There’s nothing worse than staring at a blank screen, trying to decide what content you’ll post on Instagram next. 

And the pressure is on. 

Keeping up engagement means being consistent with your posting schedule…and it’s been days since your last post. 

Then you see other creators in your niche seem to crank out content with ease. 

How do they do it?

Are they more creative than you? Do they have some secret? 

We hear you and want to reassure you…

You don’t have a creativity problem. You have a system problem.  

So…in a sense, the biggest Instagram accounts do have a secret…a secret formula. That formula is a system that produces content ideas constantly. 

Once master this system, ideas will flow naturally without having to rack your brain to find out what to post next. 

In this article, we’ll reveal this secret formula and hand you 17 Instagram content ideas you can use with the formula. 

The Repeatable System for Never Running Out of Instagram Content Ideas

Here’s the thing about staring at that blank screen trying to come up with ideas…

The daily stress of this comes from a lack of strategy. You’re essentially playing content roulette every single solitary day, hoping you hit a brilliant idea. 

The system successful creators come up with is building core “content pillars” that give you a framework to work within. 

Content pillars are core topics or themes that you promise to deliver to your audience. 

The topics that make up your content pillars aren’t random…they are based on three critical elements: 

1. Your expertise (what you actually know and your unique insight on it)
2. Your audience pain points (what keeps them up at night)
3. And your business goals (what you want to gain from posting)

For example, if you’re a financial advisor, your content pillars might be:

• Debt payoff strategies
• Investing for beginners
• Market news explained 

Here’s how you find your own content pillars for your niche, step-by-step… 

Step 1: List 10 topics you could talk about for hours without notes.

Step 2: Survey your audience, mine their comments on other creators in your niche. What questions do they ask repeatedly?

Step 3: Identify which topics directly support your business goals

Step 4: Find the overlap. What topics hit all three of these steps?

Step 5: Narrow it down to your strongest 3-5 pillars. 

Once you have these pillars, expanding will be easy. 

You can come up with dozens of different reel and carousel ideas for a never-ending supply of things to post for your followers. 

Let’s take that financial advisor example…

Pillar: Investing for Beginners 

This isn’t one post idea. It’s a content platform. You might post a lineup like this if your were a financial advisor: 

Reel: “3 Investing Apps I Actually Use (And Why)”

Carousel: “Step-by-Step: How to Open Your First Roth IRA”

Story: Q&A sticker asking “What’s your biggest investing fear?”

Static Post: Infographic showing the power of compound interest

Video: “Reacting to the Worst Investing Advice I Heard This Week”

Tutorial: “How to Read a Stock Chart in 60 Seconds”

Personal Story: “The $10,000 Investing Mistake That Changed Everything”

And if you need some help coming up with different angles for your content pillars. We have you covered there, too…

17 Content Ideas You Can Steal For Instagram

#1: Explained for Dummies

No matter what your niche is, there are always beginners who are curious about how to even get started. 

That’s where you can come in with your expertise and simplify complex topics or ideas so that everyone can understand. 

This is especially great if your niche is more complex, such as our friend, Mr. Financial Advisor Example. But you can still find ideas within this pillar for all niches. 

Examples:

• 401(k) Explained for Dummies
• Everything You Didn’t Know About Visa Extensions Explained 
• Keto Diet Explained (If You’re Just Getting Started) 

#2: Top (Insert Number Here) Listicles

Top 3, Top 5, Top 10…

Listicles are still arguably one of the most popular formats on the internet, and for good reason! 

They are simple to consume, the structure gets people engaged, and they always want to see what number 1 is.

The best part? 

Top listicles work in pretty much every single niche, from travel to music to video game development. 

Examples

• Top 3 Banks with High Interest Rates (Number 1 Will Surprise You)
• Top 5 Reefs in the Caribbean you MUST Visit
• Top 10 Must-Have Tools for Homecooks

#3: This Vs. That

This format works extremely well because…who doesn’t love a comparison?

It helps you make decisions, highlight the difference between similar items, encourages commenters to chip in with their experiences, and is also highly shareable content. 

You can use this to compare two competing products, or you can use this as a way to show why one product or method is obviously better than the other. 

Examples (Fitness Homecook)

• Credit Card A vs Credit Card B
• Hiking in Summer vs Winter
• Air Frying vs Regular Frying

Simple Clip, Simple Text (SCST)

“Simple Clip, Simple Text” is the most viral format on Instagram today. 

Choose a simple, short clip from your camera roll, add some text, and you’re done! 

This format is not only super easy to use, but it also has extremely high potential to go viral. 

It’s short, so it can rack up tons of views, it’s easy to consume (which leads to more likes), and if you do it right, you can also get tons of shares on these. 

But what combination of clips and text can you use? 

Here are some examples: 

#4: SCST — Funny/Entertaining

Content that’s guaranteed to make your target audience chuckle when they see it. 

Text Examples 

• When your friend says, “I’ll start investing when I have money.”
• Ordering food abroad like: “I’ll have…” points at menu nervously
• When you cook at home to save, but end up spending more on groceries

#5: SCST — Relatable

Sharing experiences that your followers have experienced themselves. This can easily be shared because the audience has gone through them personally. 

Text Examples 

• When you realize your dog has better health insurance than you.
• That moment when your flight gets delayed… again 
• When you’re following a recipe, but they don’t add measurements

#6: SCST — Inspirational

Done right, short inspirational reels can get a ton of saves. People will want to come back to it when they are struggling and need a bit of encouragement. 

Text Examples 

• Wealth is built in decades, not days
• Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer
• Your future self will thank you for today’s prep

#7: SCST — Informative

Short reels can be informative too! Use the text to hook people in and show what they can learn. Then use your caption to get into the details. 

If people spend time reading the caption, this will also boost your watch time, which helps spread your reel to others. 

Text Examples 

• This is the easiest money rule you’ll ever follow
• How I got a FREE hotel in the Bahamas
• How I lost 20lbs in just 2 months

#8: SCST — Cool 

Depending on your niche, there might be tons of cool things that you can share. Whether that’s skills or amazing places, the possibilities are endless. 

Text Examples 

• What $100 can do in 30 years
• I didn’t know places like this existed in South Carolina
• Can you cook healthy food that isn’t boring?

#9: Step-by-Step Guides

Reels showing exactly how to do something can lead to a lot of saves. And if you really help people, they’ll leave lots of thankful comments as well. 

The trick to making how-to guides more consumable is by turning them into a step-by-step guide. 

Make each step actionable, so people can use them as soon as possible. 

Examples: 

• A Step-by-Step Guide to Saving Your First $10k
• How to Snag Flight Deals: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Make Burgers Healthy — a 4-Step Guide

#10: Storytime

Telling personal stories is one of the best formats for being unique from everyone else, since your stories are, well, your own. 

However, stories can be a little more involved, and you need to make sure people stay engaged. 

How do you do it right?

In a nutshell, you’ll always want to connect what happened to you to something that people can take out of it — whether it be a lesson, some entertainment, or something relatable. 

Once you get the hang of good storytelling, stories can be a great way to build a strong community on Instagram. It also gives you an endless supply of content since every day is a new story.

Examples: 

• How I Paid Off My $31,000 Student Debt
• I Got Scammed in Costa Rica
• Cooking for Guests For the First Time

#11: Product Reviews

Product reviews are another super tricky format, because if people pick up any hint of bias in your review, they’re not going to trust you. 

There is plenty of money to be made with this format, which brings tons of sleazy salespeople and sponsored creators to make product reviews, which is why people are more defensive whenever they encounter product reviews. 

But if you pull off a completely unbiased review, your credibility will shoot through the roof, and people will flock to you for your unbiased takes. 

These work best if you have already built trust with your audience. 

Examples: 

• eToro Review: Reliable or a Scam? 
• Is Staying at the Burj Al Arab Worth It?
• Gimmicky Kitchen Gadget Reviews: Apple Slicers

#12: Niche News

Reporting the news is another way to get an endless stream of content. 

To get this right, you need to be on top of things. You need to be one of the first to release a reel about the news before it goes stale. 

Don’t just report news either; you’ll also want to give your personal takes or share some of your expertise on the subject matter. 

Examples: 

• Experts Say Financial Literacy is Declining
• Tourists in Japan are Facing Backlash
• New Study Shows Eating Almonds Daily Prolongs Health Span

#13: Authority Hacks

Authority hacks are when you take a popular figure in your niche and reveal what that person does daily or how they achieved something. (Something your audience also wants to achieve.) 

If you’re still unknown in your niche, you can hack the credibility of these authority figures in your niche. 

Take a look at these examples. 

Examples: 

• Why Warren Buffett Eats McDonald’s Every Day
• How Lexie Alford Became the Youngest Person to Visit All Countries in the World
• How Nikocado Avocado Lost 250lbs in Secret

#14: Quick Hacks

The difference between a quick hack and a step-by-step guide is that quick hacks are just that… quick. 

Ideally, these hacks should take only a few seconds to explain, and people should leave feeling like they learned a neat trick they can use. 

Examples: 

• This Quick Hack Saved Me $200/Month
• Quick Hack: Book Flights on Tuesdays
• Why Freezing Smoothie Packs is My #1 hack

#15: Unpopular Opinion

Unpopular opinions are a great way to stand out from the crowd and show your authentic self. They also build a strong community with people who share your opinion.  

Be careful with this format, though, since saying something that’s too unpopular might get you in trouble. 

Instead, you’ll want to go for opinions that are shared with your core audience — but shunned by “outsiders.”

Examples: 

• Unpopular Opinion: Having a Perfect Credit Score is Overrated
• Why Visiting the Middle East is NOT Dangerous
• Unpopular Opinion: Eating Pizza* is GOOD For Weight Loss

#16: Q&A Style

If you already have a few followers and are regularly getting comments on your posts, take note of some of the most frequently asked questions. 

Then, create reels addressing these questions. 

The funny thing about this format is that once you post one reel answering a question, you’re bound to get more questions on that reel — so it’s a format that easily multiplies. 

Examples: 

• A Viewer Asked: “Am I Too Late to Start Saving?”
• How Do We Get Money to Travel?
• Are Juices Overrated for Weight Loss?

#17: The Rule Breaker

Last but not least: once in a while, post something that breaks all the rules! 

Don’t think too hard about hooks, your format, or your call to action — just post something that you want to. 

Will it go viral?

Probably not. 

But will you have fun? 

Absolutely! 

(And hey…you never know when you’ll stumble upon a new format!)

How to Find More Content Ideas

Aside from these, there are hundreds of different content ideas you can pick up by simply using Instagram. 

Here’s a structured way you can find them:

• Dedicate 1 hour to finding these ideas at least 2x a week
• Open Instagram, and just scroll through your explore tab
• Write down any interesting ideas you find — both from your niche (and from other niches that you think you can repurpose for yours)

Combine this with some of the 17 content ideas we’ve listed above, and you should have a big, long list of ideas. 

Next, you’ll want to trim it down. Find ways to:

• Make the content as short as possible
• Make the hook more catchy
• Make people want to like/comment/save/share your reel more
• Make the whole thing easier to consume

Once you do this, you should have a long, LONG list of ideas that are ready to shoot and post at any moment! 

Never Run Out of Content Ideas Again

Identifying your content pillars, choosing from our list of 17, and jotting down any ideas you find while scrolling on Instagram is a surefire way to never run out of content. 

In fact, you might have too many content ideas, so you’ll have to sift through them and only choose the best ones. 

But hey… that’s a good problem to have. 

However, keep in mind that while having a ton of content ideas is great for Instagram, you’ll need to implement a few more strategies to make things click and to make your account grow. 

Want to learn how?

Read our guide on how to reach 1k followers here! 

60 Viral Templates