours to keep the conversation going. The goal is to get actual back-and-forth about what is happening in your comments.
Popflex, a women's active clothing brand, always jumps in with genuine responses in their comments.
When brands respond authentically to product suggestions, customers feel valued and heard.
Keep your tone consistent but relaxed throughout all your interactions. People love it when brands reply. It feels good and makes them want to comment again. Tag people so they notice you responded.
Remember what people commented in the past and mention it later. They'll appreciate that you were paying attention.
2. Imperfection and playfulness
Imperfect posts feel more relatable, which is probably why we see so many this year. Blurry photos and slightly shaky videos can drive more engagement than polished productions.
Take Buldak, the popular instant ramen brand, who's seeing great results with deliberately imperfect videos.
Everyday moments can outperform polished product shots.
Consider sharing behind-the-scenes footage of your workspace and day. Your phone camera works just as well as professional equipment and natural lighting often beats a ring light.
3. Stickers and notes
Interactive story stickers are becoming key engagement tools for 2025. New features like frames, cutouts and reveals can add to the experience for your audience.
Poll stickers offer a way to get easy audience feedback. Grabie, an art supply brand, posts customer art and has followers vote on the pieces for engagement.
Use poll stickers to gather customer feedback.
Instagram offers several types of stickers to use in your Instagram stories:
- Question stickers to gather audience responses
- Clickable link stickers to replace the previously popular "swipe up" function for driving traffic
- Countdown stickers to build anticipation for launches
- Quiz stickers to keep audiences engaged longer
- Location stickers to help with local discovery
- Music stickers to add personality to static images
Similarly, the Notes feature offers exclusive content only followers can see in their DMs.
Use Notes to invite followers to specific events.
The 24-hour lifespan of these features creates a fear of missing out (FOMO) and gives your audience a reason to check back regularly.
4. DMs, not Instagram bio links
The traditional "link in bio" approach is waning as DMs take over as the main conversion channel.
Brands should be excited because they let you answer questions and solve problems with potential customers in real time. You can also tailor offers to individual needs, like a music shop explaining piano tuning options to someone who just asked.
Responding to specific customer questions in DMs creates intimacy.
Based on who responds, you can spot serious buyers. Try to reply within two hours. Having message templates helps, but make sure to personalize them. Voice messages also work great when responding to a high volume of customers.
5. Brand values
Memes and trending songs are fantastic engagement tools. However, always make sure they align with your brand values. Your core identity should remain consistent even as your tone shifts to match different social media platforms.
Take Wendy's, for example. Their sassy brand persona sticks to short, punchy text even when they use memes.
Wendy's maintains its sassy brand voice while cleverly promoting its products.
Audio is another extension of your brand that reflects your personality beyond tone. Stay consistent across channels while adapting to each platform's environment.
6. Behind-the-scenes videos
Raw behind-the-scenes footage can create an authentic connection with your Instagram target audience. Some ideas include filming casual team interactions, office life or product development processes to keep viewers engaged.
One studio, Mike Zuniga Films, does this well by sharing glimpses of their video editing process.
Behind-the-scenes content can build credibility with potential customers.
Consider other ideas, such as filming your setup process for certain activities or sharing your workspace. Don't overlook seemingly mundane moments like team lunches, casual conversations and coffee breaks. These glimpses into your daily operations humanize your brand.
7. Day-in-the-life content
Day-in-the-life content is behind-the-scenes content that has become particularly popular on Instagram. You’ll often see posts from entrepreneurs and CEOs sharing their routines, which perform particularly well.
This carousel from SAP features a day-in-the-life screenshot from employees around the world.
This glimpse into employees’ daily lives helps humanize this global brand.
Consider trending video formats, such as those that use timestamps. Additionally, include relatable moments like coffee breaks, meal times and commutes. The key is balancing professional insight with relatability.
8. Tour reels
Tour videos are becoming a major trend for 2025. Whether it's an office tour, a product showroom walkthrough, a home office setup or a behind-the-scenes factory visit, Instagram users would love to see what your workspaces look like.
Golf Avenue used a tour reel to show their golf club manufacturing warehouse. The reel garnered tons of engagement.
Tour reels give customers a feeling of exclusivity online.
When shooting a tour, include team members to add scale and context. Also, show that the space is worked-in and authentic. Retail space tours work particularly well when they feel natural. If your tour feels staged, it could turn people off from your brand.
9. Long reveal captions
Long, detailed Instagram captions are another way brands and content creators connect with audiences through storytelling. This trend encourages users to tap the "more" button, which likely signals to the algorithm that the post is worth serving to more people.
The New York-Presbyterian Hospital demonstrates this well with a patient story about battling leukemia. Their hefty captions start with a hook, build suspense and save the resolution for the final lines.
Long-form captions that tell emotional stories keep followers engaged beyond the image.
Strategic line breaks and well-placed emojis help make these longer captions scannable.
10. Storytelling
Storytelling is a popular buzzword these days. On Instagram, users prefer to hear a story about why or how you’re doing something rather than just seeing or reading what you’re doing. It’s also worth noting that effective storytelling doesn't require long-form content.
Robinhood demonstrates this with a powerful short reel that quickly conveys its mission to unlock wealth for everyone.
Compelling storytelling builds tension before revealing your product.
This reel hooks viewers in on the first screen, builds tension through the middle and delivers a satisfying resolution.
Several editing tactics, such as quick but coherent cuts, text overlays for context and emotional copy, contributed to the story that ultimately engaged so many of their followers.
11. Remix reels
Instagram's TikTok-inspired Remix feature lets you add your perspective to other creators' content in a way that resembles a video stitch.
It allows you to reply to videos with your own video instead of just leaving a comment. Social media marketer Benjamin Brandin demonstrates how brands can use this feature in his Remix reels.
Remix reels create split-screen responses to other user’s videos.
His examples include ideas like answering FAQs, presenting multiple perspectives, building on others' ideas and creating duet-style content.
Always keep the original content visible when remixing, focus on adding meaningful value and appropriately credit the original creator.
12. Creative camera work
Get creative with camera angles to build visual interest in your reels. Overhead shots, upside-down angles and reverse-action footage create drama, like in this reel, where Red Bull films this skier from multiple perspectives.
Red Bull's dynamic camera angles bring viewers directly into the action on the slopes.
Other creative camera work ideas include splitting the screen, filming from your point of view or using snap transitions. Keep your transitions smooth but combine them with quick cuts to hold attention better than slow shots.
13. Chunky carousels
Instagram's new 20-image limit opens up serious storytelling potential for brands.
You can now mix photos and videos in a chunky carousel, like this example from Filo Planner, showing several completed pages in their flagship journal.
Multi-image carousels create opportunities to show products from multiple angles or in a more detailed context.
Photo dumps also work great. Try mixing polished shots with candid ones, documenting a process or adding text overlays for context.
14. Audio experimentation
Using trending audio is another popular way to get the Instagram algorithm’s attention in 2025. Look for trending sounds through Instagram's suggestions and use them in your content.
This reel used a simple "ding" sound to grab attention when the image changes position.
Trending audio could give your brand an algorithmic boost.
Original audio is increasingly important for brand recognition. We’re referring to voice-overs or unique sound bites. However, certain trending songs or sound effects could be used with video or even plain images to capture attention.
15. Collabs
Instagram now has a feature that allows two accounts to post a single video simultaneously. This helps facilitate collaborations (collabs) between brands and influencers with the right audiences.
Banza, for example, teamed up with Ash Loves Condiments to promote their chickpea pasta.
Partnering with complementary brands gives both sides authentic access to new followers.
Look for partners with similar audience crossover, especially local businesses. Remember to tag both parties and plan consistent messaging on either Instagram account.
16. Talking reels
A talking reel is a video of a person talking directly to the camera. When you share expertise or opinions facing the camera, viewers feel like you're speaking directly to them.
Credit Union Cherry Blossom nailed this approach when it sent ambassador boxes to local runners. The runners opened the boxes and talked directly to the camera about what was inside.
Talking directly to the camera makes your audience feel like you’re speaking directly to them.
When shooting a talking reel, maintain eye contact with the camera and use natural hand gestures. Find good lighting with a clean background and speak clearly with confidence.
Try filming in portrait mode and remember to practice without over-rehearsing. The goal is authentic content that feels spontaneous, like a real conversation with the viewer (which wouldn’t have been rehearsed in real life).
Build a data-driven Instagram strategy
Experimenting is how you'll find your unique voice on Instagram. However, you should track and analyze your experiments to see what's working and double down.
If you’re running Instagram ads, you can make better creative bets based on what's performing well organically. You’ll want to track things like:
- Engagement rates by post-type
- Story completion rates
- Reel play-through rates
- Save and share metrics
- Reach
- Impressions
- DM conversion rates
You can use Instagram analytics tools or a platform like Funnel to aggregate, analyze and review data from all your marketing channels in one place. Review these insights weekly or monthly and adjust your strategy based on the trends you spot.
2025 Instagram trends are about running your business, not just marketing it
In 2025, Instagram isn't just another platform for posting marketing content. It's a place where your business needs to attract, engage and convert users. Customers are using Instagram for everything: they ask detailed product questions in direct messages (DMs), troubleshoot in comments, vote on future products through story polls and learn how to use their purchases via reels.
This fundamentally changes what it means to have an Instagram strategy. Success now requires more than a marketing mindset. Instagram has become a full business platform and the brands that treat it as such will be the most successful.
Funnel helps you track key Instagram Insights metrics, including likes, comments and reach, so you can analyze performance and scale your success. Get started for free today.