Today my business partner Cat and I will be talking about the top ten tips you need to do to make your Instagram totally awesome! Cat is the one who does most of our Instagram stuff and you can check out her amazing work @totsnetwork. Make sure you see all of our fun, behind the scenes stuff here.
Table of Contents
10 Super Awesome Instagram Tips For Bloggers
You need to be there. If you aren’t, get there asap.
If you aren’t on Instagram, you need to get on there right now! Lots of bloggers, even bigger ones who are everywhere and do very well, are afraid to get on Instagram. It’s a lot more personal. It’s social. That’s what it’s supposed to be!
Your Instagram account doesn’t have to be super literal to the rest of your content. Check out Trisha from Momdot. Her Instagram is basically her just showing her fashion beauty side, while Momdot is that plus her family life. She’s done very well on Instagram and there are lots of people following her there, in a very short amount of time!
If you aren’t on Instagram yet, don’t worry. You didn’t miss the boat… there are still lost of people out there to follow you!
Link to your Facebook and Twitter.
You can auto post to these social media, but I don’t always share every Instagram photo to Twitter and Facebook as I find it overkill. Lots of your fans follow you on all three, and don’t want to see every one twice. I select certain posts that would make good Tweets or Facebook post, and share them there accordingly. Also, you don’t have to share at the same time that you post to Instagram. You can always go back to Instagram later and share something that you’ve already posted. Just click on the “share to” button, and you can share to any account you have connected.
Follow people.
You want to find the right people and follow them. If you’re a blogger and you find someone that you like what they are doing; follow them. Follow their followers. Some people use their own name as their handle (works well if you’re a big blogger whose name is well known), but most use their blog name. There are daily maximums of people you can follow, but it varies with Instagram. Some days it’s 160 people, and some days it lets me go to 200. Either way, be sure to keep liking people!
3:1 Methodology
Like three pictures, follow on 1. This, theoretically, gets the person’s attention enough that they’ll follow you back. While it’s fun to look at pictures, a follow back is the main goal. Instagram’s algorithm shows you things that you might like to see first, rather than the newest post first. It’s a good idea to check these out, and even check out some of your favorite bloggers (and brands) and take note to how they are using Instagram.
Watch what they’re posting, and how they engage with their follows. Do your research!
If you don’t follow back, they will unfollow you.
This happens quite regularly on Instagram. If someone follows you, it’s polite to follow them back. However, only if they have appropriate content that interest you. If the content is something you’re irrelevant to you don’t follow them back. This will only crowd your newsfeed with irrelevant content that you are not interested in and you won’t want to go to Instagram.
Cat and I disagree on this. The follow to unfollow strategy isn’t necessarily the most organic method of growth. The organic method of growth, however, takes a very long time. There are merits to both, but if you are solely using the follow to unfollow strategy then you need to reevaluate for sure. You need to engage with other people, and follow people that you are interested in.
We are NOT saying, just follow people and once they follow you unfollow them. That’s a method too, and I think it’s kind of shady. I don’t do it or like the idea of doing it.
Add a location, or any description at the top.
I saw someone put “check out my site for more at www.herblogname.com.” She put this in the location area and I thought it was really smart. Adding location also helps brands to find you. Like now, we’re traveling. It’s fun to put things we enjoy.
As always, don’t neglect safety and common sense. While it’s okay to tag a general city or state, you don’t want to tag your exact address to Instagram. Another thing to keep in mind is that Instagram only has one clickable link. You can only link to your page in your initial profile. If you put your web address in, people can copy and paste it put they aren’t clickable.
Posts are editable.
The “…” button on the bottom of your already shared post allows you to edit it. You can add hashtags, add locations after the fact, or edit the info you wrote as well. It’s never too late and you can always fix things or add on after!
Hashtags are your friend.
If you’re looking for an organic way to grow your following, hashtags are the way. People look for things they are interested in and will follow you based on your hashtag. Once you begin typing in your hashtag, Instagram will start to populate hashtags based on their popularity. Always choose the most popular! While web addresses are not clickable, hashtag always are!
They now take horizontal images.
Instagram now takes horizontal images, but keep in mind some of the picture will be cut off on your profile if you choose to post it this way. You can always crop it down to the standard square shape, and add a white background or something to that effect to allow it to be fully visible from your profile page.
We prefer the squared, clean profile look, but many people were extremely excited to now be able to incorporate horizontal images.
Brands like Instagram.
You may be thinking “Instagram seems fun, but is there a purpose?” Yes! Brands like Instagram. Many times they like you to share their products or their hashtags. Almost all of the networks and brands ask for Instagram these days even if they aren’t asking for a social share here. This goes towards your social media presence.
Bonus Tip: Instagram is not just photos. You can also do videos up to 15 seconds. I like using programs like InstaHyperlapse and InstaCollage. InstaHyperlapse helps speed up your standard length video to 15 seconds for Instagram. Check out our Instagram page for examples of this!
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