Have you ever noticed how, when scrolling through Instagram and particularly the Discovery / Explore page, there are some video concepts, sounds, and music links which pop up everywhere?
Whether it’s a song embedded into a grid post, or an audio clip used as the soundtrack for a reel, Instagram is built on a foundation of trending content ideas – one of which is the use of sound.
And believe it or not, successfully implementing and using trending audio is a great way to push your content to the forefront of the platform – increasing exposure and giving followers and other users the content that they want to see.
But what is a trending audio clip on Instagram and how do you find and use them?
Why Use a Trending Audio Clip on Instagram?
A trending audio clip is something that has been, or is being, widely used across the platform.
It can often be identified by a trending label which is added to the track whenever it’s used in an Instagram reel. More on this later in the article!
Using a trending audio clip, be it a song or a soundtrack of some sort, can provide the following benefits to your content and profile:
- It helps you to stay relevant amid social media trends
- It appeals to your audience
- It’s a good way to support the personality of a business account
- It inspires engagement among followers and other users
- It makes Instagram more likely to boost and display your content through the Discovery page
When you use a trending song, particularly one that’s being used to create a certain type of content (often a reel), users are more likely to keep watching to see how you interpret the trend.
So, how do you find out what audio is trending – and more importantly, how do you use it in your own content?
How to Identify Trending Audio
As we mentioned earlier in this article, if you come across a reel or Instagram post that is using trending audio, it will be indicated by a ‘Trending’ label.
The icon which depicts a trending song or audio clip is quite subtle – appearing as a small arrow pointing North East, placed just before the name of the audio clip on the full screen view of a reel or post.
If you see this, then you know that the audio used in that particular piece of content is something that is trending on the platform. Clicking on the name of the song or clip will take you to a full screen view where you can see other content that uses the same audio or use it for yourself.
How to Find Out What Audio is Trending
The previous point focuses on identifying trending audio as you browse through Instagram reels and updates.
But how do you find out what audio is trending without scrolling through countless other posts?
You need to check out which audio clips Instagram recommends.
- Head to your profile page then select the Plus button in a square, at the bottom centre of the screen. Click on ‘Reel’ to start creating a new reel.
- Pick a photo, video clip, or series of photos that you want to build a reel from, then select ‘Next’
- Once you reach the editing screen, click on the music note icon along the top of the screen
- The screen will now display a number of music choices, songs, audio clips and more. Under the ‘For You’ list, you’ll find a number of songs which all have that trending icon explained above.
Browsing this list is one of the quickest and easiest ways of accessing a comprehensive list of Instagram’s suggested audio clips which are trending, based on your content type and audience.
You can click on the play button to the right of any of the suggestions to hear how they sound, building them into your content plan and strategy with ease.
And voila! Using any of these clips will give your content an extra boost in the right direction to support engagement and to put your post at the forefront of Instagram’s algorithm.
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