If you’ve spent more than a day on Instagram, chances are you have seen, or know about, #TBT. Throwback Thursday.

This is where people post photos of themselves as kids or at various times of their lives as a way to look back and reflect. Really, it’s just a fun way to embrace more photos of ourselves without jamming another selfie into our feeds. Ok, not quite  But it is a fun thing that almost everyone seems to embrace on Instagram.

Which is all fun and good for you. But can businesses do this without looking weird? Absolutely! You just have to get creative. I’ll show you a bunch of ways that you can incorporate #TBT into your Instagram strategy.

Photos of Yourself

For some brands, it can be advantageous to share your own personal photos from childhood or other significant times in your life.

If your brand is your own personal brand, this makes sense. If your business is built around a small group of employees, who are regularly showcased on your Instagram account, this can be a great way to humanize your brand even more.

Things to consider sharing as photos of yourself include childhood photos that showcase your personality. You want the content you’re sharing to still translate to your brand message. Don’t just post a random kid photo for the sake of it.

If your personal brand is built around health or athleticism and you have photos of you in sports when you were younger, this makes sense. Here’s a photo I posted a while ago talking about my fashion style as far back as being a toddler. Given that I routinely shared posts about my style at that time, this meshed with my brand message.

Other ways you can showcase your past would be to celebrate the anniversary of your graduation from college or receiving certification or training in your field. If you are a lifestyle brand, you can throwback to previous trips or adventures.

I also love to see people show their lives before their “success”. Whatever your brand is, it hasn’t always been where it is today. You started off younger, less experienced, less polished. Showcasing how you have evolved your brand through throwback photos humanizes your brand and builds trust in your business.

Whether it’s you or your employees, finding fun ways that align with your brand message to showcase your past can significantly impact your results on Instagram.

Your Office or Storefront

If your business has been around for a while, you’ve probably gone through some iterations or work space. You may have moved from various buildings or offices. You may have expanded your storage or production space. The decor and styles have likely evolved.

If you had a grand opening or anniversary events, sharing throwback posts on those anniversaries is a fun way to share your past and establish your credibility as a trusted business.

Trivia and History

Sharing this history of your company or fun facts about the evolution of your company is a great way to not only build trust, but welcome newer customers into your community. Post photos that represent the information you’re sharing. If you have a lot of archive photos, this is a really good way to make use of all that content.

You can even turn the TBT post into a trivia game where you ask your audience to answer a question about the place, time, or event depicted in the photo. This not only shares your story but boosts engagement with your followers.

In Review

Want to share your year in review video? Or a highlight reel of a recent event you attended or hosted? Showcase it as #TBT post to capitalize on the trend while staying true to the content you were going to share anyways.

User Generated Content

If you collect content shared by your customers or followers, saving some of it for future use and highlights as TBT posts is a powerful way to reward your audience and take advantage of the throwback trend. Or if your customers post something related to your brand and tag you along with a #TBT, that’s even more perfect for sharing!

Just make sure you always get permission to repost someone else’s content to your Instagram account!

Vintage Themes

Does your brand love or respect all things vintage? Sharing content that pays homage to those who came before you can be a powerful way to connect with your audience and establish your brand style.

It could be your content or even images from magazines or photos from the past that inspire you. Let your creativity soar!

Before and After

If you frequently share before and after posts, or want to do more of this, consider making this a part of a regular #TBT series.

This could be a product series. But it also works if you offer a service. Think about lawn care and landscaping as before and after segments. Or a hairdresser or stylist. Or a realtor or home remodel specialist. There are plenty of ways you can incorporate before and after content!

When it comes to Throwback Thursday ideas, you are really only limited by your brand message and your creativity. You can use any variety of these ideas and I’m sure you can come up with even more!

Have you done something creative to incorporate TBT into your Instagram strategy? I’d love to hear what you’ve done! Chime in with a comment below.