41 Instagram options, hacks, & suggestions everybody ought to find out about [new data]

I’ve been in content material advertising for about eight years, and I’ll inform you this golden nugget of fact at no cost: You’ll be able to’t cheat your technique to success on this recreation. And that’s very true relating to advertising on a extremely visible platform like Instagram.

In my expertise, it takes dedication, consistency, and onerous work to construct a good Instagram account. Nonetheless, I’m all for Instagram hacks that make account-building simpler, particularly since HubSpot’s 2025 State of Advertising Report revealed that 29% of entrepreneurs imagine Instagram will see elevated funding in 2025. (See the place different Meta channels stack up compared.)

So, whether or not you’re posting for enterprise or pleasure, numerous lesser-known options, settings, search choices, and Instagram suggestions (in addition to tips and hacks) that may assist take your Instagram recreation to the subsequent level. And I’ve compiled all of them right here.

Let’s go!

Desk of Contents:

In accordance with our 2025 State of Advertising Report, the primary development being explored in 2025 is creating content material that displays your model’s values (21%).

A good way to check out this development is thru Broadcast Channels, a messaging software for creators to have interaction straight with a big group of followers.

Creators can share updates and behind-the-scenes content material as textual content, video, voice notes, and pictures. Additionally, only a heads up: followers can’t ship messages however can benefit from the content material, react to content material, and vote in polls.

Try Doechii’s Broadcast Channel beneath, the place numerous accepted fan accounts ship updates and different vital information about her music:

• Add a brand new font to your Instagram bio by way of your cellular machine utilizing a web site like LingoJam.
• Open the positioning in your cellphone, kind your required bio textual content within the left-hand textual content field, and see the identical bio textual content in several typefaces seem on the fitting.

• Carry your chosen font over to your Instagram bio by tapping it and choosing Copy.
• Then, open your Instagram app, navigate to your profile, choose Edit Profile, faucet the Bio part, and paste your chosen font into the empty discipline.

To Add a Particular Font to Your Bio on Desktop:

When you’re enhancing your Instagram profile in your laptop computer or desktop, Font House has a library of fonts you may obtain and replica into your bio in seconds.

• Discover a font you want and choose Obtain beneath the font’s pattern picture, as proven beneath.

• Downloading this font will open a folder in your desktop the place you may pull a “.ttf” file that carries the assorted variations of this font. The file will look one thing just like the screenshot beneath.

• As soon as the font is copied to the pc’s clipboard, open an web browser and log onto www.Instagram.com.

• Choose Edit Profile and paste the downloaded font into the bio discipline.
• Edit the pattern textual content that got here with the font to write down a brand new bio as you see match.

2. Add particular characters to your bio.

Past customizing your bio with a particular font, you may add atypical characters that distinguish you or your model.

These embody §, †, and even ™ — symbols you wouldn‘t discover on a smartphone’s keyboard, which is useful if an Instagram title incorporates a trademarked product title.

To Add Particular Characters From Cell:

• Set up a free cellular app like Character Pad in your cellular machine. This app catalogs almost each character and image you would possibly want however will not discover within the 26-letter English alphabet.
• Open the app and discover a character so as to add to your Instagram bio.
• Merely double-tap the image of a logo to stick it right into a textual content field, as proven beneath.
• Then, copy this character to your cellphone’s clipboard. (For instance functions, I double-tapped the half-moon icon.)

• As soon as the image is copied to the clipboard, open Instagram, navigate to your bio, and faucet Edit Profile.

• Maintain down your finger on the sector of your bio you wish to insert your particular character till Paste seems as an choice, as proven beneath.
• Faucet Paste after which Executed.

To Add Particular Characters From a PC:

You’ll be able to insert particular characters and symbols via Instagram’s internet shopper on a desktop or laptop computer. For my part, the best approach to do that is thru Microsoft Phrase’s Superior Image insertion icon and the pop-up menu.

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• Choose the specified image or character and replica it to your pc’s clipboard.
• Then, navigate to Instagram.com and observe the steps above to stick the character into a specific a part of your bio.

Observe: You is likely to be tempted to easily Google seek for the particular character you need, however not all particular characters from the web are “clear” when pasted into Instagram. Some would possibly turn into corrupted or not present up accurately.

3. Use Instagram as a photograph editor (with out posting something).

That is one in all my favourite Instagram hacks. I don’t all the time wish to share content material on Instagram, however I would wish to share visible content material on a distinct social platform like LinkedIn.

In my humble opinion, no different social platform matches the photograph enhancing capabilities of Instagram, and I’m an absolute sucker for the filters. So, I take advantage of this hack so as to add a filter and/or crop a picture earlier than sharing it to LinkedIn.

I haven’t accomplished a proper A/B take a look at, however my LinkedIn images with an Instagram filter carry out higher than these with out. In fact, that might be because of the particular kind of content material I share and my viewers. Your outcomes might differ.

To make use of Instagram as a photograph editor with out posting something, publish an image whereas your cellphone is in Airplane mode.

• First, go to Settings on Instagram, scroll right down to Archiving, and obtain underneath Your app and media.
• Make certain Save Authentic Photograph is toggled on.

• Subsequent, observe the steps to submit a photograph to Instagram. Add the photograph, edit it, and press Share.
• An error message will seem saying the add failed, however you’ll discover the edited picture in your cellphone’s photograph gallery.

4. Insert line breaks into your bio and captions.

If you write a caption on Instagram, you’ll see that the keyboard doesn’t will let you press Enter or Return. The identical is true on your bio. So, how do all these folks put line breaks in there?

Press the 123 key within the backside left nook of the keyboard, and the Return key will seem on the underside proper.

I do know this tip sounds easy, however loads of individuals miss it — myself included, till a colleague clued me in. I’ve seen some elaborate options for hacking via this drawback, like writing the caption copy in one other app after which copying and pasting it into Instagram. Fortunately, it’s a lot less complicated than that.

You don’t want 1,000,000 followers to make an impression. In our 2025 State of Advertising Report, 23% of manufacturers stated they noticed essentially the most success working with nano-influencers, who’ve simply 1,000-9,999 followers.

One key technique to develop your viewers impactfully is to have your profile seem on Instagram’s Discover Web page.

The Discover Web page, accessible by clicking the magnifying glass icon on the backside of your Instagram web page, is a looking web page that kinds your complete Instagram group by matter and key phrase. These embody Health, Fashion, Science, and extra.

Hashtagging your posts with these phrases can expose your content material to the folks looking these subjects, however you may as well use them in your Instagram title and bio to advertise your profile.

For instance, if Jane Doe is a advertising guide, she would possibly wish to make her Instagram title “Jane Doe Advertising” reasonably than “Jane Doe.” Then, in her bio, she will be able to embody all of her specialties, similar to “search engine optimisation,” “running a blog,” “e mail advertising,” and many others.

Professional tip: If you’re on the lookout for appropriate hashtags on your content material or bio, you need to consider competitors along with relevance.

To do that, I don’t suggest utilizing the primary hashtags that Instagram auto-suggests while you begin typing. They’re normally essentially the most aggressive (i.e., densely populated with current content material), making it more durable so that you can stand out.

The excellent news? All it takes is some research.

For instance, I looked for hashtags for my fake summary art work enterprise. I searched #abstractart within the Discover search bar and toggled over to Tags to see the outcomes.

I can see that #abstractart has 53.9M posts, which is able to make it almost unimaginable to face out. As I scroll down, I can see #abstractartistry and #abstractartcommunity at 11.4K and 11.5K posts, respectively.

I just like the look of these odds in comparison with hashtags with hundreds of thousands of current profiles and content material. These two hashtags can be on my record out of that small choice.

3. Drive site visitors to an exterior web site.

The primary problem cited by entrepreneurs in HubSpot’s 2025 State of Advertising Report was producing site visitors.

Now, Instagram doesn’t make it a lot simpler since clickable URLs aren’t allowed anyplace besides the only web site field in your bio. When you put a URL in a photograph caption, it’ll seem as plain textual content, which means customers must painstakingly copy the URL, open an internet browser, and paste or kind it there.

One sneaky technique to get folks to go to your Instagram profile, the place that one clickable URL is allowed, is to make use of your photograph captions to encourage folks to go to your profile for a hyperlink with language like “Hyperlink in bio.”

Then, replace that URL regularly to level to your newest weblog content material, YouTube video, product, or supply.

Try the instance beneath from the meals journal Bon Appétit, which features a hyperlink in its bio that attracts folks to exterior Bon Appétit content material.

4. Drive site visitors to an exterior web site on Tales.

You’ll be able to add hyperlinks extra simply on Instagram Tales. Right here’s how:

• Add a photograph to your Story.
• Click on the sticker button on the prime proper (the icon with the smiley face). Right here, you may add numerous components to your Story, similar to location, questions, and GIFs.

• Click on Hyperlink and enter the URL you wish to drive site visitors to and the textual content you wish to use rather than the URL.

• Click on Executed, and now you may customise the sticker design by tapping on it till you discover the colour and font you like.

5. Promote merchandise from Instagram utilizing shoppable posts.

You would possibly already know you may tag folks in your Instagram posts as (or after) you submit new content material. However now you can formally tag merchandise and direct your viewers to a product web page to purchase what they noticed. (This is likely to be excellent news for you should you’re one of many 49% of entrepreneurs who use income/gross sales of merchandise throughout the Instagram app to find out ROI.)

Professional tip: Talking of ROI … Why not strive HubSpot’s free paid media template to investigate efficiency and income for every media kind and supply?

To Add an Instagram Enterprise Account:

An Instagram Enterprise account is critical to publish shoppable posts. You will get one by choosing Edit Profile in your Instagram profile and tapping Swap to skilled account, as proven beneath.

To Tag a Submit With Merchandise:

When you’ve launched an Instagram Enterprise account, you’ll must allow product tags to make use of them on a submit that depicts a product.

• Navigate to your settings utilizing the gear icon out of your profile web page, and choose Merchandise.
• Faucet Proceed and observe the prompts to attach a product catalog to your online business profile.

With product tags enabled in your Instagram Enterprise account, now you can add new posts and tag your images with merchandise you discover out of your product catalog. Right here’s what a shoppable submit can appear to be:

6. Create an auto-complete fast reply for traditional responses.

HubSpot’s State of Advertising Report revealed that 20.5% of manufacturers are exploring utilizing social media DMs for customer support in 2025. Nonetheless, responding to person feedback and questions in DMs is extremely time-consuming.

Happily, there’s a hack to streamline the method and make it extra environment friendly. (Observe: This solely works on Instagram Enterprise accounts.)

You’ll be able to merely create a one- to two-word phrase that acts as a shortcut to a extra prolonged commonplace response you would possibly ship usually.

• To do that, click on Enterprise in your Settings, after which Fast Replies.
• Or, click on the three-dot chat bubble icon on the underside of the display screen, after which click on New Fast Reply.
• Faucet the + icon to create a brand new fast reply, and enter a pre-written response within the Message discipline.
• You’ll be able to assign a shortcut key phrase for simple use. As an example, you would possibly kind “returnpolicy” because the shortcut for a extra prolonged response. (i.e., “Hey there. We’re sorry you don’t love your buy. Happily, we allow 30-day returns, no questions requested. Please ship us your order affirmation quantity to get the method began.”)
• Save the fast reply by tapping the checkmark.
• When you’ve added a shortcut, you may kind the shortcut “returnpolicy” into the remark field to auto-generate the complete response.

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7. Pin your Instagram submit to Pinterest.

I’m an search engine optimisation lady at coronary heart. However earlier than I knew what search engine optimisation was, I started experimenting with Pinterest to develop my weblog site visitors.

To get essentially the most from Pinterest, it’s good to submit persistently, and as most content material creators know, generally you hit a brick wall on the inspiration entrance.

When I’ve a inventive block with Pinterest content material, I prefer to repurpose previous Instagram posts. (And it‘s simpler than you suppose!) I’ve used the next approach to construct group boards and direct site visitors to my weblog.

However right here’s the factor: You may not know this hack exists. Why? Effectively, Instagram would not have a pure integration with many social networks (besides Fb and Threads, contemplating they’re all owned by Meta) for publishing Instagram posts to different social accounts.

Nonetheless, with respect to Pinterest, image-loving platforms stick collectively. Right here’s a backdoor technique to pin your newest Instagram submit to Pinterest:

• On the Instagram cellular app, faucet a submit to view it absolutely, then faucet the paper airplane Share icon.
• Choose Copy hyperlink to connect the image’s hyperlink to your clipboard.

• Open the Pinterest cellular app — or obtain it; you’ll want it for this step — and navigate to your profile web page.
• In case you have downloaded the most recent model of Pinterest, it’d ask you should you’d like to provide the picture out of your clipboard as quickly as you open the app.
• If not, choose the + icon on the prime proper so as to add a brand new pin. You’ll see a menu of choices so as to add your Copied hyperlink to a brand new Pin or board in your profile.

Instagram Reels is likely one of the hottest options of Instagram to this point. In actual fact, in accordance with HubSpot’s most up-to-date Instagram Engagement Report, 25% of entrepreneurs share this submit format at the least as soon as a day. This makes it essentially the most shared content material kind on Instagram for entrepreneurs, with picture posts and tales coming in joint second at 23%.

You’ll find Instagram Reels by opening the Instagram app and tapping the video icon within the backside navigation bar. You will land on a feed of Reels to look at, together with these from folks you observe, trending movies, and the most well-liked creators on the app.

As you view extra movies, the algorithm will adapt to your pursuits and present you Reels related to your likes. And naturally, the identical goes on your target market.

The Reels you create are seen in your Profile underneath the Reels icon. If you wish to add a brand new Reel, observe the normal steps to add a picture, however toggle the choices on the backside from Submit to Reel.

2. Simply create Reels utilizing the template function.

Instagram’s native Reels template helps anybody shortly and simply make a Reel. To create a Reel utilizing a template, you may both:

• Discover a Reel you want that somebody has created utilizing a template, faucet on the three dots on the underside proper nook of the reel, faucet Use as template, and observe the steps. (Observe: the one Reels you need to use as a template have the Use as a template button.)

Or

• Begin creating a brand new submit, toggle from Submit to Reel to see the Templates button.

You’ll instantly be served really helpful and trending templates while you open the Templates window. When you like one and wish to put it aside for the long run, you may entry it later by toggling from Browse to Saved.

3. Routinely add captions to your Reels and Tales.

The auto-caption function routinely converts speech into captions on your Reels and Tales.

This function is essential for rising accessibility to your content material and permitting folks to eat the content material with out sound.

• Create a Reel and add it to Instagram.
• Faucet Subsequent after which faucet the sticker icon.
• Choose the Captions sticker. Instagram will routinely transcribe the audio into captions.
• Customise the font, shade, textual content results, dimension, and positioning of the captions. It’s also possible to edit the transcription by double-tapping a phrase.

4. Remix Reels to have interaction with different customers.

Remixing a Reel means creating one that features content material from another person’s Reel. It’s a good way to have interaction with different customers and create side-by-side interplay as a response or response to their content material.

• To Remix a Reel (on Android and iOS), faucet the three dots on the Reel you wish to remix and click on Remix.

• Click on Edit video and select whether or not to play your video alongside the unique video or after it ends.
• Subsequent, document your Reel and share it in your profile.

When you remix a Reel utilizing side-by-side video, you may combine the audio and add voiceovers, textual content, and stickers to your Reel and the unique Reel.

When you remix a Reel and add your video after the unique, you may’t change the audio from the unique submit. Nonetheless, you may alter the quantity degree of the unique Reel and add a voiceover.

5. Sequence Reels to create a development.

Sequencing a Reel means stitching a number of clips, together with another person’s, right into a single Reel to create a extra prolonged narrative. When you share a number of Reels following the identical story, you may sew these clips collectively and embody related content material from others.

• To Sequence a Reel, faucet the three dots on the Reel you wish to sequence and click on Sequence.

• You’ll be able to select a clip or use your complete Reel. Then, document or add movies sequentially to inform a narrative.

6. Reply to a remark in your Reel with a Reel.

Instagram permits folks to create Reels to answer to feedback on Reels. It’s a fascinating technique to work together with followers and construct connections.

• To do that (on Android and iOS), faucet Reply beneath a remark and click on the digital camera icon.

• Report your Reel or add a pre-recorded video out of your digital camera roll.

• Click on on the remark sticker to replace the background shade or change its place within the body.
• Edit your Reel, then click on Share.

The Highlights in your Instagram feed act as your model’s portfolio — you need to use Highlights to show your organization’s values, showcase new services or products, or categorize numerous subjects you submit about regularly.

As an example, sister foodie influencers @sistersnacking have Highlights to compile their prime eats in numerous locations, similar to New York Metropolis, San Francisco, and Japan, in addition to their authentic recipes.

Since a person can solely see the primary 5 Highlights once they come throughout your profile, you’ll wish to guarantee your first Highlights are those you’re most pleased with. To do that, merely observe this trick:

• Maintain down the Spotlight you’d like moved to the entrance of this record and click on Edit Spotlight when the slide-up seems.

• Subsequent, discover a picture or video you’d like so as to add to the Spotlight. (Don’t fear — you’ll be capable to delete this inside 30 seconds, so that you don’t want to decide on one that can keep on the Spotlight.)

• Click on Executed within the prime proper nook.
• Now, your Spotlight shall be first within the record. To take away the picture or video you simply added, observe the above directions and easily uncheck the picture you added. Your Spotlight will stay originally of the Spotlight reel.

5. Change your Instagram Highlights icon with out publishing it to your feed.

The picture you select for every Spotlight ought to precisely depict what kind of content material customers can anticipate to see in the event that they faucet it, so you will wish to choose a compelling, partaking picture.

Nonetheless, when you’ve got a design, brand, or picture you‘d like to make use of that isn’t in your Instagram feed, you may nonetheless make it the Spotlight Icon.

• To do that, maintain down on the Spotlight and click on Edit Spotlight (identical because the step above).

• Subsequent, click on Edit cowl and click on on the gallery icon to open up your complete photograph library.

• When you select a picture out of your digital camera roll, click on Executed. Your Spotlight cowl picture is now a picture you’ve got by no means posted in your Instagram account.

6. Schedule posts prematurely.

On condition that Instagram is a cellular app, you’re in all probability in a routine of taking images and posting them to your Instagram Story on the fly. However you may as well pre-post them out of your pc for a set day and time sooner or later.

In case you have an Instagram enterprise account, this function is on the market with a social media scheduling software, in addition to HubSpot.

In case you have this enterprise profile, swap to it by way of the Instagram cellular app and observe the prompts to attach it to Fb. You may not must observe this step relying on the social scheduling software.

When you’ve toggled to the proper account, launch the scheduling software, navigate to the present linked profiles, and see Instagram as an obtainable integration.

Observe: A phrase of warning with regards to scheduling posts on Instagram — I inform you this from expertise managing Instagram accounts for worldwide purchasers — be sure you set your scheduling software to the shopper’s time zone reasonably than yours.

I as soon as created and scheduled some stunning content material, which was met with crickets. Why? It went out at an applicable time on my finish, however it was an unsociable time for the shopper and their viewers. Doh!

Professional tip: Try this submit for the finest days and instances to schedule content material on Instagram and different social channels.

7. Use “Sort Mode” to reinforce your Instagram Tales.

Since its launch, Tales have turn into fairly inventive, and it takes greater than a reasonably filter to face out to your viewers.

Enter kind mode — an choice much like Snapchat that provides you the ability to caption Tales that want additional context to resonate with somebody. This is how you can use it:

• Open Instagram Tales by swiping proper out of your Instagram feed. This can launch your smartphone digital camera.
• Take a photograph or video, or add one out of your digital camera roll. Then, press the Aa icon on the prime of the display screen.

• The Aa icon will open Sort Mode, with 14 fonts to select from. I used the Poster font beneath:

• Subsequent, select from 4 textual content animations, similar to typewriter.

It’s also possible to add numerous textual content results, similar to giving the textual content a pixelated look.

• Lastly, you may change the textual content alignment to proper, left, and middle, and add a textual content backdrop shade to assist it pop towards the picture background.

8. Submit content material from different customers to your Instagram Story.

Though Instagram Tales are a good way to amplify your content material in your followers’ homepages, you may not all the time have one thing Story-worthy.

In these instances, you may share a fascinating, inspiring, or related submit from another person via your Instagram Tales. Right here’s how:

• Discover a submit you wish to share in your Instagram Tales and faucet the paper airplane icon, as proven beneath.

• This icon will open a display screen permitting you to ship this submit to particular followers or add it to your Story. Click on Add to story.

On the Story, you may customise the dimensions of the submit. Additionally, faucet the picture to point out a preview of the submit caption.

For instance, our Instagram username is solely “HubSpot.” You’ll be able to enter the next into your browser’s deal with bar: www.instagram.com/hubspot, which brings you on to HubSpot’s Instagram profile while not having to log in or join.

Google Them in an Instagram Web site Search:

A barely “hackier” approach of wanting up customers while not having an Instagram account is to easily search their title in a Google web site search.

This implies telling Google to solely search for search phrases on a web site of your alternative (on this case, Instagram).

To site-search for a person, open a Google search and kind the next: “web site:instagram.com [name of user].”

By holding all of the textual content previous to the brackets in your search bar, you may shuffle via the names of individuals and companies, and Google will produce outcomes which are reside solely on Instagram. This is what a web site search appears to be like like for HubSpot.

As you may see, Google produces our major profile and our culture-focused HubSpot Life profile. As I scrolled down the search outcomes, I additionally noticed Instagram posts that embody the #hubspot hashtag and our HubSpot Academy Web page.

2. Look via footage with out by chance liking them.

It‘s fairly straightforward to learn to like one thing on Instagram — really easy, in actual fact, that folks do it by chance: It’s only a fast double faucet of the photograph as soon as you’ve got entered its full view.

The factor is, it is really easy to do shortly by mistake. And there’s nothing worse than being deep in an Instagram stalking session and by chance liking somebody’s submit from 2013.

So, right here’s a fast cheat for you: To look via somebody’s images with out “double-tap paranoia,” scroll via Instagram feeds together with your cellphone set to airplane mode. With out web entry, you will not be capable to like a photograph, even should you by chance double-tap it.

The photographs received’t load should you begin in airplane mode, although. You’ll need to go to the feed first to load the posts, activate airplane mode, after which begin scrolling.

If you attain the tip of the primary rows of posts and wish to load extra, merely flip Airplane mode off, let extra posts load, after which flip it on once more. Cumbersome? A bit of, however it might be definitely worth the stress mitigation.

• To activate airplane mode on an iPhone/iPad, swipe down from the highest of the display screen and click on the airplane icon. Or, go to Settings and toggle on Airplane Mode.
• To activate airplane mode on an Android machine, swipe down from the highest of the display screen. Then, swipe from proper to left till you see Settings, after which contact it. Contact Airplane Mode to show it on.

3. Browse posts from sure areas.

One enjoyable factor you are able to do on Instagram is browse images and movies from a selected location or taken close to your present location. I like to do this after I’m planning a visit or wish to take a look at a brand new restaurant and scroll via the photographs taken there.

You’ll be able to seek for a selected vacation spot or click on a geotag on an current photograph.

To seek for a selected place:

• Faucet the magnifying glass icon on the backside of your house display screen to open the final search web page.
• Sort in a spot to see content material most related to the place you searched, together with the most well-liked Reels, accounts, audios, tagged images, and areas.

To make use of geotags:

• Click on on the placement in a submit that you just wish to additional discover. You’ll be able to discover the placement straight underneath the deal with title above the photograph or video.
• This can convey you to a web page like this, the place you may see Prime and Current Posts with that location tag.

It’s no shock that 31% of entrepreneurs surveyed for HubSpot’s 2024 Instagram Engagement Report submit on their model’s account a number of instances every week. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, 23% of entrepreneurs submit a number of instances a day.

At first, I discovered the latter statistic stunning, however with options like Reels and Tales, it makes extra sense. There are limitless alternatives to submit completely different content material kinds all through the day to maintain followers engaged.

Total, my favourite Instagram advertising hacks are post-scheduling and utilizing the platform with Pinterest. From a private and enterprise perspective, I really like which you can profit from Instagram’s filters with out posting in your account.

That stated, all the tips on this submit might help you employ Instagram to an excellent fuller extent. Preserve these in your again pocket to take advantage of this platform.

Editor’s word: This submit was initially revealed in January 2016 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.