What's Trending in 2025

Instagram is always changing and shaking things up. It is always trying to compete with other social media platforms, especially Tik Tok. Knowing what Instagram is focusing on can help you be successful and see growth.

KEYWORDS

Know your industry keywords! Think about what someone is going to type in to Google to find you - what words or phrases are they using? Use these words in your bio and captions

CAROUSELS style posts

Instagram is loving carousels, especially when you add music. They are showing up on the explore page similarly to reels

ADDING MUSIC to stills

You can add music to jut about anything on Instagram now: reels, stories, carousels, and now, even stills ( single photos)

REELS

Are as popular as ever and you still need to grab attention quickly, but try out longer reels, where you are showcasing a skill or teaching something.

ADD NOTES to your post

or someone else's. This is a fun new feature where you can leave a little note on your post to further promote or encourage engagement or you can add a note on someone else's post to stir things up, add your 2 sense, play along with their CTA, etc

COMMENT ON STORIES

This is another new feature to help generate more engagement and interaction. These are not private comments or messages; it's a new way to generate buzz and converse with people.

Using a CTA

or Call to Action is still vital in encouraging the narrative and furthering engagement. Using a hook to literally reel people in, still works! Look through your suggested reels to gather ideas and inspiration.

YOU CAN NO LONGER FOLLOW hashtags

Instagram has removed the ability to follow specific hashtags. You can and still should be using them in your captions, as they are useful for a handful of reasons, including categorization and naming your niche.

LESS PERFECTION and more realness

when it comes to stories, videos/reels, etc. People want to see and interact with other real people. They want less perfection and production and more on the spot, spontaneous content.

Instagram is constantly changing, growing, and trying new things. The best way to keep up with the newness is to simply participate with the app; check out suggested and trending content; watch what other people, esp. bigger accounts are doing. And don't forget to have fun and be authentic - that's really what your audience wants to see.