Contrary to what your friends’ photos suggest, Instagram isn’t only a social media platform for selfies and stunning pics. Instagram has a whopping 1 billion active monthly users as of June 2018 — the last 200 million of which joined in the prior nine months. This post is all about the best brands on Instagram at that moment.
In a time when visual content plays a crucial role in any business’s marketing strategy, Instagram marketing presents a unique opportunity to visually show your brand, celebrate its personality, and keep it for all those users who scroll through their Instagram feeds every single day.
Although they’re few and far between, there are some best brands out there — in every industry, and with every type of target customer — who are doing well on Instagram. These industries include skincare, lifestyle, education, shoes, interior design, entertainment, and even office supplies (one of the most B2B markets you can think of).
Ready to get inspired? Let’s dive into this list of best brands that are thriving on Instagram right now. And explore what about their posts sets them apart. For each of these brands, we’ve shown you examples of their best posts. For some of them, we’ve also provided you with their most popular Instagram post of all time in terms of engagement (i.e. combined total of likes and comments). Thanks to data from the Instagram analytics and management platform Iconosquare.
17 of the Best Brands on Instagram
1. Lego
Followers: 3.8M
In case you’re not following Lego on Instagram, you’re missing out on some entertaining content that isn’t just product plugs for kids.
The famous plastic building block brand populates its Instagram feed with fun takes on pop culture references everyone is bound to appreciate. They are something many businesses can learn and apply for their own Instagram accounts.
While most of Lego’s posts do serve to announce the release of new Lego characters, the main value in its Instagram account is to emulate familiar social tropes in a classic Lego way. Some of them are pretty impressive, such as the life-sized flying car from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
2. Califia Farms
Followers: 219k
Califia Farms natural beverage products have some of the most attractive packagings we’ve come across. It’s so iconic that it won top honors in the global packaging design category from Beverage World Magazine.
Instagram is a perfect platform to show that cool, curvy bottle, and the folks at Califia don’t shy away from doing just that — most of the brand’s posts show the beverage’s containers in some way, whether they’re the main subject of the photo, or more of an accessory in the context of the active, healthy lifestyle Califia’s buyer personas love.
Something Califia does well on Instagram is to create fun, playful videos, and GIFs. Check out this one, which they used to teach viewers how to create a fresh tomato basil soup:
And here, the one which is just plain fun to watch:
3. #FollowMeTo
Followers: 499k
Have you ever seen those photos of a woman leading a man by the hand in all different parts of the world? That pose was made famous by a couple named Murad and Natalia Osmann for their #FollowMeTo project.
Their Instagram account is a mix of stunning images of the classic #FollowMeTo pose that has been edited into perfection, as well as some really interesting behind-the-scenes photos of their world travels — including some fun photos of the “making of” the famous pose.
4. Lorna Jane
Followers: 822k
If your brand were about a person, how would you describe its personality? Australian activewear company Lorna Jane has done an awesome job answering this important branding question with its Instagram content. You should spend just a few seconds scrolling through these photos. And you’ll quickly be able to name the target Lorna Jane’s buyer: a young, sporty, twenty- or thirty-something woman who values looking good while maintaining an active lifestyle.
The images posted by Lorna Jane, which often show the brand’s clothing and accessories, as well as images of women who embody its target buyer persona, are colorful, playful, and inspirational, which is a perfect representation of the brand’s essence — in other words, its heart, soul, and spirit.
5. Letterfolk
Followers: 306k
Letterfolk is a small business run by a husband-and-wife team who create and sell beautiful, handcrafted felt letterboards. Each letterboard comes with a full set of characters so people can personalize the walls of their homes, which means endless room for creativity.
Instagram is the perfect platform for them to inspire customers and aspiring customers with real customers’ boards. Moreover, it ideas they’ve come up with and staged themselves. Their Instagram content is funny, thought-provoking, and relatable — all recipes for shareability.
Letterfolk’s Most Engaging Post
[Click here to see the post.]
Why it’s engaging: Not only is this photo showing an interesting and clever message. However, it’s also very, very relatable to women — one of Letterfolk’s target customers. It’s also a very taggable photo. So the comment section allows Instagram users to mention their friends’ usernames so they can share in the fun.