Instagram trends come and go but the giant square grid trend on Instagram is one we wish would disappear and NEVER come back!
What is a giant square grid?
The giant square grid is when one square photo is cut into nine individual segments and each one of those squares is its own photo to post on Instagram.
Why do people like it?
When these posts are planned out into an Instagram posting strategy, they look like giant photos when you are viewing that user’s profile.
Why do we not recommend it?
First, when these separate photos get posted to Instagram, it is nine photos posted back to back within a few minutes. We do not recommend posting more than one time per day. Posting nine photos in one day is not ideal.
Second, your followers are not going to see these images in order on their feeds. What they’ll end up seeing is a random order of posts from the nine, intermingled with posts from other accounts that they follow.
Third, photos that do not make sense as standalone pictures will not get good engagement and therefor bring down the potential success of your other posts. Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing but what seems to be consistent is that posts that are performing better will be shown to more people. This could negatively effect posts you do after the grid.
Fourth, if you want your feed to look good all the time, you’ll need to be extra aware of the content you schedule and make sure to time the posts in numbers of 3.
Here is an example from the grid above. If you saw this photo in your feed, would you like it? Probably not.
What should you do if you have giant square grid posts on your account?
This is completely up to you! Depending on how long ago you posted these images, they may not be delivering to your follower’s feeds anymore with the algorithm. If you added hashtags or a geotag to your posts, they may still appear when searching through a specific hashtag or geotag, depending on how popular that tag is.
Our recommendation would be to archive or delete these posts. When you archive a post, it is not visible to anyone other than you and you can only see it when viewing all the posts that have been archived.
To archive a post on Instagram:
Tap the post you wish to archive to view it full screen.
Tap the three dots ( . . . ) in the top right corner of the post.
Choose “Archive.”
There are very few exceptions!
There are accounts who utilize the grid strategy well. An example is to use the giant square grid to create one cohesive image when you view their feed. This account then does not post more photos to their Instagram account. Instead, they utilize Instagram stories exclusively while maintaining a visually beautiful feed.