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GuideTools & Comparisons15 min read

How brands find viral content ideas on Instagram

The four ways brand teams find reel ideas on Instagram, the tools for each with prices, and what 4,100+ viral brand reels in our library have in common.

Aubrium ResearchEditorial · Updated

A clothing brand with 3,510 followers filmed itself packing an order. Not a real one. The words on screen said it was packing a fake order while it waited for its first customer. That reel got 669,671 views, about 190 times the brand's following.

No ad budget, no famous face, not even a product shot. Just a feeling every new brand owner knows, filmed on a phone.

Most brand teams look for ideas in places that would never show them that reel. Listening tools hear what people say. Competitor dashboards watch the rivals you already know. Trend reports show what's big for everyone. Each one is useful, and each one misses something. This guide covers the four ways brands find content ideas, the tools for each, and what our library says viral brand reels have in common. We make one of those tools, Aubrium, so we've said where it falls short too.

The short answer

Brands find viral content ideas on Instagram in four ways. Social listening shows what people say (Brand24, Hootsuite, Sprout Social). Competitor tracking watches the rivals they know (Socialinsider, Metricool). A viral-reel library shows reels that took off for brands their size (Aubrium). Trend reports show what's big this week. Most teams need a library plus one of the others.

How do brands find content ideas on Instagram?

There are four ways, and most teams mix two of them.

1

Social listening

Track what people say about your brand, your products and your category, across social and the web. It's where you find the questions and complaints worth answering in a reel.

2

Competitor tracking

Follow rival brands you name and compare their numbers with yours: how often they post, their engagement, their views.

3

A viral-reel library

Search reels that already took off in your category, including ones from brands you've never heard of, and see how each one was made.

4

Trend reports

See the sounds, formats and topics that are big across Instagram this week.

They answer different questions, so they miss different things.

WayWhat it tells youWhat it missesTools
Social listeningWhat people say and ask about youWhich reels actually travelBrand24, Hootsuite, Sprout Social
Competitor trackingHow the rivals you know are doingBrands you haven't found yetSocialinsider, Metricool, Hootsuite
A viral-reel libraryWhich reels took off, and how they were madeWhat people say about your brandAubrium
Trend reportsWhat's big everywhere right nowWhether it fits your categoryInstagram's own tools, TikTok Creative Center

Listening gives you the topic. A library gives you the shape of a reel that already worked. That's why the two pair so well. Watching only the rivals you know tends to keep you close to what they already do.

The tools at a glance

Prices are each tool's lowest paid plan, read on its own site on 4 November 2026.

ToolBest forShows accounts your size?Instagram only?Price from
1. AubriumBrand teams deciding which reels to make nextYes: Only 1K–100KYes: Yes$49/mo
2. Brand24Hearing what people say about your brandNo: Mentions, not reelsNo: 25 million sources$199/mo, billed yearly
3. HootsuiteOne suite for posting, inbox, listening and benchmarksNo: Rivals you addNo: Many networks$99 a user/mo, billed yearly
4. Sprout SocialLarge teams that want everything in one placeNo: Rivals you addNo: Many networks$79 a seat/mo, billed yearly
5. SocialinsiderBenchmarking your brand against named rivalsNo: Rivals you addNo: Six networks$99/mo
6. MetricoolScheduling, with a look at competitorsNo: Rivals you addNo: Many networksFree plan; $25/mo

What do viral brand reels have in common?

We looked at the brand reels in our library. Aubrium files viral posts by niche, and four of its niches are made of brands: beauty brands, clothing brands, pet brands and online stores. Every post in them already reached far more people than its account has followers.

4,100+viral posts in four brand niches
3,400+accounts behind them
22.5%of the reels passed a million views
13,896followers, the middle post's account

Aubrium's library, read 4 November 2026.

Two things stand out before any detail. These are small accounts: 40.7% have fewer than 10,000 followers. And the middle reel reached 20.1 times its account's following. So the ideas below travelled on the idea, not on a big audience.

One warning that applies to every number here: these reels all went viral. The numbers describe what viral brand reels look like. They aren't the odds that a new reel will take off.

What kind of brand reels go viral?

Tutorials lead, then montages. Showing how something works, or how it's made, is the most common viral brand reel.

Formats of viral brand reelsHow many use each, and how far the middle one travelled (views ÷ followers). 3,800+ reels, 4 November 2026.
TutorialShare: 22.9%Travelled: 25.9×
MontageShare: 19.7%Travelled: 22.3×
StoryShare: 9.9%Travelled: 19.2×
TransformationShare: 9.1%Travelled: 21.9×
SlideshowShare: 8.1%Travelled: 20.9×
Talking headShare: 5.9%Travelled: 11.5×

Talking-head reels are the odd one out. Someone explaining the product straight to camera was the format that travelled least, at 11.5 times followers. Two small groups went much further: 153 skits at 31.7 times and 103 before-and-afters at 35.3.

Does a brand reel need a face?

No. Brand reels skip faces more often than the rest of the library, and the ones without a face went further.

Faces in viral brand reels3,800+ reels, 4 November 2026.
53.1%show a face
46.9%never show a face

Across our whole library, 62.4% of viral reels show a face. Among brand reels it's 53.1%. The reels without one travelled 26.4 times their followers, against 16.2 for reels with one. And the 21.2% with someone talking to camera reached 11.8 times, about half the 24.1 of those without.

So the product can be the star. Hands packing an order, a label going on straight, a dog shower holder doing its job: plenty of brand reels that took off never show the person behind them.

Can a brand reel ask for the sale?

It can. 57.2% of viral brand reels ask the viewer to do something, against 37.8% across our whole library. They travelled as far as the ones that didn't ask: 20.6 times followers, against 19.7.

The most common ask was to comment a word to get the link, in 14.9% of brand reels. Those went 24 times. A link in bio, a DM, a visit to the shop: none of them stopped these reels from taking off. Our read is that the ask works when the reel has given people a reason to watch first.

Polished or shot on a phone?

Brands polish more. 72.2% of viral brand reels look edited and produced, and only 27.1% are shot plainly on a phone, against 38.4% across the library. But those phone-shot brand reels travelled a little further, 22.6 times followers against 19.1 for the polished ones.

Funny reels are rarer still. Only 8% of viral brand reels are meant to be funny, about half the 15.4% across the library. The funny ones went 44.2 times their followers, more than twice the 19.2 of the rest.

How do viral brand reels open?

Mostly with words on screen. Half of these reels put their opening line on screen without saying it, and those travelled 26.2 times followers. Opening lines that were only spoken reached 13.1.

The openings themselves vary. A callout to a specific person ("Small dog owners this one's for you") opened 10% of them. A curiosity gap opened 12.3%. And 26.6% had no real hook at all, just the product doing something worth watching from the first second. Warnings ("DON'T let dog moms see this") were rare, 123 reels, but went furthest, at 44.5 times.

There's also a format that's almost only brands: packing orders. It's 1.3% of brand reels, against fewer than one in a thousand across the library. Small, but the middle one travelled 31.5 times its following.

Six brand reels worth studying

All from accounts under 30,000 followers. The opening line is what appeared on screen.

The opening lineNicheFollowersViews
"packing a fake order while i wait for my first customer"Clothing brand3,510669,671
"How I finally got my labels perfectly straight"Beauty brand6,2161,879,353
"Turning My Cat Into a Tiny CEO"Pet brand2,7733,455,824
"DON'T let dog moms see this..."Pet brand4,5503,183,775
"Let's pack Leah's one scoop order."Beauty brand27,3163,238,742
"Small dog owners this one's for you"Pet brand16,55118,280,581

The labels reel's caption credits a 3D printer and some Lego pieces. The tie reel sells custom ties, and its caption asks why the cat looks more professional than its owner. Neither looks like an ad. Both sell the product.

There's more by category in our pages on how clothing brand reels go viral, beauty brand reels and pet brand reels.

The tools, one by one

1. Aubrium

Viral-reel library + rival trackerFrom $49/mo

Best for: Brand teams deciding which reels to make next

Aubrium is a searchable library of viral Instagram posts from accounts with 1,000 to 100,000 followers, small brands included. Pick your niche, filter by country, format, account size and hook type, and each post shows its hook, transcript, caption, hashtags and sound. When your category isn't in the library, you can search any topic.

To watch a rival brand, type its handle. Aubrium ranks its recent posts against that account's own normal and keeps watching its new reels for 30 days. Save what you find to a collection and export it as a CSV for the rest of the team.2 When a reel is worth making, Make my version turns it into your own script, 20 hooks and a caption.

Plans are priced by how many Instagram accounts you run: 2, 5 or 10. It doesn't listen to mentions of your brand, and it doesn't schedule posts.

Pricing
Lite $49 a month (2 accounts, 100 Sparks), Growth $99 (5, 250), Pro $249 (10, 1,000)1
Costs
A topic search 10 Sparks; a rival 40 Sparks for 30 days; a script with hooks 4 Sparks1
Platforms
Instagram
Good
  • Reels that took off for brands your size
  • Search by category, country and format
  • Rival brands ranked against their own normal
  • Collections you can export for the team
Not so good
  • Instagram only for now
  • No social listening or scheduling
  • No free plan or trial

2. Brand24

Social listeningFrom $199/mo

Best for: Hearing what people say about your brand

Brand24 watches the web for mentions of your brand, your products and any keyword you give it. It says it monitors more than 25 million online sources in real time, Instagram and TikTok among them, and sorts mentions by sentiment and reach. It also tracks hashtags and their reach.4

For content ideas, its value is the raw material: the questions people ask and the complaints they make, which often make a better hook than anything a team brainstorms. It doesn't show you reels or tell you which formats travel. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.

Pricing
Individual $199 a month billed yearly, $249 monthly: 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions a month3
Trial
14 days
Platforms
Social, news, blogs, videos, forums, reviews and more
Good
  • Mentions and sentiment
  • Hashtag tracking
Not so good
  • No reel research
  • Keyword limits on the entry plan

3. Hootsuite

Social media suiteFrom $99 a user/mo

Best for: One tool for posting, inbox, listening and benchmarks

Hootsuite is a full social media suite. Its Standard plan covers up to 10 social profiles, scheduling, a shared inbox, analytics, competitive benchmarking against five competitors and social listening.5 Professional adds a 30-day conversation search, trend forecasting up to 90 days ahead and benchmarks against up to 20 competitors.

It's built for running a brand's social accounts, with research as one part of it. Its listening and trend tools work across networks, so they're broad rather than about Instagram reels. We didn't test it hands-on.

Pricing
Standard $99, Professional $199, Advanced $399, each a user a month, billed yearly5
Trial
14 days
Platforms
Many networks
Good
  • Listening and benchmarks in one place
  • Built for teams
Not so good
  • Priced per user
  • Benchmarks only the rivals you add

4. Sprout Social

Social media suiteFrom $79 a seat/mo

Best for: Large teams that want everything in one place

Sprout Social is another full suite: publishing, an inbox, reviews, reports and its own AI agent. Standard includes keyword and location monitoring, and Professional adds what it calls extensive competitor insights.6 Full listening, with sentiment and spike alerts, is an add-on from Standard up, priced through a demo.

Like Hootsuite, it suits a brand that wants one tool for the whole social team. It's priced to match. We didn't test it hands-on.

Pricing
Essentials $79 a seat a month billed yearly ($99 monthly); Standard $199, Professional $299, Advanced $399 a seat a month6
Trial
30 days, no card
Platforms
Many networks
Good
  • Everything for a social team in one tool
  • Competitor insights from Professional
Not so good
  • Listening costs extra
  • Priced per seat

5. Socialinsider

Analytics and benchmarksFrom $99/mo

Best for: Benchmarking your brand against named rivals

Socialinsider compares your accounts with your competitors' side by side across six networks: engagement, reach, Reels views and posting habits, with automated reports.7 It's good at answering "how are we doing against them?"

Its entry plan's 20 accounts are shared between yours and your competitors'. Its help pages mark competitors' Instagram views and reach as estimates.8 We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.

Pricing
Adapt $99 a month, or $82 a month billed yearly7
Trial
14 days, no card
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube
Good
  • Clear side-by-side benchmarks
  • Automated reports
Not so good
  • Competitors' views and reach are estimates
  • Only rivals you add

6. Metricool

Scheduler + analyticsFree

Best for: Scheduling, with a look at competitors

Metricool is a scheduler first, with analytics and a competitor view. Its free plan analyses five competitor profiles and its Starter plan up to 100 per network, with their posts sorted by whatever metric you pick.9 On Instagram, it can only add competitors that are professional accounts.10

It's the cheapest way to keep an eye on rival brands. It doesn't flag which of their reels beat their usual, and it won't show you brands you haven't added. We didn't test it hands-on.

Pricing
Free plan; Starter $25 a month, or $20 billed yearly9
Trial
Free plan, no card
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and more
Good
  • A free plan
  • Scheduling and competitors in one tool
Not so good
  • No outlier flag
  • Professional accounts only

What about trend reports? Instagram's own are the place to start: the Trending audio list in your dashboard, and the trending reels in its Edits app. We cover those in how to find trending reels on Instagram. They show what's big for everyone, so check a trend against your own category before you build on it.

A weekly routine for a brand team

This is the routine we'd run, in about an hour a week.

1

Read what people ask

Your comments and DMs, or a listening tool if you have one. Write down the questions that come up more than once.

2

Search your category

Look for reels that took off for brands your size this month. Save the five best to a shared collection.

3

Check your rivals

Look at the two or three brands you watch. Did any reel beat its usual by three times or more? Note why.

4

Pick two ideas

Match a question people ask with a reel shape that already worked. Make the product the star.

5

Make your version

Keep the idea and the structure, never the footage. Write the opening line for the screen.

6

Check after seven days

Compare views with your usual. Keep what travelled, drop what didn't.

The third step is easier with a rule of thumb for what counts as a breakout. Our guide to finding outlier reels shows the sums. If you run research for several client brands, our guide to content research for agencies covers the same job at scale, and our comparison of Instagram content research tools goes deeper on the tools.

Questions people ask

How do brands find viral content ideas on Instagram?

Four ways: social listening for what people say, competitor tracking for rivals they know, a viral-reel library for reels that took off for brands their size, and trend reports for what's big this week. Most teams use a library plus one of the others.

What tools do brands use to find trending reels and content ideas?

For reels that took off in their category, Aubrium. For listening, Brand24, Hootsuite or Sprout Social. For competitor benchmarks, Socialinsider or Metricool. For what's big across Instagram, its own Trending audio list and the Edits app.

Is social listening enough to find content ideas?

Not on its own. Listening tells you what people talk about, which makes good topics and hooks. It doesn't tell you which reel formats travel. Pair it with a way to see reels that already took off.

How do I see what's working for competitor brands on Instagram?

Open their Reels tab, note the views on their last 12 reels and take the middle number as their usual. A reel at three times that is a breakout. Tools save you the sums: Aubrium ranks each rival's reels against that account's own normal, and Socialinsider and Metricool list rivals' posts next to yours.

Should a brand show a face in its reels?

It doesn't have to. 46.9% of viral brand reels in our library show no face, and they travelled further than the ones that did: 26.4 times their followers against 16.2.

Do calls to action hurt a brand reel's reach?

Not in our library. 57.2% of viral brand reels ask the viewer to do something, and they travelled as far as the ones that didn't. The most common ask was to comment a word.

What's the best tool for a small brand to find content ideas?

If you're on Instagram and want ideas from brands your size, Aubrium. Its library only has accounts with 1,000 to 100,000 followers, and plans start at $49 a month. If you want a free start for watching rivals, Metricool has a free plan.

How we did this

The brand numbers come from Aubrium's own library, read on 4 November 2026. We took every viral post filed in our four brand niches (beauty brands, clothing brands, pet brands and online stores), counted each post once, and compared their reels with the whole library's. The tags behind them (format, face, hook, call to action, style) come from the same reading of each reel we use in the app. Every reel in the library already went viral, so none of these numbers is the chance that a new reel will.

What each tool says about itself, and its price, comes from its own site, read on 4 November 2026. We didn't test Brand24, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Socialinsider or Metricool hands-on for this guide, and we've said so beside each one. Apps change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and move the date. And yes, Aubrium makes this page.

Sources

  1. Aubrium pricingaubrium.com · Plans, accounts, Sparks and what each tool costs. Read 4 November 2026.
  2. Create Collectionsaubrium.com · "Open it and export a CSV with every reel's creator, caption, metrics and link." Read 4 November 2026.
  3. Brand24 pricingbrand24.com · Individual $249 a month, $199 billed yearly; 3 keywords, 2,000 mentions a month; 14-day trial. Read 4 November 2026.
  4. Brand24brand24.com · "Monitor +25,000,000 online sources in real-time", Instagram and TikTok among them; sentiment; hashtag reach and volume. Read 4 November 2026.
  5. Hootsuite planshootsuite.com · "Paid plans start at $99 for a Standard plan, $199 for a Professional plan, and range up to $399 for an Advanced plan", per user, based on annual billing; what Standard and Professional include; 14-day trial. Read 4 November 2026.
  6. Sprout Social pricingsproutsocial.com · Essentials $79 a seat a month ($99 billed monthly), Standard $199, Professional $299, Advanced $399; Listening an add-on from Standard; 30-day trial, no card. Read 4 November 2026.
  7. Socialinsider pricingsocialinsider.io · Adapt $99 a month, $82 billed yearly; 20 accounts shared with competitors; 14-day trial, no card. Read 4 November 2026.
  8. Socialinsider app limitationsSocialinsider help · Competitors' Instagram post reach and views marked "Estimated". Read 4 November 2026.
  9. Metricool pricingmetricool.com · Free plan with five competitor profiles; Starter $25 a month, $20 billed yearly, up to 100 competitors. Read 4 November 2026.
  10. How to add competitors in MetricoolMetricool help · "You can only add professional accounts." Read 4 November 2026.

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