A Guide to the Top Instagram Trends to Watch this Year
Published on 14.07.2026 by Chizoba T
With the constant changes happening, you need to keep an eye on the top social media trends in 2026 if you want to grow your account. As one of the top platforms, Instagram also moves fast, and what was blowing a year ago isn't necessarily what is working today.
That fast pace may look difficult to keep up with as a marketer. However, when you understand how to track the top Instagram trends to watch this year, you can easily stay ahead of the competition.
Why You Need to Understand Instagram Trends
Instagram has evolved from a social media platform into a comprehensive business tool. If you want to succeed on the platform, you need to grow your engagement, visibility, and relevance on the algorithm. If you want to get discovered and trusted, you need to understand Instagram trends. In addition, staying abreast with the recent trends will help you to:
Increase Your Visibility and Organic Reach
The Instagram algorithm usually prioritizes content made using new features such as reels, especially when these use trending videos or sounds. That means when you create trending content, you can increase your chances of appearing on the Explore tab, enabling your brand to reach new audiences.
Higher Audience Engagement
There was a time when engagement metrics like likes were seen as a sign of a successful Instagram account. However, in recent years, these have become less important compared to the saves and shares. When you understand Instagram engagement metrics that are working in 2026, you can focus on increasing them.
Increased Authenticity and Trust
In 2026, the Instagram algorithm is giving a lot of prominence to content that drives authenticity and trust. That means certain content formats, such as the employee takeovers, day-in-the-life of, and raw photo dumps, are performing better than well-curated and artificial feeds.
Ensure Business Results
Instagram now offers more than just driving brand awareness. It is a tool for driving the entire sales funnel. By understanding the Instagram trends, it's possible to understand how people are using the platform. It can show you the strategies that are driving a higher ROI, such as the use of micro influencers or user-generated content.
Stay Ahead of the Competition
Instagram is a fast-paced environment, and if you want to remain ahead of your competitors, you should act fast on a trend.
Top Instagram Trends to Watch This Year
Now that you understand the Instagram trends to watch, here are the top trends to consider:
A Focus on People-Centric Content
There was a time when Instagram was all about polished content. However, in recent years, people started suffering from social media content fatigue as they felt people were presenting fake lifestyles on Instagram. They started choosing raw and authentic content over the polished ones.
That has resulted in one of the major Instagram trends in 2026: the rise of raw content featuring real-life stories and authentic voices. If you want your brand to win in 2026, you need to create stories that feature employees, founders, and users.
The content can be in different formats, such as:
- A behind-the-scenes preview of the creative process.
- Showing your daily rituals.
- A case of customers showing their experiences.
These kinds of Instagram stories can easily become the trending Instagram posts, helping you capture people’s attention and drive engagement. While the social media trends keep changing, human-centered content will continue to gain prominence. This can be one of the best methods for earning more social shares, especially when combined with outreach.
Therefore, if you want to gain visibility on Instagram in 2026, focus on creating content that focuses on people. Don't try to post perfect photos. Instead, the blurry and a bit shaky videos are more relatable and may be more effective for driving engagement than the polished ones.
Use Interactive Story Stickers and Notes
One of the key drivers of engagement on Instagram in 2026 is the use of interactive story stickers. Features such as cutouts, frames, and reveals are only enhancing the user’s experience. You can leverage poll stickers to get the feedback of your audience.
Some of the sticker options you can use on Instagram include:
- Question stickers. It can help you gather the responses of your audience.
- Clickable link stickers. These replaced what was previously known as the swipe-up function to drive traffic.
- Quiz strikers. A good choice for driving your audience’s engagement.
- Music stickers. It can help add personality to the static images.
- Location stickers. To enhance discoverability.
Additionally, you can use the Notes feature to provide exclusive content. These features have a lifespan of 24 hours, helping creators add FOMO and providing your audience with reasons to keep checking back.
Interacting with Audiences
If you are creating Instagram content and waiting for your audience to interact without taking any steps, you are failing. In 2026, a good Instagram strategy should also include a plan for interacting with your audience. Therefore, make sure you are speaking to your customers through direct messages, comments, and replies to create a real connection with your audience. When people see your face in your interaction, you are likely to gain their trust.
When people ask questions on Instagram, try to respond to them within 24 hours to keep the conversation going. Make sure your comment is genuine, relaxed, and consistent in all your messaging. When you respond to your followers, they will feel good and will want to comment again. Remember to tag them so that they notice your response.
A Shift From Instagram Bio Links to DM
The use of link in bio is being replaced with DMs, which are taking over the channel for conversion. This is great news for brands because it allows them to answer their audience's questions and solve their customer’s problems fast. They also get an opportunity to tailor the offers to the needs of the customers.
When you respond to the customer’s questions, you can create a sense of intimacy. Depending on the respondents, it can also help you to notice the serious buyers. To create a good Instagram DM strategy in 2026, you need to go beyond a simple reply to a message. Instead, create a proactive conversation-driving approach that leads to improved relationships, better qualified leads, and conversions.
Some of the tips you can use to enhance your Instagram DM strategy are:
- Personalized outreach. When a user interacts with the story or follows you, send them a personalized message that asks them a question or offers them assistance instead of sending a generic sales pitch.
- Automatic replies to the story. You can leverage question stickers, polls, and emoji slides in the story to trigger the follow-ups on automated DMs for the people interacting, providing them with instant value.
- Use group chats. For the top leads or customers, you can create group chats or leads to offer them early access to your products, providing them with a sense of community.
- Voice message coaching. For technical questions, you can use voice messaging to provide a more intimate interaction.
- Focus on providing value first. Send a free guide, helpful resource, or compliment for the followers to gain their trust before marketing to them.
- Use influencer marketing. You can send direct personalized messages to influencers to request collaboration opportunities.
A Focus on Shares and Saves
There was a time when Instagram focused more on likes and other surface-level engagements. However, in a major shift, Instagram now rewards the content that drives ongoing value.
This could be something like:
- A tip-filled infographic.
- A carousel post that breaks down some complicated ideas.
- Important guides to important steps.
One thing that sets these content formats apart is that users find them valuable, and they are a good break from the endless pictures and videos on IG. Therefore, if you want to grow on Instagram, it's time to stop chasing those quick reaction metrics. Instead, you should focus on creating a library with valuable information that your audience can save and share, as there is a hidden effect of saves on long-term content ranking.
Give priority to creating evergreen and actionable content. There are several tips you can use to increase your number of saves and shares on Instagram, such as:
- Adding a call to action asking users to save this for later, or if you find the guide valuable, share this.
- If you create high-quality content that gets shared or saved, you can repurpose the content into different formats, such as viral reels or carousels. You can also repurpose your long-form videos into some funny reels.
Leverage Trending Sounds
While Instagram sounds have been around for some time now, they have now become an important factor that drives the trending content on Instagram, with creators and brands using funny audio clips, music, and voice-overs to capture their audience’s attention and increase engagement. Audio is, therefore, now not just another background element but can help turn an ordinary post into an unforgettable one.
Final Thoughts
In 2026, you cannot afford to treat Instagram as just another platform for creating your marketing post. It’s a place where your business can attract, engage, and convert users. The ever-changing Instagram trends mean you also need to keep changing your strategy. Therefore, use the above trends to determine how to approach Instagram marketing in 2026.