With over 1.35 billion users on the app today, Instagram offers you the perfect opportunity to connect your events with new fans and build your dream community. Of all the social media platforms out there, Instagram is one of the most versatile, with the ability to post photos, videos, and more. To ensure you're highlighting every inch of your awesome events and making the most of your Instagram event content, check out our experts' best practices below!

Instagram is a top social media platform for discovering new brands, making it an extremely powerful tool for your event marketing! Similar to your other marketing efforts, you'll need to figure out your target audience (your event's niche on Instagram) and create social media content that both resonates with them and helps you reach your goals – like selling more tickets! 

Determine your overall strategy

Before we get to creating posts, it's important to have a strategy behind your Instagram event promotion. For one, you'll want to set goals for yourself, including how much you want to grow your account and how many tickets you'll want to sell from your efforts. Then, you'll need to determine what resources you have available. Will you be managing your event's Instagram account yourself, or will you have additional staff members helping you? In addition to creating content, are you budgeting for any advertising? For editing your video content, will you edit them within Instagram itself or use a third-party app like CapCut, Final Cut, or Adobe Premiere Pro?

The key to growing your Instagram account is consistency. To help with this, try dedicating time in your week to film, edit, and schedule your event Instagram posts. You could also create a content calendar to map out what kinds of posts you'll do and when. This is particularly important in building a buzz around your artist lineup announcements, exclusive ticket discounts, giveaways, and other exciting developments leading up to the big day. 

Types of content

As an event promoter, you have a wide range of content types to choose from, each connecting with your event's audience in different ways. That's the beauty of Instagram! By understanding what works best for each type of Instagram event post, you're sure to grow your following and sell more tickets! To help with that, here's a full breakdown of the four main types:

1. Reels

Exposure level: The majority of viewers are non-followers, and this appears in your followers' feeds as well.

About: Reels are short-form videos (up to 90 seconds in length) that appear in the dedicated Reels tab, main Instagram feed, and Explore tab. Since the dawn of TikTok, these shorter videos continue to trend and are the key to gaining lots of exposure in front of new audiences. According to Instagram, Reels make up over 50% of the content reshared, making them the most likely to go viral of your event Instagram posts.

Best practices:

1. Grab viewers' attention in the first three seconds (i.e, “the hook”).

2. Use trending audio clips that encourage viewers to click the audio tab and make a Reel of their own.

3. Incorporate quick transitions, effects, and text throughout your video (especially at key scenes) so people watch your whole video. Include 5-8 hashtags pertaining to your event's niche.

4. Select up to 3 topics using Instagram's categorization tool.

5. Add your location to help people in your area discover your Reels more easily.

6. Include a question or call-to-action (like “Tag a friend in the comments!”) in your post's caption to help drive engagement.

(Bonus!) A few ideas for you:

1. Ask funny questions to your event attendees.

2. Find a trend or challenge and take your own twist on it.

3. Do a fun dance or challenge with your event staff.

4. Film a highlight reel from your event day.

5. Capture behind-the-scenes clips of your event.

6. Do a timelapse or before & after of your event setup.

7. Share tips & tricks in your event's niche (e.g., if you're a farmer, show people seasonal recipes or gardening tips).

2. Posts

Exposure level: The majority of viewers are your followers, although non-followers may discover this in the Explore tab.

About: Posts are a collection of between 1-10 photos and videos you can share at a given time in Instagram's feed and on the Explore page. Unlike Reels, you can post longer videos (up to 60 minutes). While Reels are focused on giving you maximum exposure, posts are where you can engage more with your followers. They're the perfect place to show off those event photography skills too! Shine the spotlight on your events by posting content like crowd shots from previous events, and announcements of your lineup to get attendees excited!

Best practices:‍

1. Keep the colors and filters of your posts consistent with your event's branding, and take advantage of natural lighting whenever possible for high-quality photos.

2. If you're posting multiple pieces of content, make sure your most eye-catching one is first and, according to Instagram, it's best if you post a mixture of photos and videos. 

3. Add your location and/or a calendar reminder of your next event date to relevant posts.

4. Tag relevant sponsors, featured guests, partners, or other people featured in your event Instagram posts.

5. Add 5-8 hashtags related to your post's topic and event niche.

6. Write a short, compelling caption that encourages your followers to answer a question or take action (like “Buy your tickets,” “Shop now,” or “Tag a friend”).

7. Turn on “Upload at highest quality” in your Instagram account settings for the best quality photos on your posts.

3. Stories

Exposure level: Most viewers are your followers, while occasionally non-followers may click into your account's story after discovering one of your Reels or posts.

About: Stories are photos or short video clips that are only displayed for 24 hours, appearing at the top of your feed or whenever someone clicks your account's profile icon. For all the post types, Stories are the most up close and personal way for your followers to get to know you and your events. As just a few ideas, you could post snapshots of your day as an event organizer, reshare others' posts of your event, or launch a fun poll.

Best practices:

1. Post at least one story a day. It's a super quick way to stay top of mind with your followers, plus these can be anything!

2. Include polls, emoji sliders, Q&As, and other features that encourage your followers to engage with your story.

3. Mention other accounts in your stories (like @ticketleap!). They'll likely share your shoutout on their Story with their followers too!

4. Add links that encourage your viewers to visit your website or event listing to buy their tickets. (Besides the link in your bio, Stories is the only place you can share clickable links, so take full advantage of it!)

5. Share others' posts that are relevant to your audience.

4. Live

Exposure level: Primarily just your followers (not easily discoverable to non-followers).

About: Live is Instagram's live streaming platform that appears at the top of your feed in front of Stories. This feature can help your event stand out to your followers and strengthen your connections with them. You can also repurpose your Live content by posting it later. Live is particularly great for Q&A sessions with your featured guests and event staff or quick snippets of your event in action (for a little FOMO!).

Best practices:

1. Announce beforehand when you'll be going live (on your story or in a post) to hype your followers up before it happens!

2. Take advantage of Practice mode to check your internet connection and do a test run before you actually go live.

3. Add an eye-catching title to your Live.

4. Greet people by name as they enter your Live to make it more personal to them and encourage them to stick around.

5. For fun collaborations with others, use Live Rooms to invite up to three other accounts to join your Live.

6. Encourage people to leave questions for you to answer.

Next level tips for growing on Instagram

With your content strategy solidified, there's some extra things you can do to help set your Instagram up for success! One of the biggest tips is to engage with other accounts. According to Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, Instagram's algorithms tend to favor accounts that more frequently interact with their followers and push their content more. So, don't be shy with liking, commenting, sharing, and messaging other accounts! 

To help level up your content, see what's performing the best for other accounts in your Instagram event niche and let that give you ideas for your posts too. Encourage your attendees, guests, and staff to tag you in anything they post about your events. This is an extremely powerful way to get your event in front of new audiences and hopefully gain more followers.

You'll also want to keep your account's bio updated often and use the link in your bio to direct people to your event ticketing page, your website, or a third-party service like Linktree that lets you post multiple links at once. Your ultimate goal is to convert your Instagram followers into excited event-goers, so you'll want to make it as easy as possible to buy their tickets.

Now that you know how to promote an event on Instagram, it's time to get creative with your posts. And remember, don't overthink it! Social media is an art, not a science. Have fun making content that showcases your events and experiment until something eventually sticks. The key is to stay consistent with it.