Instagram marketing is rising in popularity with over 1 billion people using it. Thatโs basically an eighth of the world. If you look at the chart below, it reveals that instagram is used by a majority of people using other social media platforms. ย

There are over 95 million posts and 400 million published per day on instagram! As a marketer, instagram is basically your gold mine.
Smart marketers combine the benefits of the low cost per impression offered by promotional products, along with the massive reach and engagement of Instagram. Thatโs what this post is all about! Weโll look at 5 posts with branded promotional products on Instagram, to help you see why and how you should seriously consider posting photos of promotional merchandise.
Check them out!
#1: A Colourful Giveaway Post By House Of Lashes
Whatโs unique about this post is that it brings together real company products with promotional merchandise, almost to present it as a well blended post uniquely targeted to the House Of Lashes audience.
Usually, girls who love lashes also love bags. And girls who love bags and use their phone a lot would love a spare, pink, girly unicorn portable charger. It blends well with the persona of a beauty and image conscious, modern fashion savvy girl. Whatโs even better is the word โGiveawayโ sprawled across the image to attract the customers attention.

This post got over 6184 likes! Letโs have a quick look at the comments section on this post below:

The written content of the post directly asks the viewer to repost this photo and use specific hashtags. It also asks the viewer to follow the brand on instagram, to further increase their social following. It tells the audience all the goodies the winners would get, adding some excitement and a reason to participate.
Clearly, thereโs a lot to learn from this post! Be clear about your contests or giveaways, and give people a reason to be excited about your instagram posts and promotional items, and youโll soon see your social engagement skyrocket.
#2: An Influencer Post By Tony Robbins.
As a marketer, weโre sure you want to know how you can weave magic into your posts. This post does exactly that. By combining the power of influencer marketing, an action oriented message, and cool promotional swag, this post epitomises social engagement.
Tony Robbins, a well known global motivational speaker is wearing the brands t-shirt and scarf, and post gives some visual energy to the audience by asking them to make a decision. Tony also wrote a meaningful message to the audience about โwinningโ in the game of football, and wishes the team luck. All of these small ingredients are what weave magic into the post.
The results speak for themselves with the post receiving over 27K likes! Social engagement doesnโt get better than this. Learn by implementing a similar approach through collaborating with an influencer whoโs aligned with your brandโs personality.
#3: A Neatly Displayed Array Of Promotional Merchandise

A well known bar and restaurant, 20BARRA9 chose to put up a post with a neatly displayed range of promotional products that perfectly match the brandโs persona. A knife, a sealable bottle, a cheese platter, and a mini blackboard are just a few things that embody the brandโs identity.
Whatโs great about this post is itโs simplicity. Usually, posts with no โhuman elementโ donโt drive much engagement. But this post is an example of how great photography and branding smarts can drive social engagement on Instagram.
This post got 146 likes, but the important thing to not is that itโs also a โlow costโ post with no influencers, contests or any other additional costs associated with it. The thing to learn here is that how you present your photos on Instagram matters.
#4: Our Very Own Post On Instagram!
Speaking of โpreaching by exampleโ, weโd like to show you what we learned by publishing this post on instagram. As you wouldโve noticed, thereโs a red armchair, an adorable black dog, a pillow with a simple message.
We wanted to give our customers an insight into our office culture, the fact that weโve got a dog in the office, and tell our customers that we like to make things happen. Posts with dogs almost always get a lot of engagement from dog loving customers. Theyโre great with stimulating emotions and arousing people to write comments coming from a place of love and affection. The humorous part of the post is the sharp contrast between the dogโs body language and the quote!

Being a promotional merchandising company, weโve learned a thing or two about marketing ourselves! This post got about 115 likes, and again, the thing to learn is to invite your audience to know more about you, your office and your culture! People love that.
#5: A Purposeful Post That Stands For Something
A โpost with a purposeโ is not only great for marketing, it also builds your social credibility and shows you stand for a cause. This post by Wix of a woman wearing a promotional t-shirt with a techie way of spelling โGirl Powerโ as โGRL PWRโ shows how a trendy design and technology company supports women in tech. ย
Thinking about the colours theyโve used, itโs black text against a white background so the message stands out. Itโs a way of showing boldness, courage and a strong purpose.
This post got 642 likes, and also encourages the audience to compliment a creative female friend who deserves praise. Clearly, itโs an instagram post maximising social engagement, leveraging purpose as itโs driver.

A lot to learn again, especially if youโre purpose oriented socially conscious business and want your audience to know what you stand for!
Key Takeaway
Summing it up, here are just a few insights you can implement with your eyes closed:
- Use social contests to incentivise social engagement for promotional merchandise.
- Leverage the reach of influencers by collaborating with them to use your products.
- Take great photos aligned with your brandโs identity.
- Build a relationship with your audience by making them feel like a part of your culture.
- Pump your purpose into your posts!
Donโt forget to use the right hashtags, captions and post useful, engaging content on instagram frequently. You canโt go wrong!
Reach out to Good Things to explore how we can help with your promotional product needs.




