In response to Sprout’s Q1 UK Shopper Pulse Survey, which concerned surveying over 2,000 customers throughout the nation, 90% of Gen Z now have Instagram profiles. Instagram reputation within the UK isn’t restricted to Gen Z; nearly 35 million individuals of various ages within the UK, in keeping with Statista, have an Instagram account. This makes Instagram a big advertising and marketing and gross sales alternative for UK manufacturers.
To make sure you’re crafting a successful Instagram advertising and marketing technique, you need to pay attention to present social media traits. We’ve listed in the present day’s most important Instagram traits throughout content material varieties and approaches that can assist you keep related.
What are traits on Instagram?
Tendencies on Instagram are any common social methods or approaches getting used throughout the community by numerous accounts. These traits naturally go out and in of vogue as viewers behaviours, and the Instagram algorithm, change. The 2025 Sprout Social IndexTM discovered that 91% of UK customers use social to maintain monitor of traits, with 54% of them particularly utilizing Instagram.
UK Instagram traits in content material and consumer engagement
Content material creation is a elementary a part of managing a profitable Instagram account. Listed below are in the present day’s most impactful UK Instagram traits that appeal to engagement.
Relatable imagery and video content material
Within the UK, resonating together with your viewers means creating content material that feels relatable and faucets into shared cultural references. Create content material that displays real-life experiences, addresses a need or concern, and makes use of relatable language and visible cues to attach together with your viewers.
It’s tempting to chase viral content material codecs, however the Index reveals that 34% of UK customers discover manufacturers chasing traits embarrassing, with 28% saying it’s solely efficient inside the first 48 hours. Lengthy-term success comes from creating authentic and genuine content material that connects on an emotional degree.
This implies having a method that mixes realizing what’s trending and efficiency information with a deep understanding of UK cultural references. You must transcend surface-level engagement to construct significant, lasting connections.
For instance, UK vogue model Lucy & Yak have over 700k followers and promotes inclusive, relatable content material that immediately targets their viewers. They make use of a number of ways to have interaction their Instagram viewers within the UK, together with:
- Prioritising user-generated content material.
- Treating clients as influencers.
- Fostering group.
Lucy & Yak have honed in on Instagram for participating video content material. They use the community to share their sustainability and ethics, which their viewers cares about.
Hashtag methods and Instagram web optimization: An evolving method
Instagram nonetheless makes use of hashtags, which suggests manufacturers want them to be seen by the fitting UK customers.
Create an Instagram hashtag technique with a listing of common hashtags in your area of interest and the way you’ll use them. Be sure to’re researching new hashtags recurrently. You may also create distinctive hashtags for occasions, campaigns, product launches, UGC engagement and extra. An evolving technique will get your content material in entrance of extra individuals.
Hashtags additionally type a core a part of your social web optimization technique on Instagram. Instagram web optimization takes conventional web optimization practices and applies them to the community to assist your account attain extra customers. Manufacturers ought to have clear key phrase methods and different web optimization approaches in place to ensure they seem in related searches.
Authenticity within the UK: connecting by way of shared values
In response to the Sprout Index, authenticity is paramount relating to model content material within the UK. Instagram customers within the UK count on authenticity from everybody they comply with—manufacturers and influencers.
Authenticity on UK Instagram is about being true to what your model represents, and preserving these values in your content material and the way you behave on the community. Contemplate all the pieces your model does on-line, and ask why you’re doing it, and the messages and values you’re selling whereas doing so. This can enable you to get nearer to residing and speaking your values on social.
For instance, Mikaela Loach is a youngsters’s writer who posts reflective, open and trustworthy content material on her Instagram account about her life as a UK influencer and local weather campaigner.
In style UK Instagram content material classes are numerous
Manufacturers and influencers create quite a lot of content material on Instagram, with many gaining reputation by way of their area of interest. Among the hottest UK Instagram content material classes roughly correspond with the most talked about subjects on-line within the nation.
These embrace food and drinks, leisure (together with music, movies and gaming), journey, magnificence and vogue. Every of those classes has a notably viewers within the UK, however their reputation can result in elevated competitors.
UK Instagram traits in advertising and marketing
These are among the main advertising and marketing Instagram traits within the UK.
UK influencer advertising and marketing: Combine advertisements with influencer content material
Influencers are the most recent digital advertising and marketing channel worldwide, and over half of the individuals within the UK who comply with influencers achieve this on Instagram.
Partnering with UK influencers whose pursuits align together with your viewers can enhance your attain. They will additionally assist your model keep culturally related as a result of they usually have a pulse on traits.
instance of that is Stella Artois’ collaboration with “London Useless Pubs”, who opinions UK pubs. They collaborated on a recurring sequence referred to as “The Excellent Serve”, the place Stella’s product (their beer) is promoted inside the influencer’s private model of content material.
Movie star collaborations
Alongside influencers, a well-liked pattern on UK Instagram is content material partnerships with celebrities. These partnerships enable manufacturers to attach their merchandise with recognisable faces that followers know and belief.
An ideal instance is US-based sizzling sauce model Frank’s RedHot, which not too long ago expanded into the UK market. They’ve teamed up with Danny Dyer for a recurring content material sequence on Instagram to tailor their product promotion to UK audiences.
Movies vs. carousels
Movies and carousels are two of the most well-liked content material varieties on Instagram within the UK. Each acquire lots of engagement; reels have a 2.08% engagement price worldwide, while carousels have a 1.7% engagement price.
To determine which is true on your account, take into consideration what your viewers prefers to have interaction with. For example, the UK publishing home Fitzcarraldo Editions usually makes use of carousel posts with textual content as a result of their viewers is made up of readers.
Suppose additionally concerning the skillsets of your crew, and what you’re selling. If doable, a mixture of each movies and carousels may help diversify your content material.
Humour as an engagement tactic
UK manufacturers and influencers usually use humour to construct a recognisable model identification. Aldi UK is a well-liked instance with over 850k Instagram followers. They put up light-hearted and infrequently comedic content material. These posts have helped construct Aldi UK’s model identification as an accessible, pleasant grocery store model. Aldi is a reduction grocery store identified for decrease costs, so this comedic and lighthearted tone lends properly to an open and welcoming model ethos.
Take into consideration what sort of comedy may match on your model picture. However don’t overdo it, as making an attempt too exhausting to be humorous can backfire.
UK Instagram traits in social commerce and monetisation
Instagram isn’t only for increasing your attain, it might probably additionally turn out to be a strong gross sales channel for what you are promoting. By leveraging these Instagram traits, you’ll be able to unlock new monetisation alternatives.
Social commerce by way of Instagram Buying and Instagram Advertisements
Instagram Buying was launched in 2024 and permits customers to immediately promote by way of the community.
Social commerce within the UK is a big pattern, and utilizing these options can symbolize a big development alternative for manufacturers seeking to promote extra merchandise. Learn up on the very best ways for promoting on Instagram within the UK. That is significantly vital if you happen to’re making an attempt to grasp utilizing social media for retail within the UK.
Alongside posting content material organically, Instagram presents manufacturers the power to create paid advertisements that may attain extra customers.
For Nationwide Pizza Day, Pizza Categorical mixed an Instagram advert marketing campaign with a free pizza giveaway at their eating places. This was a wise marketing campaign because it promoted UGC (user-generated content material), and meant extra individuals had been visiting their native Pizza Categorical eating places to make the most of the free provide. Combining this promotion with Nationwide Pizza Day made the marketing campaign topical and elevated its capability to pattern.
Keep in mind ASA laws
All promoting on Instagram within the UK is regulated by the Promoting Requirements Authority (ASA). They’ve set guidelines for social advertisements, together with at all times stating clearly while you’re promoting one thing.
All manufacturers and influencers must comply with these ASA legal guidelines when creating partnership campaigns, when selling merchandise and when managing competitions on social media, amongst different conditions. It’s very important that you just hold updated with their laws.
UK Instagram traits in demographics
These traits clarify who’s utilizing the community, why they’ve chosen Instagram and the way they like to have interaction primarily based on present social media statistics.
UK Instagram consumer base and youth reputation
One of many key Instagram stats for the UK is the nation’s general consumer base of round 35 million customers.
Instagram is commonly within the high 4 most used social platforms within the nation, behind YouTube and Fb (together with Fb Messenger), however forward of TikTok.
Nearly 30% of UK Instagram customers are between 25 and 34. It additionally has numerous UK customers between 18 and 24.
Balanced use amongst genders and queer-friendly
Instagram use within the UK is roughly balanced between genders, with round 55% of its customers being feminine and 45% male.
This information doesn’t account for UK Instagram customers who determine as genderqueer or non-binary. Queer Instagram is a generally understood idea within the UK, and refers to how the community has helped create a safer group house for LGBTQ+ individuals.
Person behaviour
UK Instagram customers have been among the most engaged on the community for the previous few years. The general time spent on social media throughout the nation can be rising.
With 63% of individuals within the UK utilizing social media day by day, many individuals say they reply properly to promoting when utilizing Instagram. Checking and interesting with Instagram has turn out to be a core a part of many individuals’s each day lives.
How one can create a successful technique round UK Instagram traits in 2025
Understanding the present Instagram traits is half the battle; now, you’ll want to apply them. Right here’s how:
Hold a pulse in your viewers with social listening
With social listening on Instagram, you’ll be able to monitor conversations as they occur throughout your account.
An answer like Sprout Social may help you determine new traits which might be extremely related to your viewers, and higher perceive what your followers count on out of your content material.
Lead with authenticity
One other method is to embed authenticity into each nook of your technique. Create a content material technique that features behind-the-scenes movies, interviews with actual clients or day-in-the-life follow-alongs.
Content material like this can give audiences a greater understanding of who you might be and what you stand for.
Take note of key phrase optimization
Writing long-form, participating captions with a transparent web optimization method and key phrase technique is a confirmed manner of getting your content material seen by extra individuals and standing out from the group.
With Sprout’s AI Help, you will get assist writing participating captions at scale. Small groups also needs to take into account outsourcing this work to a creator.
Spend money on micro-influencer collaborations
The best influencer collaborations not often contain partnering with an enormous title. Campaigns are sometimes more practical with micro-influencers which have 10-100k extremely engaged followers.
For example, English meals producer Brandston created a brand new potato model, Nanna Tate, and partnered with meals influencer Joe.Oxley on a novel recipe to have interaction his 50k+ followers who’re all fascinated about meals.
Humanise your model
Going viral would possibly nonetheless sound interesting, however sustainable success on Instagram is a long-term course of that entails group constructing.
Which means recurrently responding to messages and feedback, commenting on influencer content material associated to your area of interest, and selling and interesting with user-generated content material. Use your model’s Instagram account to foster significant connections together with your followers, and as a manner of displaying the human facet of what you are promoting.
Sustain with the most recent UK Instagram traits
With these UK Instagram traits and methods, you can begin to refine a stronger Instagram advertising and marketing method.
Social retains evolving, so obtain the 2025 Sprout Social Index to seek out out extra about what individuals within the UK count on from social manufacturers.
UK Instagram traits FAQ
Q: How do I discover traits on Instagram?
A: Discover traits by listening to your viewers (by way of social listening instruments like Sprout) and recurrently reviewing your competitors.
Q: How can I discover Instagram story traits?
A: Discover story traits by watching tales from common creators and studying the most recent social media pattern reviews.
