If you aren’t already making the most of Instagram, you’re missing out on some pretty big growth opportunities. Whether you’re running a business or leaning into niche influencer content, the social platform is a lot more than you might expect. Most people would agree that keeping up with content can be a challenge, but that’s where Instagram post templates come in.
Of course, this isn’t the only consideration here, but it can really help streamline your content creation strategy. Doing everything from scratch on a daily basis isn’t very viable, especially if you’re looking to bring in consistent engagement. This article highlights several Instagram post templates you can use to your advantage for the long term without burning yourself out.
What are Instagram Post Templates?
Between Instagram’s editing tools and utilizing popular types of content, you can create various post templates to make the whole process easier. In short, you can work with editable layouts so you don’t have to start from scratch every time.
Here are a few other important details about post templates you should consider:
- It’s a great way to keep a cohesive look across your profile
- Working with different post templates serves multiple content goals
- Third-party tools can support various pre-made templates, such as Canva
- You can always customize templates with your own branding
You’re aiming for a blend of unique content creation with templates that are proven to work when it comes to engagement. A few popular examples include Instagram text post templates, carousels, Reels, quotes, and much more.
There might be some that work better than others in your niche, but don’t be afraid to experiment with various editable Instagram post templates. Regardless of how much more efficient this is, you’ll still go through some trial and error when creating eye-catching posts in different styles.
If you’re worried about looking like a copy and paste of other accounts on Instagram, it’s best to focus on what the undeniable benefits are. Instagram templates aren’t just for efficiency, but many of them have been tested and proven to help drive engagement with today’s audience.
Benefits of Using Instagram Post Templates
Thankfully, Instagram has been around for years at this point, which means you have plenty of data to back your decision-making. Whether you’re looking into carousel Instagram post templates or another style of content on the platform, the benefits of using templates are clear.
- Saves time by avoiding custom design with every post
- Helps create a visual identity your audience will recognize
- Consistent branding through utilizing the same fonts, colors, and content layouts
- Even better for marketing teams working on the same social accounts
- Makes planning and creating a long-term strategy much simpler
- Quicker turnaround on content creation as a whole
You can see this for yourself in those who are already practicing this approach. It isn’t necessarily new, and it’s still effective, regardless of how the platform has changed. For those having a hard time coming up with ideas that you like, there are more than enough free templates to choose from online.
You can also make use of third-party tools like Inflact’s Instagram Downloader, which allows you to save any content you want to your personal device. From here, you can use this as a reference point for your own templates later on. Check out how the tool works in the YouTube video below and see how easy it all can be for your content strategy.
Types of Instagram Post Templates You Should Know About
While you don’t have to copy and paste what everyone else is doing, here are a few templates you should definitely keep in your arsenal. From quotes to educational content, promos, and behind-the-scenes content, there’s a lot to choose from.
You want to do your best to keep your content in a diverse rotation, so that your templates don’t start to become repetitive or stale to your audience. Nevertheless, the information below offers a little more insight into the types of post templates that’ll help streamline your creativity.
1. Quotes and Inspiration
It might seem like a simple choice, but quotes and inspiration still pull in quite a bit of engagement. These types of posts are great to add to your content schedule for several reasons. The leading reason here is that, if you do them right, they’ll be relatable to a vast audience.
Another benefit to this style is that they’re pretty easy to edit. Keep in mind that you don’t need to be perfect with every post. Consistency is the name of the game here, and using this style's aesthetic makes that easy to accomplish.
2. Educational Posts
When implementing a few educational templates, you want to stick to content that focuses on facts, how-tos, and more descriptive breakdowns. This is where an Instagram carousel post template would be a lot of help.Make sure you’re positioning your information from the guise of you being the expert on the topic. Branding helps with this, too, and this type of content does well with saving and sharing between accounts. People like to spread information, which is all the more reason your educational content should be easy to digest and as valuable as possible.
3. Product Highlights and Promotions
It’s important to be careful with this particular template on social media. Most people get annoyed when they come across an ad or a post trying to hide the fact that it’s an ad. Diving into product highlights or promotions is one of the trickier post templates to work with. While everyone likes to make sales, you really have to drive the value in a strong direction to keep people interested.
While your CTAs need to be strong here, this isn’t what you should lead with. Once again, there are plenty of free Instagram post templates for this, and you want to take the audience through a buyer’s journey.
You don’t want to flood your viewers’ feed with product highlights, but if strategically released, you can gain buyer interest over time. Eye-catching visuals and branding are crucial with this template style, whether you use images, videos, or rely solely on your stories.
4. Behind the Scenes
Keeping a professional image is smart, but people will want to see the real you sometimes. Behind-the-scenes content doesn’t have to be super complex, but it should be authentic. Considering the human elements of this style of post, Reel templates are your friend here.
The templates you work with should lean into the aesthetic of casual content, without being entirely void of your tone or branding. Using behind-the-scenes content gives you more of a relatable and grounded look, which helps many of your viewers feel closer to you, your brand, and your content.
5. Countdown Posts
Building anticipation with your audience should be a part of your content strategy as well. Whether it’s an Instagram story post template, carousel, or reel, it’s all about the long-term plan with this approach. It’s also a great combination with product highlights in an attempt to boost sales.
A few ideas you could couple with this template include webinars, live streams, or limited-time offers. Several additions to consider to help with the countdown include event details like date, time, or a specific purpose at the end of the countdown. Considering this will likely include multiple posts, it’s important that their themes match from beginning to end.
6. User-Generated Content
If you’re looking to get your audience engaged, making use of user-generated content (UGC) is a great way to do it. This can include testimonials, creative briefs, and lots of themed content relevant to your brand. Not only can this be used for your own profile, but it’ll spread awareness across many other Instagram profiles as well.
It’s also effective for building trust and loyalty with your audience. People love to feel like they’re part of a group, and this is an easy way to let their creativity make it a reality. There are plenty of UGC templates to make use of as well. So, if you’re looking to put a creative brief together for other creators, it doesn’t hurt to use some templates to help churn the results you’re looking for.
7. Engagement Boosters
Every so often, it doesn’t hurt to drop some content that’s solely focused on boosting engagement. This is easier than you might think, as it can pertain to simple ideas like questions, polls on posts, or specific challenges for your audience.
You can take this one step further by combining this with your countdown strategy to add a sense of urgency to the content.
Several common approaches to using engagement boosting templates include:
- Using both stories and feed templates to get the maximum possible engagement
- Offer some type of reward to users who participate
- Boost specific engagement metrics, whether it’s follows, comments, likes, or shares
- Streamline your monthly content schedule with templates that vary in engagement focus
Make sure you don’t upload too many of these back to back, as people will start to pick up on trends pretty quickly. Audiences don’t like feeling gamed with every post, so it’s best to keep it natural. One of these posts per week wouldn’t be a bad idea, and this is easy to maintain if you’re working from a template.
Remember that these are some of the most popular post templates out there, but that isn’t all you have to choose from. Feel free to get creative with them, but don’t let it hinder your consistency, as this matters a lot when it comes to engagement.
How to Integrate Templates Into Your Content Strategy
Planning out your content calendar comes with several considerations. Integrating your templates at an even pace is an important step, but there’s no reason you should overcomplicate it for yourself. Following the steps below can help streamline your content strategy on a month-to-month basis.
- Assign specific types of templates to certain days throughout the month
- Make sure the right content pillars are designated to the appropriate template
- Do your best to batch-create content for the month ahead
- Customize each piece of content without redesigning the template
- Rotate template types to avoid too much repetition
- Review and adjust on a monthly basis for a fresh approach every month
You can take these as best practices, but it’s also important to learn what works best for you and your audience. It’s never advisable to just copy and paste what works for someone else, as that can send you down the wrong rabbit hole. Plan in advance, and you’ll deal with a lot less stress when it comes to your monthly content strategy.
The Bottom Line
Instagram post templates have been around for a long time, but a lot of creators on the platform overlook the range of benefits. They do wonders for reducing creative burnout, and it’s one of the best tools when it comes to building your visual brand presence.
Once you’ve done a solid audit of your current content flow, finding your way to the right templates becomes pretty clear. Don’t forget to remain open-minded and pivot your content if something isn’t working out. Start out with free templates and use third-party tools to make your content creation easier.
FAQ
What exactly are Instagram post templates and how do they work?
These are pre-designed graphics and content types that help streamline your content creation. Once you have a template set up, editing text, images, or colors becomes easier since you don’t always have to start from scratch.
Will using post templates make my Instagram feed look repetitive or inauthentic?
Only if you don’t evenly spread them out within your content schedule. You can also make minor customizations to help avoid this issue as well. Make sure to rotate different types of Instagram post templates and their layouts to keep a fresh look on your feed.
What tools can I use to create or customize Instagram templates?
One of the best tools on the market is Canva. It’s free to use and provides many free templates that you can customize with ease.
How do templates fit into a long-term content strategy?
Keep an even rotation between different types of templates and plan them out every day throughout the month. With enough template variety, your entire content schedule will look even and diverse.
Where can I find free Instagram templates to get started?
You can use Inflact’s Instagram Downloader to get ideas from other creators in your niche. This is one of the best ways to get ideas for templates that not only look good, but also work well for your engagement metrics.
