Trendspotter: What’s Working Right Now on Instagram with Taylor Loren
Episode 935: Show Notes
Keeping up with social media’s constant changes can feel overwhelming. Luckily, today’s guest is here to help! Taylor Loren, a seasoned content strategist and marketing expert, has spent 15 years leading teams at top brands like Girlboss and Later. Now, she helps small businesses and creators cut through the noise and build sustainable content strategies.
In this episode, we’re diving into what’s actually working on Instagram in 2025. Which metrics truly matter for engagement? What should creators and business owners focus on for growth and monetization? Taylor breaks it all down, plus she’s busting some of the biggest myths people still believe about Instagram strategy!
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The Key to Instagram Growth in 2025
If you want to succeed on Instagram, you need to understand how the platform prioritizes content. One of its biggest strengths? Direct Messages (DMs).
Since users spend so much time chatting and sharing content privately, Instagram now prioritizes shareability over traditional engagement metrics like comments or watch time. This means the best-performing content is highly shareable, like videos that spark conversation or encourage users to send them via DM.
So, when creating content, think beyond likes and comments. Instead, ask: Would someone send this to a friend or colleague? That’s the key to increasing your reach in 2025.
Leveraging Timely Events to Boost Engagement
Want to make your content stand out? Taylor suggests looking beyond your own brand and tapping into cultural moments that are already capturing people’s attention. Whether it’s the Oscars, a trending artist, or a viral event, finding a creative way to tie it back to your business can increase your reach.
A great example is designers creating hypothetical merch for trending artists like Sabrina Carpenter. Beyond just hopping on trends, Taylor encourages business owners to manufacture their own moments by running strategic campaigns, whether it’s updating your templates or growing your email list. You don’t always need to take an evergreen perspective, sometimes, what gets you noticed is getting creative with a trending topic!
What Platform Should You Be On?
Not all social media platforms are created equal. While TikTok made it easy for businesses to go viral in the past, Taylor points out that it’s much harder to break through now. Instagram is also still an excellent value option for creators, but where else can they find new opportunities?
For Taylor, the answer is YouTube by way of search-driven content – with Shorts dominating search results, it’s an opportunity to repurpose Instagram and TikTok content for greater reach. Instead of constantly marketing to new audiences, she’s prioritizing a few well-optimized, evergreen videos that will continue driving traffic and sales long after they’re posted. Just like an SEO-friendly blog post, this approach turns content into a long-term asset!
Experimenting with Content: What Works Best for Your Audience?
The key to social media success lies in strategic testing. Instead of blindly posting, Taylor recommends experimenting with different formats, like carousels, storytelling posts, and videos, to see what resonates. A surprising platform to consider? Facebook Reels! While many creators focus on Instagram and TikTok, Taylor notes that Facebook Reels has a unique way of hooking viewers with quick previews, making it a powerful but often overlooked tool.
She also stresses the importance of content variety. A strong social strategy includes a balance of awareness content (designed to reach new audiences), engagement content (to deepen relationships with followers), and sales content (to drive conversions).
What Brands Are Getting Wrong in 2025
One of the biggest mistakes brands and creators are making in 2025 is sticking too closely to what’s already working instead of taking creative risks. Taylor explains that brands often provide rigid content briefs, expecting creators to follow them exactly, without realizing that creators themselves are the best content strategists for their own platforms. She urges brands to trust creators more, allowing them the flexibility to craft content that actually resonates with their audience.
The Power of Brand Marketing
One of the biggest challenges with brand marketing is demonstrating the ROI of your investment in brand awareness. That’s because people will often convert sometime down the road after interacting with your content.
Taylor explains that, during the pandemic, many companies shifted their budgets toward paid ads, which provided a clear and direct return on investment. But as ad costs continue to rise and privacy regulations make targeting more difficult, brands are realizing that organic marketing is actually the stronger long-term strategy. Unlike paid ads, which stop working when the budget runs out, organic content builds brand awareness, nurtures customer relationships, and leads to conversions over time.
While it’s hard to track exactly when or how a customer converts, investing in brand marketing pays off in the form of a loyal, engaged audience!
Quote This
“My social strategy this year is really focused on creating searchable social content so that people can find my content. ”
— Taylor Loren
Highlights
The Key to Instagram Growth in 2025 [0:01:23]
Leveraging Timely Events to Boost Engagement [0:07:35]
What Platform Should You Be On? [0:14:04]
Experimenting with Content: What Works Best for Your Audience? [0:23:10]
What Brands Are Getting Wrong in 2025 [0:27:24]
The Power of Brand Marketing [0:31:46]
TODAY’S GUEST:
Taylor Loren
Website | LinkedIn | Threads | TikTok | YouTube
Instagram: @taylor.loren | @reelstips
Taylor Loren is a marketing director turned consultant with an expertise in content strategy. With 15 years in brand marketing, including roles as Head of Marketing at Girlboss and Director of Content Marketing at Later, she now shares her knowledge with small businesses and creators through her content, courses, and templates.
Based in Vancouver, Canada Taylor combines her marketing expertise with mental health awareness to help businesses build sustainable, realistic content strategies.
OUR HOST:
Abagail Pumphrey
Boss Project on Instagram | Facebook
Abagail hosts the twice-weekly podcast, The Strategy Hour, which is recognized by INC and Forbes as one of the best podcasts for entrepreneurs.
Key Topics:
Social media, Instagram, TikTok, Digital Marketing
