Instagram’s 2025 updates: New Features You Can’t Ignore

If you're not on Instagram yet, you’re damaging your business! Instagram’s new updates are changing the game, making it even easier to reach the right audiences and boost engagement.

Within 2025’s digital landscape, Instagram remains a pivotal social media platform for both B2C and B2B businesses, becoming a space to build your brand, engage with your customers and ultimately generate sales.

Instagram shifted from a focus on B2C businesses to an increasingly fluid platform that encourages B2B businesses to showcase their expertise and collaborate with other businesses. Whether you are a small business owner looking to grow your community or a larger business aiming to establish leadership, Instagram’s new features are designed to help your business reach and connect with the right people in more effective ways.

But…. What is new? And how can you help your business make the most of Instagram’s new features?

Let’s break it down….

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Who is actually on Instagram? To understand your audience:

As the platform itself is evolving so is its audiences and how it’s being used in 2025. The platform is more than a social network but is a hub for individuals and businesses to connect, share, shop and discover.

Whilst Instagram is still packed with individual users scrolling for entertainment, businesses have taken a much stronger presence with over 200 million businesses actively connected. Brands are competing online harder than ever for audience attention.

• Individuals are more intentional - not just passive scrollers but rather actively conversing, searching and shopping with brands that align with their interests. While everyone loves the gram, there is definitely a concentration in the age bracket of 18–34-year-olds – all the millennials and Gen Zers who grew up with the platform. The gender demographic is pretty evenly split worldwide, country to country this ratio varies - statistics according to Hootsuite!

• Businesses are optimising their content strategies – moving beyond posting images, they’re integrating SEO-driven captions and reels as well as interactive stories to grab attention and drive conversations. This makes the business account more personal as individuals interact with individuals rather than a business front. In addition, the algorithm of the platform is prioritising this value-driven content which is pushing companies to refine their content strategies.

How are key updates affecting your posting?

• Trial Instagram reels

Have you ever wanted to experiment with new content that shifts away from your usual aesthetics or covers different topics? Well… It’s no longer just a dream! Instagram is now allowing you to trial reels before it goes live. 

How does it work? 

The platform will show your content to

random users, gauge their input and allow you to adjust accordingly on whether to post now or edit and refine.

• Rectangular profile grid

Square-shaped posts are now a thing of the past. The redesign to rectangular tiles on your profile grid is the new format due to the popularity of reels and how most users post vertically to showcase their content in a visually appealing approach. 

• Carousel posts to 20 slides

- Doubling previous limits of 10 slides or even 15, Instagram’s expanded carousel posts to 20 slides allow for photos and videos or a mix of both!

- This update is created to enhance flexibility in storytelling and promotions which offer a space for richer and more detailed presentations and campaigns.

What is working now?

Instagram, like TikTok, thrives on short-form content. As users are constantly scrolling, shorter videos tend to perform better as they align strongly with the platform’s preference for quicker and more engaging content. Instagram’s algorithm now favours these attention-grabbing short-form videos making reels the most significant way to maximise reach and audience interaction.

• Repurposing long-form videos

Whilst short-form reels reign the platform, longer videos still have significant value, however, they need to be broken down to strategically “milk” the content. If your business wants to create longer-form videos such as Q&As, speeches, or podcast episodes, repurposing them into bite-sized platform-specific pieces is vital.

Produced into snippets, these smaller clips can be used across reels, stories, statistics or quote posts and carousels to ensure maximum exposure to audiences. 

Through the breaking down of long form into short digestible snips, you create interest and encourage audiences to want more. When a reel sparks a viewer’s interest, they are more likely to seek out the full video for deeper and more thorough insight. Whether it’s a podcast, an extended Q&A or a video blog, your longer-form content fits seamlessly into everyday tasks - like driving in traffic or doing the laundry to keep them interested with your brand!

To post or not to post? The time and day is the question.

To understand the best time and day to post, we need to consider the shift in how the platform’s algorithm works. Instagram no longer displays posts in chronological order but instead prioritises content based on engagement – meaning posts with more likes, comments and shares are more likely to appear in users’ feeds. 

As a result, determining the best time to post now pivots on maximising engagement rather than simply posting when followers are more active.

Overall sources such as Hootsuite and Buffer have measured this shift through their analysis of reach in relation to follow count with a consensus of the best time to post is between:

3 pm to 6 pm, Monday to Friday

Day of the week	Time
Monday	3pm to 9pm
Tuesday	5am to 8am/ 3pm to 7pm
Wednesday	5pm
Thursday	4pm to 5pm
Friday	4pm
Saturday	11am/5pm
Sunday	12pm to 3pm

Table according to: Hootsuite

When you’re first starting to grow your business, we recommend sticking to these time windows to maximise your chances for engagement. As your business account becomes more established, you can refine your posting schedule to reflect your specific audience’s habits that follow features such as industry, location and online behaviour. Whilst these time frames are generally recommended, it’s important to understand that this is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every audience and business is different, so test and analyse your metrics to find the optimal posting times that work for your business.

Are hashtags dead? Are they worth using or hurting your business?

Hashtags are not quite dead, but they are certainly not as crucial as they once were. Whilst Instagram still lets you use up to 30 hashtags per post, using this many isn’t necessarily the best move anymore, in fact too much can backfire on the post’s ability to perform well.

Overloading your posts with hashtags can clutter your captions which makes the content look spammy or even misleading. Also, if you use broad or irrelevant hashtags you may attract the wrong audiences – people who have no real interest in your brand. Or worse, Instagram’s algorithm may see the excessive hashtag use and mark it as low-quality content which can decrease engagement rather than boost it.

Instead, the game has shifted to keywords and SEO as Instagram now prioritises content that uses natural, searchable keywords in captions and profiles. This helps posts to show up in search results and suggested content feeds which makes it easier for the right audiences to find your business – without the hashtag overload.

However, using fewer, more strategic hashtags as follows: 

• 1 Brand Hashtags (unique to the brand) 

• 1 - 2 Campaign Hashtags (specific to a campaign)

• 1 - 2 Trending Hashtags (high-engagement topics, used by the community)

Can help you get more visibility!

Hashtags can still play a vital role in boosting your content’s visibility. Through more targeted hashtags, you ensure that your posts are relevant to your audience and are aligned with current conversations or business promotions. Helping Instagram to categorise your content in a way that makes it more likely to appear in search results, on the explore page, or in suggested content feeds.

Stories VS posts... Which is best? 

Both Instagram stories and posts aid various purposes but combined can complement each other when used strategically.

Stories are for more casual, behind-the-scenes content that is more likely to be real-time and authentic. The platform’s features have more interactive capabilities like polls and questions to initiate with audiences on a more personal level and keep the audiences connected throughout the day. Stories also act as an ideal space to showcase sneak peeks or share user-generated content.

Instagram posts are a more permanent representation of your business’s image and should be used accordingly. You want your posts to represent the key messaging, products and values presented in a more high-quality visual picture or video that reflects who you are as a business.

Posts are more curated as they serve as the foundation of your feed, and can provide more detail into product features, customer testimonials or long-term campaigns, displayed in a combination of reels, static photos and carousel posts.

The recommended frequency of posting is completely dependent on your business and overall social media plan, however, to get your business Instagram built up, we recommend posting stories 1-2 a day, and 3-5 posts a week. This will keep your Instagram relevant and growing whilst not overdoing it. By combining both successfully, you will create a business-based Instagram strategy that keeps followers engaged with both timely and interactive updates that are polished and fresh.

What to include in a post?

What makes a captivating Instagram post? It’s not just about having a lovely picture but rather it’s about manufacturing your specific content to be compelling, discoverable and actionable for your demographic. Here’s what every strong Instagram post should include:

Call-to-action

-    What do you want your audience to do?  

Like? Comment? Share your post? Visit the website?

MAKE IT CLEAR!

By using a simple call-to-action with a link to help prompt audiences to take action which encourages conversation and engagement.

Location Tag

-    Tagging cities, countries or event venues, can help audiences discover nearby content.

Captivating Caption

-    The caption is a space to try your audience, it’s more than simply describing the image but to tell a story or ask a question to start a conversation. Captions should be natural and authentic to your brand that is catchy and will make the audience want to know more and share.

Scroll-stopping visual  

-    Promoting a powerful image or video that is on-brand and aligned with the social media post topic that grabs attention within a split second. Utilising bright colours, clean design, and having high-resolution images and videos all help overall.

Hashtags and keywords

-    Whilst hashtags are not as beneficial as before, 3-5 relevant ones (brand, campaign, trending, remember ;)) can still help with reach. Additionally using keywords naturally threaded through your caption can boost promotion to the brand.

Tags

-    Tagging other accounts – organisations, individuals, collaborators, help to increase the visibility of the post. If featuring a product – tag the brand! If featuring user-generated content – tag the creator!

By including these core elements for a strong social media post, you are setting your business up for maximum visibility and interaction – which is needed to grow on Instagram in 2025!

How is user behaviour shaping content trends in 2025?

Instagram’s shift towards searchability and algorithmic discovery, has promoted user behaviours to transform.

Shifting to authenticity as users are engaging with more real, behind-the-scenes content navigating away from the overproduced ads. A more casual, relatable approach helps build stronger audience connections.

In 2025 the rise of brands utilising user-generated content in place of traditional creative assets is simply transforming the way businesses make their content feel more relatable and authentic.

Audiences are more likely to interact with real experiences by peers rather than a polished brand ad. With audiences’ short attention span, Instagram favours quick, engaging content over static posts, as a result, users are gravitating towards bite-sized, visually dynamic content that delivers value instantly.

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Instagram: the next chapter

Instagram is constantly evolving and changing, to keep your business ahead is about adapting to these new trends and features and understanding user behaviours to ensure your content stays relevant and engaging to align with what your audience expects.

Follow us on Instagram for more tips in 2025!