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social media strategy for libraries

The 2026 Guide to Instagram for Libraries: New, Creative Ways to Grow Engagement

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

This is part of the 2026 series of library social media guides. In addition to this post, be sure to bookmark these new guides:

Next week, I’ll wrap up the series with tips for Facebook.

Instagram for libraries

According to the 2025 Super Library Marketing survey, 93 percent of libraries say they post to Instagram, making it the second-most-popular social media platform for library marketing. However, the number of libraries using Instagram dropped by 5 percentage points in 2025.

I have a few guesses as to why this happened:

  • Some libraries faced privacy concerns about using Meta-owned platforms.
  • Instagram’s increasing emphasis on paid ads makes it difficult for libraries to reach their community organically.
  • Budget cuts mean fewer staff, which may have led some libraries to scale back their Instagram use.
  • The inability to insert links into posts remains a major downside for Instagram users.

How are people using Instagram right now?

Here are some statistics from Backlinko, Teleprompter, and Digiexe.

  • Instagram is the most popular app for 18-24-year-olds, a key demographic for libraries.
  • The average Instagram user now spends 33 minutes a day on the platform. But, for 18-24 year olds, the average time spent on Instagram per day is much higher, at 53 minutes per day.
  • 90 percent of Instagram users watch Reels.
  • Instagram users remain evenly split by gender.

How much success can libraries expect to see on Instagram?

  • Reels: The average engagement rate is 2.46 percent, according to Sprout Social.
  • Carousel posts: According to Social Media Today, the average engagement rate is 2.4 percent.
  • Stories: Stories are shown to existing followers, so they’re not a tool for discovery. It’s difficult to get Instagram to give up engagement rates for Stories. However, Sprout Social says the average engagement rate is generally lower than for other types of content, at 0.8 to 1.2 percent.

The Instagram algorithm for 2026

Here are the updated Instagram ranking signals according to Sprout Social. Note: Nearly ALL the Reels ranking signals have changed in the last year. Also, Instagram now uses the same ranking signals for the Feed and Stories. That’s a huge change. (Gotta love social media!)

Instagram Reels Ranking Signals

  • Engagement velocity: The more likes, comments, and shares you can get on your video within the first hour of posting, the more reach you’ll get.
  • Completion rate: The more people watch your Reel all the way through, the more reach you’ll get.
  • Audio trends: Using trending audio will increase your reach.
  • Content quality: Edit your Reels in an app like Edits to post without a watermark. Never repost your TikTok videos directly from TikTok to Reels. Doing so will suppress your reach.
  • Consistency: The algorithm rewards accounts that post regularly.

Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories Ranking Signals

  • Content popularity: Instagram will reward you for getting engagement quickly, for tagging other people or organizations, for tagging the location, and for the timeliness of the post. However, here’s something to consider: Instagram tries to avoid showing too many people from one account to users in a row. So, that means you don’t want to post too often on Instagram!
  • Relationship: The algorithm will show you feed posts and stories to people who normally engage with your content first. The more your followers interact with the post, the more often they’ll see your content and the more reach you’ll get outside your library followers.
  • Behavior: Instagram tries to predict how likely someone is to spend time reading your post, commenting, liking, resharing, or tapping on your library’s profile picture for more information.

4 ways to get the best organic reach for your library’s Instagram account in 2026

#1: Lean into searchability.

Instagram is increasingly functioning like a search engine. Users, especially younger users, will use the search bar to find what they need, like “cozy books for winter reading” or “family activities near me.” Here’s how to make sure your library’s content gets seen:

  • Write captions using natural language. Think about how you would say what you want to say if the person were standing in front of you at the desk. For example, “Looking for cozy books for winter reading? Here are our five favorites!” Try to avoid stuffing your captions with keywords.
  • Use alt text for accessibility and to optimize search results. For feed posts and Reels, you’ll find the alt text box under “Advanced Settings”. You cannot add alt text to Stories unless you add it straight to the screen using captions or a text overlay.
  • Add the location tag to every post.
  • Be super strategic with hashtags. Use 3-5 relevant ones, such as #WinterReading #CozyBooks #PinetreeLibrary

#2: Prioritize video, but be strategic about it.

Reels are a priority for Instagram, so they need to be one for you, too! However, the algorithm doesn’t care as much about how many videos you post. It favors watch time and completion rates.

To boost your videos, you should:

  • Keep your Reels under 30 seconds to boost completion rates.
  • Add captions and on-screen text for accessibility and silent viewing.
  • Use trending audio when appropriate.
  • End with a call to action asking viewers to “Save this Reel for your next visit to the library!

#3: Post when your audience is active.

This year, timing will be critical because the algorithm prioritizes newer content. You’ll want to:

  • Use your insights and check often to find the peak engagement time for your account. Then, schedule your posts during those windows.
  • Post to Stories right before your scheduled feed or Reels posts to keep your account active and visible.
  • Share your feed or Reels post to your Stories once it’s live to ensure your followers see it and engage with it, which will boost your reach.

#4: Have fun with interactive micro-content.

The Instagram algorithm favors interaction signals because they indicate that people are interested in your content. To help boost this signal, you can:

  • Add polls, quizzes, and emoji sliders in Stories.
  • Use carousel posts with prompts to swipe through all the pictures to get to something exciting at the end of the carousel.
  • Ask questions to encourage commenting.

When to post on Instagram

According to Sprout Social, the average best time to post to Instagram is between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time. But as always, check the insights on your library’s account. Post when you notice your followers are engaging most often with your content.

And remember that being consistent is key. Pick a schedule that your library staff can stick to.

P.S. Want more help?

The Secret to Library Instagram Success? Start With the Story, Not the Promo

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Get More Library Marketing Reach on Social Media

Every library marketer I know is fighting a battle for the attention of cardholders on social media. Platforms don’t make it easy for us, do they? The kind of organic reach we enjoyed even five years ago is a nearly unattainable now. Plus, we’re all stretched for time. Social media can feel like an endless treadmill or a giant monster that needs constant feeding.

But there one thing you can do to stretch your library marketing efforts further each day on social. It’s called re-purposing. Basically, you take original content created by you or content created by your fans. You reshape it, then share it on different platforms. It’s easy and it’s fun. It saves time. And it helps you get the most effective library marketing messages in front of more eyes.

Now, I want to say that I don’t recommend full cross posting… in other words, copy and pasting a post on one social media platform automatically onto another one. Always think about whether your audience really wants to see the same content on each platform. The answer is usually no. Different platforms have different audiences with different needs.

But you can take a post on one platform and re-craft it to work on a second or third social media platform. For instance, an Instagram story shot at a super-fun teen program probably won’t work on your library’s LinkedIn page but it could be re-purposed on Snapchat. You can also make minor changes to single posts to make them work on different platforms. Change the text or the captions of the posts, add or remove hashtags, and or use a different photo.

Here are some tips for spotting social media posts that can be re-purposed. First, make a daily habit of social listening. Essentially, that means you monitor mentions of your library on all social media platforms every day. It’s easiest to do when you use social media scheduling software. At our library, we use Sprout Social. We can see mentions of our library on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, which are the big three platforms where we spend most of our social media energy. For my personal blog promotion, I have a free version of Tweetdeck. I can add columns and get notices when readers mention me by name or through the hashtag #librarymarketing on Twitter, where I do my main promotion.

When you monitor and share mentions of your library, you are nurturing the relationship with people who are already fans of the library. By giving them some exposure on your social media channels, you’ll be generating exposure for them and creating more loyalty. However you decide to do social listening, set aside time every day to go through the platforms and look for mentions of your library. The complimentary ones can be turned into posts on other platforms. They can be shared directly with your followers in retweets.

Ask for testimonials from your cardholders through social media. Then share those posts in your print publications, on your website, in videos, and across other social media channels. My social media specialist likes to take mentions and turn them into testimonial graphics in Canva. Then she shares those posts on select platforms. Bonus tip: I also asked for testimonials using our email marketing list recently. I sent an email to the most active adult cardholders at all our branches and asked them to tell us why they loved their library. The email linked to a specific email address. I even populated the subject line. All the cardholder had to do was type a few sentences about why they love the library. I got back more than 400 responses… a gold mine of future content for all our platforms!

You can also turn all questions sent to you on social into re-purposed content. Cardholders will often choose social media to communicate with libraries. There’s a great book with lots of tips of social customer care. I interviewed the author earlier this year and you can read that post. You’ll learn lots of ways to make social media customer care work for your library. The trick again is to set aside time every work day to go through each platform. And to keep track of the platforms where your library is mentioned.

And now, I’m going to share a social media fail I suffered recently. I forget that Google Business existed! My boss checked our account and found dozens of questions posted on Google Business sites for our 41 library locations. Now, I go through the messages my library gets each day. With 41 locations, we get about five messages a day on that platform. Some are questions about things like branch hours or services. I try to answer all questions within 24 hours if possible. Many posts are people leaving specific reviews of branches. Those people are thanked by me with a personal message. The whole process takes maybe 10 minutes a day. But the quick interaction will leave cardholders who take the time to write to you feeling like they were really heard, and that’s extremely important. And now, I can take the best of those Google reviews and re-share them on other platforms. They work great because they often mention specific branches and staff members. They feel more personal to the people who live in those neighborhoods because they know that branch and staff.

Re-purposing content is a great way to stretch your library marketing reach. It’s relatively easy and it’s fun and it’s free. And here’s the big thing: many for-profit brands are not doing a good job of re-purposing content. That’s our advantage. Our cardholders love us, and they love to hear other fans rave about our work. So set aside a tiny block of time in every day to search for content that can be re-purposed.

And now, I have a favor to ask. If you didn’t see last week’s post, can you take three minutes to fill out my tiny little survey? It’ll help make this blog better in 2019. Thank you!

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