General | by Angela Peltner | 11. June 2025

Instagram for musicians – your guide for more reach, more fans and more success.

An overview of Instagram: the most important strategies, features and tips.

Even in 2025, Instagram remains one of the most important platforms for artists. It is used for building up a fanbase, communicating with followers directly or for marketing music, merchandise and concerts. In this article, we will give you an overview of the most important strategies, features and tools to take your Instagram game to the next level.

Why Instagram is important for artists

Instagram is more than just a platform for photos. You can use it for:

Direct contact with your community
Telling stories about your music
Visual brand building
A central role in music marketing

Instagram strategy: target group, aesthetic, consistency

Before you get started, ask yourself:

“What is my target group?”
“What type of content is right for my profile as an artist?”
“How often can I and do I want to post?”

Pay special attention to recognisability: your visual identity should come through clearly – from your profile picture, to your feed to your story highlights. Uniform colours, fonts and visual languages help you to stay in people’s heads for longer

Feed, Story, Reels and more – what you need to use

Instagram has various formats on offer – and all of them have their own strengths:

Feed posts: high-quality images, snippets and behind the scenes
Stories: personal, direct and regular – ideal for insights and interactions
Reels: increase your audience! Use music, trends and quick cuts
Highlights: show who you are; quick info on releases, concerts etc.

Interaction is everything, so stay relevant

The algorithm loves engagement, which you can achieve with genuine exchange:

Ask questions in your captions and stories
React to comments and DMs
Use surveys, quiz and emoji sliders in Stories.
Be actively involved with other artists or in your community

Promote releases on Instagram – but do it properly

You naturally want to (and should) promote your music – but avoid obvious advertising. Instead, show insights, feelings and background:

Countdown stickers in stories
Behind the scenes from the studio or video shoot
Preview snippets on Reels
Exclusive pre-save links in Linktree

Hashtags, captions and timing – small things, big impact

Between 3 and 7 hashtags is the optimum number of hashtags to add to your post
Use relevant hashtags, like #newmusic, #germanscene, #indieartist
Write authentic captions with a call to action
Post at times when your community is online (Insights can help with this)

Search engine and even more hashtags

There are two tools to help you with hashtag research:

LikeOMeter is a free search engine for influencers and also offers a whole range of statistics on social media. This hashtag explorer tool helps you to pair your hashtag with 29 others to use right under your next Instagram post.
The Instagram Hashtag Generator from SISTRIX uses more than 36 billion hashtag combinations to find your dream combination. Enter one or more hashtags you already have in the search field and you will be shown more hashtags that go with it. You can search up to 25 times for free every day.

Instagram layout and design

People remember a stronger look much better. Here are a few tools for creative layout design:

Creative layouts are the icing on the cake of an Instagram post. With the right Instagram apps or Instagram tools for layout design, you can integrate up to nine photos in an individual collage. Different layouts along with tilt, zoom and mirror tools ensure that it all looks perfect. Additional practical functions, like automated searching for pictures with people using the ‘faces tab’ or the Photo Booth mode for spontaneous pictures round out the tool.
Canva can Canva is one of the countless Instagram apps for layout design. As well as layout design, the app, which is available for Android and iOS, enables you to create complete designs for Instagram posts as well as flyers and print material. More than 60,000 free templates help with design – ideal for artists without a design background.

Video content is king – tools for Reels etc.

Yes, Instagram was once used for sharing pictures of daily life. However, video content plays a bigger and bigger role nowadays. We human beings are simply driven by our impulses and in particular we react to moving images. But what Instagram apps or tools are best at taking advantage of this?

InShot – video editing on your smartphone

InShot allows users to turn their creativity into high-quality videos for Instagram and YouTube etc. with easy-to-use tools. Edit, shorten, split into several clips and compile material together without losing quality. More than 55 transitions, countless filters and effects as well as the tool set for adding music open up countless opportunities. Timeline features like simple synchronisation of video material with text and emojis as well as huge sticker and meme databases complete the overall package.

Boomerang by Instagram – a must-have in social media management

We don’t need to say too much about Boomerang by Instagram. “Boomerangs” are now ubiquitous. Nonetheless, a well-placed Boomerang makes even the most mundane everyday situation an eye catcher.

Link in bio – so be clever

Instagram only allows you one link in your bio – so make it a good one

Linktr.ee is the classic option: create a small landing page with links to your pre-saves, music videos, merch and more.

Tools and Insights – use the data

Instagram Insights shows you:

What posts are working
When your followers are active
How your engagement is changing

Use tools like Later, Buffer or the Meta Creator Studio to plan your posts in advance – this helps you to post regularly and without stress.

Tools and Insights – plan, analyse and optimise