What's working on Instagram in 2021, and which elements should you be adding into your Instagram marketing approach?

That what the team from Mention sought to find out with its latest research report, teaming up with Hubspot to analyze over 100 million public posts, from a million users, to establish key trends and shifts in Instagram user engagement.

And there are some valuable insights here. Of course, engagement trends will also vary by audience, so not every generic trend will align with what you're seeing. But by understanding the latest shifts, you can revise your strategy - or at the least, you can experiment with new options to see whether they improve your results.

Some of the key findings:

• Carousel posts have overtaken both single image and video updates as the most engaging type of post
• The caption length that saw the most engagement in between 1,000 and 2,000 characters
• Beauty and cosmetic industry related accounts received the most engagement, on average

​Some of these notes are as you might expect, but others could spark new ideas for your approach.

You can download the full Mention x Hubspot Instagram Engagement Report 2021 here, or check out the summary infographic below.