Instagram is a visual platform built around photography, video, personality, conversation, and community. Successful Instagram accounts don’t simply promote products—they give audiences a reason to follow, interact, and share.
What Makes Instagram Different?
Successful Instagram marketing often uses:
- Short-form video and Reels
- Strong visual identities
- People and customers
- Humor and cultural trends
- Influencers and partnerships
- User-generated content (UGC)
1. Give Your Brand a Personality — Duolingo
Duolingo uses humor and an exaggerated personality to make an educational service entertaining. The brand doesn’t take itself too seriously while still reinforcing its mission.
Teaching point: A recognizable personality can make an ordinary product or service memorable.
Note: The original page’s Duolingo example accidentally contains a Chipotle embed, so I would leave that embed out rather than show students the wrong example.
2. Let Your Audience Create the Content — Apple
Apple’s #ShotoniPhone campaign is a strong example of user-generated content. Apple encourages customers to create and share photographs made with its products. The original source notes that nearly every post on Apple’s feed is user-generated content.
Teaching point: Your customers can become part of your content strategy.
3. Create a Consistent Visual Identity — IBM
IBM combines technology, people, history, and science while maintaining a recognizable visual style. Its content is both people-forward and technology-forward.
Teaching point: Consistency helps audiences recognize a brand before they even read the caption.
4. Use Humor and Conversation — Spotify
Spotify uses music, data, humor, and conversation to create content people want to discuss and share. Its Spotify Wrapped campaign is a particularly strong example of turning personal data into social content.
EmbedPress:
Teaching point: The best social content often gives the audience something to participate in.
5. Show the Product in Use — GoPro
GoPro uses user-generated photography and video to show what customers can actually do with its cameras. The source specifically points out that GoPro emphasizes consumers using the product rather than filling its feed with sales-oriented product shots.
EmbedPress:
Teaching point: Showing a product in action can communicate its value better than simply displaying the product.
6. Make Educational Content Entertaining — The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art uses Instagram to make museum collections, research, staff, and behind-the-scenes activities accessible and interesting. The original example highlights content showing how a 600-year-old tapestry is cleaned.
Teaching point: Educational content doesn’t have to feel like a lecture. Show the people, process, and story behind the information.
What Do These Examples Have in Common?
Successful Instagram accounts frequently use:
- Video — particularly Reels
- Visual cohesion — recognizable imagery and design
- People — customers, employees, and creators
- Humor — when appropriate for the audience
- User-generated content
- Conversation — giving audiences something to respond to or share
There is no single correct Instagram strategy. The examples above use very different approaches, but each creates a recognizable relationship with its audience.
Source: Scott, S. (2023). 20 Excellent Instagram Marketing Examples. Meltwater. The examples and observations above are based on the source used in your original post.