By Sadaf Tanzeem
Planning to join the Instagram bandwagon? Here's how you can make an account in a few taps or clicks.
With over 1 billion users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media channels. And people are still joining it today—even Jennifer Aniston created an Instagram account as late as 2019.
So, if you've started to feel that you're missing out on a lot by not using this platform, don't worry. It's never too late. Plus, you can get started in a few simple steps.
So, here's how to create an Instagram account from scratch.
Creating an Instagram account on the web is no big deal. All you have to do is follow some simple steps.
With that, you just created your brand-new Instagram account. If you want, you can also make more of these accounts. Now, you can edit the profile details and even enable two-factor authentication before getting started.
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The majority of people use social media sites with their mobile phones. So, here's how you can create an Instagram account using your phone.
Download: Instagram for iOS | Android
After creating your account, you can edit your profile setting, upload a profile picture, and start sharing and following.
A new Instagram account can keep you connected with friends, family, and even colleagues. You can show the best moments of your life to others and see the best things going on in their lives. Moreover, you can also use it to show off your creativity, your photography, dancing, singing, or any other skills that you have and more.
Plus, following the right pages can help you stay up to date with different trends.
Have fun Instagramming!
Over the past few years, Instagram has seen exponential growth — from one million users at its inception to over one billion in 2022.
If you're interested in getting an Instagram account, or just created one but aren't sure how to use it, you're in luck.
Here, we're going to cover all the basics, so you can learn why Instagram is the top social media platform for engagement today.
Instagram is a social media platform that emphasizes photo and video sharing via its mobile app. You can take, edit, and publish visual content for both followers and non-followers, as long as your account is public. Users can interact with your content via likes, comments, shares, and saves.
It's hard to remember a time before Instagram. At one time, "Do it for the 'gram" was a common saying, which meant, essentially, "Do something so we can take a picture and post it to Instagram."
Since then, Instagram has placed a larger and heavier emphasis on video. So you no longer hear the phrase “Do it for the ‘gram.” I bet, though, that a second version of the phrase will soon follow. (Maybe “Do it for reel?”)
If you're not part of the one billion users on Instagram, you might want to reconsider. The app is a great chance to engage with top brands and stay a part of friends' lives.
When I want to see how my college friends are doing, I don't check Facebook, I check Instagram. Plus, you can follow your favorite celebrities or political figures to see candid photos of their everyday lives.
Additionally, it's a phenomenal platform for investigating what other brands are doing — for instance, Nike uses the Instagram Stories' feature to promote inspirational athlete stories you won't find anywhere else.
To sign up for Instagram, all you need to do is download the Instagram app on your phone and click the 'Sign up' button. You can choose to sign up through Facebook or use your email or phone number. After you choose a username and password, you’re ready to build your profile.
If you're ready to sign up for Instagram, follow these steps below:
Then click "Sign up".When your account is created, you'll want to adjust your notifications so you only receive the information you want. For instance, you can choose to receive notifications when you get likes from everyone — but, alternatively, you might decide to only receive notifications when you get a like from someone you follow. Or, you might turn off notifications for likes altogether.
You can adjust notifications to "Off", "From People I Follow", or "From Everyone", for the following categories — Comments, Comment Likes, Likes and Comments on Photos of You, Follower Requests, Accepted Follow Requests, Friends on Instagram, Instagram Direct, Photos of You, Reminders, First Posts and Stories, Product Announcements, View Counts, Support Requests, Live Videos, Mentions in Bio, IGTV Video Updates, and Video Chats.
If you're overwhelmed by that list, I get it — I am, too. If you're unsure what notifications you want to receive, you might start with your notifications on "From Everyone", and if certain notifications begin to annoy you, you can turn them off later.
Free Resource
To customize which notifications you receive, follow these steps:
First up, open up the Instagram app on your mobile device.
You can also access Instagram on desktop if you prefer. Then, head to your profile by clicking the image of your profile picture on the bottom right.
After you arrive at your profile, click the hamburger menu on the top right-hand corner.
A popup menu will appear. Tap “Settings.”
On the next screen, click "Notifications."
There, you’ll be able to change the notification settings depending on category. These categories include:
You also have the ability to pause all notifications by toggling the Pause All option up top.
Check off the notifications you want to receive.Access each category individually and choose the notifications you want to receive. Here are the options, for example, for “Posts, Stories, and Comments”:
The options will vary depending on category.
And that's it! Next, let's explore how to connect your other social media accounts to your Instagram, so when you post an image to Instagram, you can share it with your other online audiences, as well.
Yes, you can connect Instagram to Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, but it’s no longer done through Settings, as it used to be.
Now, you do it on a per-post basis.
If you want to share a post to other platforms, you navigate to the actual post you want to cross-publish on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, and then manually share it that way.
Here’s how:
1. Open up the Instagram app.
2. Navigate to your profile.
3. Tap on the post you’d like to cross-post.
4. Click the three dots on the top right-hand corner of the post.
5. On the pop-up menu, click “Share.”
Note: Don’t click “Share to,” which will give you an option to AirDrop or share the post to your contacts.
6. Toggle the accounts you’d like to share the post to. If you’re not already signed in, you’ll need to do so right within the Instagram app.
Once you’ve connected your accounts for one post, you can then toggle the sharing options for any new posts without needing to sign in again.
If you connect Instagram to Facebook, you can share your Stories across both accounts. We talk more about how to do that below.
Since Instagram and Facebook are owned by the same company, Meta, you can connect the two accounts for a more seamless experience. Connecting your Instagram and Facebook accounts allows you to:
If you’re a frequent Facebook user, then connecting your account to your new Instagram profile is highly recommended.
Here’s how:
1. Open up your Instagram app.
2. Click on your profile picture on the bottom right-hand corner.
3. Click the hamburger menu on the top right-hand corner.
4. Tap “Settings.”
5. Under the Meta logo, tap “Accounts Center.”
6. Tap “Set up Accounts Center.”
7. Follow the prompts to log in into Facebook.
Done! Your two accounts are now connected. Here's how it'll look like once you're finished:
In the next section, I'll show you when a linked account comes in handy.
Now, for the most important part of Instagram — how to upload and post an image.
Instagram is an entirely visual platform. Unlike Facebook, which relies on both text and pictures, or Twitter, which relies on text alone, Instagram's sole purpose is to enable users to share images or videos with their audience.
On Facebook, you might choose to post 100 photos on an album. On Instagram, you need to be choosier about which photos you post. There are a few reasons for this — first, you don't want to post more than once a day (typically). And you don't want to post too many similar photos.
For instance, it would be odd for you to post fifty photos from the same beach vacation on your Instagram profile. Instead, you might choose five or six, and place them all within the same post.
(These are called carousel posts, and they allow you to share multiple photos in one post only. Carousel posts are awesome for posting similar pictures in one package while keeping your overall profile aesthetic diverse.)
Curious about creating an aesthetic? To learn more about Instagram account themes and get inspiration, take a look at these Instagram themes. Additionally, if you want to embark on a deep-dive, you can take HubSpot's Instagram Marketing Course.
Now that we've covered that, let's explore how to upload, edit, and post an image.
When you tap the “+” icon, you’ll be prompted to choose the type of post you want to share. Since we want to publish a post directly on our profile feed, tap “Post.”
Here, you have three options. You can look through your Photos library on your phone, you can take a new picture from right within Instagram, or you can take a new video. For our purposes, I looked through my Photos library and found a picture of Boston I wanted to use. Then, I clicked "Next" in the top right.
There are two categories you can use to edit your image — "Filter" and "Edit". Instagram automatically shows you filters first. You can scroll through the carousel and click any of the filters to apply it to your image.
Additionally, if you want to use a filter but you want to tone it down, double tap the filter and move the cursor to the left to lessen the intensity of the filter.
Next, click "Edit". Here, you can adjust contrast, brightness, structure, warmth, and more. When you're happy with your edited image, or if you don't want to edit it at all, click "Next" in the top right.
Now, you can add a caption, tag people (you can only tag someone if they also have an Instagram account), and add a location. Additionally, click the button beside Facebook or another linked social media account to share your image on that platform, as well. When you're ready to publish, click "Share" in the top right.
If you don’t want to use your app to post on Instagram, you can also do so from your computer. Learn how to post to Instagram from a Mac or PC here.
Instagram Stories is a feature that allows you to post videos or images that disappear after 24-hours. Instagram's Stories feature is similar to Snapchat in terms of content — users often post more casual and candid videos and images, offering glimpses into their every day lives.
For instance, on your normal feed, you might post a heavily-edited picture of yourself and friends at a baseball game. But you might post a more candid video to your Story of the stadium singing "Sweet Caroline".
To learn how to upload an image or video to your Stories, follow these steps:
Alternatively, swipe right on your feed or tap the “+” button in the top navigation bar.
Once you're within the Stories feature, you can take a picture or video right from within the app. Alternatively, if you have an image saved to your phone that you'd like to use, you can choose it from your media library.
On the left-hand side, you have a few different editing features.
The “Create” button lets you add a location, hashtag, time, date, and other fun images or emojis to your picture.
The “Boomerang” option allows you to create a looping video.
And the "Aa" icon is your text button. Once you click "Aa", you have the option to change your font.
If you click the smiley face icon, you'll see the following screen. Simply click on one of the icons to add them to your image. If you don't like it, drag it to the bottom, and a trash can will appear so you can delete it.
For instance, I clicked the smiley face icon to add a poll to my image. You can also swipe to the left or right to add filters to your photo or video.
Once you're happy with your content, you can either click the white arrow icon in the bottom right, which allows you to share your Story with everyone who follows you, or select “Close Friends” first, so that only your close friends see it.
Then you’re done! Your Story is immediately live.
It's incredibly easy to find and follow users. Using Instagram's search feature, you can find celebrities, brands, and friends. Additionally, you can search "Tags" or "Places".
"Tags" is particularly useful if you know what type of content you want to find, but you're not sure who posts about it.
For instance, you might search "#familyrecipes" under tags — your results will include any images with that hashtag. As you peruse, you might find someone who posts content you really like, and you can choose to follow them so their content appears on your feed.
To follow someone, follow these three easy steps.
It looks like a magnifying glass and will be right next to the “Home” button.
For this example, I searched "architecture.”
Instagram allows you to either search all posts that contain the word “architecture,” or “See all results” and see tags and places.
Once you're on someone else's account, you'll see a blue "Follow" button at the top.
For public profiles, you can click and immediately begin following that account. However, if the profile is private, you may need to wait for them to accept you first.
And that's it! You're on your way to becoming a pro. To take your account to the next level, plan out your next posts using an array of content ideas and templates.
If you want to grow both professionally and personally, then using Instagram is more important than ever. You can start by observing first, then begin posting as you learn your way around the user interface. With over one billion users, Instagram is an extremely worthwhile social media platform to join — and it’s only set to keep growing as time goes on.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Topics: Instagram Marketing
July 29 Social media instructions
Contents:
Instagram is a super popular social network created for sharing photos and connecting people with each other.
Therefore, all profiles on Instagram are by default created open and available to all users.
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But there are those who want to restrict other people's access to their account and published content. For them, Instagram has provided the ability to change privacy settings and an easy way to close the profile from prying eyes. nine0003
In this article, we will tell you how public and private profiles on Instagram differ from each other. We will also give step-by-step instructions on how to close or open your account on the social network.
Before deciding whether to close or open your Instagram account, let's figure out how they differ.
Many users promote their Instagram accounts on purpose, invest in promotion to attract as many new followers as possible. Others, on the contrary, strive for privacy.
But both may want to close their profile from prying eyes. What are the reasons for closing an account?
Instagram allows its users to decide for themselves what degree of privacy suits them.
This is what your account will look like if you decide to close it.
That is, users will be able to find it in the Instagram search, see the number of posts, subscriptions and subscribers. They will also have the option to send you a subscription request. nine0003
By closing your profile, you will be able to manually approve applications for subscribers. All other Instagram users will not be able to see your posts, stories, likes and comments, followings and followers.
Here we will detail and show you what steps you need to take to close your Instagram account.
Many bloggers and owners of commercial accounts are interested in how to close a business profile on Instagram. Unfortunately, this cannot be done.
In order to close such a profile, it must first be converted to regular account mode. But along with the change of status, the user will also lose access to statistics. Therefore, you have to choose - either a closed account, or profile statistics. nine0003
In a closed account, your publications can be seen by existing followers and those new users whose applications you approve.
To subscribe to your account, the user will have to click the "Subscribe" button and wait for your approval.
You can view subscription requests in the tab where your subscribers are displayed, or where you can see notifications of new likes and comments. nine0003
You can confirm or delete the subscription request.
You can also delete existing subscribers. They will not receive a notification about this, but when they visit your page, they will see that your profile is closed to them.
There is no legal way to view an account if it is closed to you. But there are a few workarounds you can do to see your profile posts. nine0003
This will give you access to a private profile without revealing your interest. nine0008 Closed Instagram is needed only for those who have good reasons to restrict access to published content. Everyone else, especially those who want to promote and develop their account on a social network, are advised to make it open to other users.
If you are creating a new account on Instagram, you should not ask this question at all. All new profiles are created public by default for other users. nine0003
In the event that for some reason you closed your account and now decide to open it, you will have to change your privacy settings. It is quite easy to do this.
To open Instagram, you will need no more than a minute. Here we will walk you through the steps on how to open an Instagram profile through the app.
Click Edit
From now on, your account will be open to all users except those you have blocked.
Post tags: Instagram
Users of the Instagram social network can restrict access to their profile and leave photos and stories available only to subscribers. But if the goal is to promote an account, it is better to make it open, this will increase the growth of subscribers. Consider how to open a profile on Instagram.
Content
A public Instagram profile is more common as people promote their page to get followers, likes and comments.
For companies, an open account is suitable to make the product more recognizable.
Benefits:
If a user does not want his photos and publications to be seen by outsiders, but only by subscribers, he can close his account. The closure will not affect existing subscribers in any way, all photos and videos will be available to them. It will be possible to reopen the Instagram account , which will make the contents of the profile visible to everyone.
An open profile will be useful for people who want to promote their account for further use in advertising purposes. nine0003
Users creating a business profile will inevitably have to open their publications to everyone - this will allow you to track page statistics, choosing effective promotion methods.
A closed account can be found in the search, but in this case only the user's avatar, the number of followers and publications will be visible. The content will be completely hidden and only available to subscribers.
The only thing available is button "Subscribe" . After sending the subscription request, the owner will receive a message that he must confirm or delete. If he approves the request, the subscriber will be able to view photos and leave comments.
The process will take less than a minute. This can be done in the settings of the mobile application or the desktop version that works in the browser. Consider how to open a profile on Instagram on a smartphone. nine0003
To do this, you need:
