While TikTok has seemingly stolen some of its thunder of late, Instagram still remains a key focus for marketers – and rightly so.

The platform now has more than a billion active users, while Instagram Stories alone sees more than 500 million active users every single day. Even with younger generations seemingly becoming more aligned to TikTok clips, the reach and engagement on Instagram is still incredibly high, and if you’re looking to maximize your digital presence and reach, it remains a platform that you simply have to consider within your strategic planning.

And if you’re looking to get started on Instagram, but you’re not sure about the key elements, this infographic from the team at Giraffe Social Media is a good, basic summary.

The key focus areas of an effective Instagram presence can be broken down into these four elements:

• Effective hashtag use – Many experts advise brands to use up to 30 hashtags per post (Instagram’s limit) to maximize reach, but Instagram itself advises that brands should add three to five highly relevant tags for best results. Which strategy you go with will come down to your own approach, and will likely relate to your unique audience, but either way, hashtags do remain a key discovery tool on the platform
• Instagram Stories – As noted, Instagram Stories sees 500 million users per day, and its top-of-feed positioning makes it great for boosting brand awareness and engagement. Creating effective Stories can be a challenge in itself, but it can be a great way to build your in-app presence
• Great visuals – It probably goes without saying, but the main Instagram feed is still focused on great, standout visuals – the kind of images that will make people stop mid-scroll and check out your posts. There’s a range of tips and advice available on how to do this, but in the main feed at least, the quality of your images remains a key consideration
• Instagram Reels – Instagram’s TikTok clone doesn’t seem to have taken off as yet, but as Instagram continues to seek ways to slow TikTok’s momentum, you can bet that it will keep investing in Reels – which could make it a more relevant consideration for brands. What’s more, anecdotal research has shown that creating Reels can help to boost your overall Instagram presence, as Instagram looks to put more emphasis on the option.

Focusing on these core elements will help you build a more effective, engaging Instagram presence. The below infographic provides a quick summary of these key pointers.