11 Easy Ways To Incorporate Pop Culture References In Your Instagram Content

Pop culture is the ideas and expressions provided by the music, movie, fashion, literary, and sports industries. Generally speaking, pop culture is aimed at the younger generation and is available through several platforms such as social media, streaming services, radio, publishers, websites, etc.

Because pop culture is so mainstream, it becomes an inevitable part of marketing, especially on a massive platform like Instagram. Using pop culture references in your content, you can infuse nostalgia, familiarity, and relevance into each post and truly connect with your audience.

This article explores eleven easy ways to seamlessly integrate pop culture into your Instagram content while ensuring your feed is always fresh and engaging.

1. Use Memes

A meme is possibly the fastest and easiest way to get eyes on your content and encourage your followers to share your posts. Keep track of daily trending memes and find clever ways to incorporate them into your posts.

Memes bring a world of possibility to your Instagram content – you can adapt memes featuring celebrities, catchphrases, and even current events to align with your brand. Add a creative twist to spark online conversations, and you’re good to go.

As a word of caution, avoid meme trends that poke fun at tragic situations. For example, the Titan submarine tragedy sparked a horde of ill-advised and downright cruel memes, leading to online outrage. It doesn’t take much for a boycott to happen, and this is the last thing you want for your brand.

2. Jump On the Hashtag Bandwagon

Celebrities do the hashtag thing exceptionally well, and so can you. Tap into pop culture conversations on Instagram by using trending movies, music, TV, or current event hashtags in your posts. Doing this will help increase your profile’s visibility among fans discussing the same topic and enhance your content's discoverability.

3. Make Your Content Sing

Music continues to unite the world, despite the strife, conflict, destruction, and disaster. You can use soundtracks or lyrics to make your content sing. Choose lines from trending songs that resonate with your brand image or the message you want to convey.

Consider the emotions and themes brought forth by the song and find ways to align this with your content. This is a creative approach that allows you to bond with a like-minded, music-loving audience.

4. Reference Well-Known Movies and Shows

Iconic quotes always do well on Instagram. Use funny or dramatic quotes, references, or even characters from films and TV shows in our posts. Choose instantly recognizable moments to immortalize in your content and caption them with the lines that made them famous. When you tap into references that people immediately grasp, you evoke nostalgia and, more importantly, spark conversations.

5. Throw It Back

Speaking of nostalgia, you can literally tap into your followers’ memories by referencing beloved pop culture moments. Find inspiration by revisiting classic TV shows, movies, video games, or even fashion trends (the 90s!), especially if they’ve recently started to make a comeback.

Share old photos, videos, and stories for your followers to reminisce over. This process creates a sense of community and will encourage interaction with your content.

6. Find a Celebrity Partner

It may not be the easiest thing to do on Instagram, but if you can find a celebrity influencer to align with your brand, you will significantly boost your Instagram presence. Partnering with well-known figures in the pop culture world will help you expand your reach and strengthen your brand message. You will also earn heaps of credibility and get the social proof you need to build your brand on Instagram.

7. Use Viral Challenges

Remember the Bird Box challenge? Don’t do that.

Instead, find a safe version of a movie or TV show-based challenge and put your own spin on it to create a viral post on Instagram. Create a variety of posts, including videos, to showcase your interpretation and encourage your audience to post their participation videos on your social media feed.

Doing this demonstrates your ability to stay current and engage your audience. Furthermore, it increases your chances of being discovered by new followers participating in the challenge.

8. Pop Culture-Inspired Filters

Use or create filters inspired by pop culture, especially movies. Instagram filters allow you to add an immersive element to your content, which means you can develop unique filters that reflect the theme of a specific pop culture reference. (For example, Hulk Smash!)

When you use filters widely recognized by your online community, you encourage your followers to use the same filters in their own posts. Doing this allows you to create a cohesive feed, especially if you get a lot of user-generated content on your profile.

9. Feature Fan Art

Fan art is an incredible niche on its own. If you want something truly unique but still related to pop culture for your content, contact talented artists and ask permission to feature their fan art on your profile. If you do this, you will support the artist community and show a shared appreciation for pop culture, which your audience will appreciate.

10. Double Down On Quotes

“I’ll be back.”

You read that line in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice, right? That is the sheer power of movie quotes. Viral movie quotes in your content will instantly resonate with your audience. Consider using a range of movie quotes in an ongoing campaign and stick them onto relevant images or backgrounds to enhance their impact. You can also use TV shows and book quotes to keep the campaign going.

11. Use Story Highlights

Did you know you can create dedicated Story Highlights based on different pop culture themes? You can have highlights for TV shows, moves, music playlists, and even iconic fashion moments. Doing this allows your followers to explore and engage with your content over and above the single post that drew them to your profile.

Leverage the Power of Pop Culture

Using these easy-to-follow steps, you can incorporate a world of pop culture into your posts. This will help you establish a deeper connection with your target audience and elevate your brand on Instagram. Leverage the power of pop culture and take your Instagram game to a whole new level.