A new 57-page report on Instagram strategy includes insights like ideal caption length and number of hashtags. Here are 5 key takeaways.

• Mention and HubSpot published a report outlining practices to help optimize engagement on Instagram.
• The report looked at 100 million Instagram posts shared by 1 million users.
• Here are several key takeaways from the data that marketers can apply to their 2021 strategies.

Succeeding on Instagram is a bit of both art and science.

But there are specific steps that brands, marketers, and others can take to more effectively use the platform, according to a recent report by Mention (a social-media monitoring platform) and HubSpot (a marketing software company). The report analyzed 100 million Instagram posts shared by one million users.

Instagram is the social-media platform of choice for marketers, according to a recent survey by the influencer-marketing agency Linqia. But as Instagram adds new features like Reels – its take on the vertical, short-form video popularized by TikTok – and its algorithm evolves, some brands (and influencers alike) struggle to fully understand the strategies that work on the app.