How to get started on instagram
How to Use Instagram: A Beginner's Guide
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.
What is Instagram?
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.
How to Sign Up for Instagram
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:
- Go to the Instagram site on your desktop, or download the Instagram app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android).
- If you're on desktop, click "Log in with Facebook", or fill in the form with your mobile number or email, name, username, and password. Then click "Sign up".
- On Android, click "Sign Up With Email or Phone Number".
- On iPhone, select "Sign Up".
- Enter your email address or phone number, then click "Next". Alternatively, you can sign up with your Facebook account.
- Once you've filled out your username and password, you will be instructed to fill out your profile info. Then, tap "Done".
- If you register with Facebook, you'll need to log into your Facebook account if you're currently logged out.
How Do Instagram Notifications Work?
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
Instagram for Business Templates & Guide
Fill out this form to access the Instagram for Business Kit.
To customize which notifications you receive, follow these steps:
1. Open up the Instagram app on your phone.
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.
2. Access “Settings.”
After you arrive at your profile, click the hamburger menu on the top right-hand corner.
A popup menu will appear. Tap “Settings.”
3. Tap “Notifications.”
On the next screen, click "Notifications."
There, you’ll be able to change the notification settings depending on category. These categories include:
- Posts, Stories, and Comments
- Following and Followers
- Direct Messages and Calls
- Live and Video
- Fundraisers
- From Instagram
- Email and SMS
- Shopping
You also have the ability to pause all notifications by toggling the Pause All option up top.
4. 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.
Can you connect to Instagram to other social accounts?
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.
How to Connect Instagram to Facebook
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:
- Share Stories across both Instagram and Facebook
- Login with Facebook into Instagram
- Sync your profile name and picture across both profiles
- Use Facebook Pay on both platforms
- Access your shopping activity on both accounts
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.
Upload, Edit, and Post an Image
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.
1. Click the "+" icon at the top-right hand corner.
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.”
2. Choose your media file.
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.
3. Add filters if desired.
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.
4. Edit your image if desired.
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.
5. Write a caption and toggle sharing settings.
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.
Upload an Image or Video to Your Stories
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:
1.
Tap your profile picture in the upper left-hand corner.Alternatively, swipe right on your feed or tap the “+” button in the top navigation bar.
2. Capture or add your media.
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.
3. Add stickers or filters.
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.
4. Publish your Story.
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.
How to Follow on Instagram
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.
1. Click on the search icon at the bottom of your screen.
It looks like a magnifying glass and will be right next to the “Home” button.
2. Next, type in a person, topic, or brand.
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.
3. Tap the account you’re interested in following.
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.
Using Instagram is Key for Growing Your Personal Brand
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
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How to Get Started on Instagram
by Jo Barnes | May 7, 2022
Let’s talk Instagram.
Now I’m not going to lie to you. At the time of writing this I’m really just starting to get my head around Instagram.
I am intrigued by it, even fascinated, but I have a long way to go, and for my group members you might be pleased to hear it’s going to feature quite heavily in my journey this year, (although I feel at a disadvantage as I refuse to don a bikini), but hey we’ll learn together!
But for now I’m going to put you in the hands of people with far more Insta experience than I.
Let’s start with the lovely Luc from Ranking Systems who’s going to walk through how to create our Instagram Business account and link it to our facebook page.
When I first saw some of her content I think she might have had a few thousand followers, now she’s up to 65,000! So she definitely knows her stuff.
Here’s what she would do if she were starting an Instagram from scratch!
It reminds me of the early facebook page days, remember those anyone? If you were part of my community back in 2010, remember 27 days to 2000 fans?? That was my very first product. I did about $40k in sales over 2 or 3 months. It was insane! 🙂
So as Vanessa recommends, once you have your brand, niche, and posting strategy sorted you need to get on top of what you’re going to post on Instagram and how to post it.
She recommends Stories as a way to get in front of a wider audience, particularly as a new user.
Stories
The idea behind Insta Stories is to share spontaneous photos, videos, links, and text at the top of your profile that only last for 24 hours. The story is published separately to the content that you post in your feed, and it gives your followers a glimpse into your business.
This video from Hubspot is a great introduction to making use of the hidden creative tools in the Instagram app, so your story looks eye-catching to watchers.
It can sometimes feel like an uphill climb to create valuable content, so here’s a list of ideas to help you get going.
You know who your ideal followers are so have a think about what they’d be interested in seeing.
Don’t worry if you don’t think you have an interesting life though, people just want to get to know you! These prompts are loose and are just to get the creative juices flowing.
The key thing is to show up and be authentic!
Events
Even if you aren’t heading off to black-tie award dinners every five minutes, you’re probably up to something sociable as part of your day. If you walk around the park at lunchtime, or you go to lunch with colleagues, or even if the office cat wanders in, it gives followers the chance to see what you’re up to as part of your day and get to know you.
Industry News
Let followers know what’s hot in your industry. Even a small news break can pop up on your Story to give followers bite-size info on current trends or events. You can even use those stickers mentioned in the video to create a poll asking for your followers’ opinions on current events.
Show Off Your Product
A series of 15-second clips on an IG Story are the perfect place to show how to use your product or services or chat through its features.
Promote an Event
Are you going to guest on a podcast? Maybe you’ve been featured on someone’s website or got a fab testimonial if so shout about it! You can either use the illustration features in Instagram itself to create a flier to go in your Stories or use Canva (see more about this below) to add the wow factor.
Showcase a Blog Post
Why not use your Instagram Story to point people to your website. A blog is a great way to bring people back to your site again and again and to establish yourself as an authority in your niche. A preview on your Story can help people find their way to your blog for the first time – and hopefully keep them coming back for more.
Link Out To Others
You know I love giving a shout out to content creators that provide useful info. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so if you work with someone great or you love someone else’s work, let people know. Networking is a great way to nurture relationships and connect with others in your niche.
Producing Clickable Stories
As I said, you can use the in-app Story builder features to make your Story stand out, and don’t get me wrong, they’re a great place to start. But if you want to make your business Story pop give Canva a whirl.
It is super-simple to use, all you do is head to the website and choose the Instagram Story Template, and you can instantly create pictures that really show your brand off.
Canva has a brilliant Complete guide to creating an Instagram Story that shows you how to create eye-catching stories without worrying about the techy bits.
Here is an excellent guide to using Instagram Stories by the folks at Later.com – The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories for Business.
And a mammoth post by the folks at Hubspot. Instagram Stories: What They Are and How to Make One Like a Pro
Finally, the folks at Bulk.ly have written a post on creative ways to add a link to Instagram stories: How To Add a Link to an Instagram Story – 7 Inventive Ways
IGTV
As well as only being available for 24 hours the IG Story only lasts for a limited time of 15 seconds so don’t try uploading any epics!
If you want to post longer videos, then you need IGTV. If you follow me on Insta – and you should! – you’ll see that my latest offering is brought to you by the magic of IGTV.
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So my good buddy Dan from @wanderingworthy challenged me to come up with 10 ways he could monetize his new brand. . Always up for a challenge, we hopped on a FB Live in my ‘Your Lifestyle Business FB Community’ & between us came up with 12 ways he could start monetizing his new travel brand today! . It went on a bit long so we split it into 3 parts, check out Part 1 today! 😎 . These strategies apply to anyone building an online lifestyle business you can run from anywhere in the world. . Hope it helps! 😀 . Let me know which one(s) float your boat! . . . . . #podcast #entrepreneur #digitalnomads #busnessadvice #businessmotivation #businesstips #businessideas #laptoplifestyle #workanywhere #businessopportunity #businessminded #entrepreneurspirt #succesminded #locationindependent #travelpreneur #onlineentrepreneur #onlineincome #businessmentor
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Now, I don’t want to blow your mind with an information overload, but I just wanted to mention IGTV as a way to use the platform to upload longer videos.
Check out What is IGTV Video and How Can Brands Use It? by the social media experts at the Digital Marketing Institute to dive into the specifics of how to use IGTV for your business. I was able to repurpose a Facebook Live and share it with my Instagram audience to widen my reach.
Scheduling
And last but not least, let’s talk about scheduling…don’t worry, you don’t have to spend all day every day with your phone in your hand snapping pics and taking video to market your business. Listen to this awesome episode from the GoalDigger podcast for tips on how to batch your content, so it’s ready to post way in advance.
When all your photos and videos are ready to go, you can set up a posting schedule. Of course, it’s cool if you prefer to post spontaneously, but if you’d rather set it up in advance to save time, it’s easy to do. Neil Patel has a great blog post on Tools to Automate Your Instagram Scheduling, and he walks you through setting them up.
Summary
I just want to do a quick shout out to a couple of people who if you’re serious about Instagram you want to be following and checking out their content;
1.
Sunny Lenarduzzi – Yes I know she’s a YouTube expert but this lady knows a thing or two about Insta also! Here’s her YouTube channel, which feature quite a few awesome videos on how to start & grow your Insta career!
2. Jenna Kutcher – There’s something about this woman. She’s already crushing it, but I predict super big things for her in the next 10 years or so, she has such a relatable way about her. She’s known for her podcast but also empowers women through body image. Here’s her Instagram accounts (she has one for personal and one for the podcast). The podcast is where you’ll get all your juicy tips about Instagram. Her personal one is to watch how she executes it all!
GoalDigger Podcast
Jenna Kutcher
I guess there are many more but these are the two that have really stood out for me.
If you have any more awesome folks who should be included here, let me know in the comments below. In the meantime go get crushing the gram.
Before we leave instagram, just for shits & giggles I have to introduce you to the funniest account on there.
I guarantee this will make you laugh.
Go check out Celeste Barber. I’ll leave you to see why;
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A post shared by Celeste Barber (@celestebarber)
Please share with anyone you think this might benefit. Thank you 🙂
16 ways to monetize in 2022
Youtube. Vladimir Kolesov, September 9, 2021
1. Selling ads
You collect a certain amount of audience and start selling ads. You can advertise other bloggers, some projects, it can be commercial advertising. They pay money to talk about something or someone.
The main difficulty is to gather an audience. Secondly, it is very important here how loyal and active your audience is. If no one clicks on ads, on the recommendations that you give, then no one will buy ads. The cost of advertising is now quite low. Therefore, the method is already less promising in terms of earnings: advertising is getting cheaper, efficiency is falling, there are too many ads, and it’s hard to keep the attention of the audience.
But this does not change the fact that there is still a huge amount of advertising being bought from bloggers, including bloggers with a small audience. It all depends on the quality of the audience - how expensive, valuable and how active it is. The better the performance, the more money you can earn.
2. Brand Ambassador
If in the first case it was about the constant placement of various advertisements, then the ambassador is a person who promotes the brand on an ongoing basis. You can be an ambassador for one or more brands.
It's great when a long-term contract is concluded with you. You become a brand ambassador and receive either goods or money.
3. Selling other people's goods
You can also sell something, open a store or offer something to your audience as a blogger. Efficiency depends on how well you know how to search for interesting products, how competently you know how to present the goods so that people really pay for it.
4. Selling your goods
The fourth way is to sell goods that you make yourself. This is beneficial, because most often hand-made goods are more expensive, they are less costly, and you earn more.
5. Sale of merch
Now it is very fashionable to create collections of T-shirts, sweatshirts, accessories, mugs, bags. And this is done not only by celebrities, but also by designers, authors, just people who know how to do interesting things.
6. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is when we do not buy anything, but resell.
There is an online store, a platform that sells many, many different products. A person clicks on your link, buys - you get a commission. You do not need to deal with shipping, logistics, or any other things that classic online stores do. Your task is only traffic.
7. Advice
You can advise people on how to get a tax deduction or how to set up a service, etc. Here you are not selling some physical product, but selling your knowledge in the format of consultations.
8. Selling your product (course)
You can make your own product: record a video version or an audio version. It can be an audiobook or a regular book. You take your knowledge, make a product that suits many.
9. Selling a digital product
Courses are a set of knowledge and skills. And digital products are, for example, an image you created, stock photos, templates, Lightroom presets. From photography, design, a finished logo to a finished website template and so on.
10.
Selling services Through Instagram* you can attract clients to your services. For example, in the format of monthly payments - monthly accounting services or SMM promotion.
11. Creation of a startup
You can create some startup. And use social media to promote it. Not everyone will succeed, but you can earn millions of dollars.
12. Earnings on the public
You can create a public and earn money by posting any information or advertising. The principle is the same. Create a thematic public, attract an audience there - and earn money either by posting content or by placing ads.
13. Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs are a separate way to make money in social networks. Affiliate programs are a bit like dropshipping, selling goods. But here most often we are talking about some kind of service. These can be banking products: deposits, loans, insurance. There are also many affiliate programs in HR, when, for example, you recommend a person, he fills out a resume, he is hired - you are paid a bonus for this.
14. Personal assistant
Instagram often requires personal assistants. The tasks here are different. Sometimes it is a search for some information or answers in direct, sometimes it is a search for bloggers, negotiating cooperation. How much you will earn and what to do is individually discussed and depends on each specific case.
15. Creating masks
Masks are rarely needed, but there are still people, mask specialists who create filters and effects for money, make unusual masks for Instagram.
16. Patreon
Patreon is paid content creation. People subscribe in order to consume your information. And for sponsors, you make some special content separately.
*The activity of the organization is prohibited in the Russian Federation
How to run Instagram correctly: make your account successful
Instagram has turned from a social network where people share news and photos of food into a blogging platform.
The audience is used to quality content, and the competition is high: you compete with users from all over the world, because photos do not care about language or geographic location, and professional models, photographers, makeup artists and artists also actively use the social network. Of course, many do not know how to manage Instagram so that it develops and generates income.
But everyone has a chance to find their audience. Both schoolgirls from small towns and big brands with interesting content are becoming popular on Instagram. We figure out how to come up with a concept, take photos, write posts and maintain an Instagram account so as not to sink to the bottom of the algorithmic feed, but to find subscribers.
How to Instagram
Instagram is not just your page on a social network. Of course, no one will forbid sharing news with friends, we are talking about blogging on Instagram for a person or business, which will be of interest not only to your loved ones, but also to strangers.
Look at the pages of stars: they rarely combine photos with each other and generally bother with content, but fans are interested in any news from the life of idols. If you do not have a couple of million fans, you will not be forgiven for low-quality and uninteresting photos.
Start with an idea. Even if it’s hard to decide, and “taking pictures of everything that surrounds me” seems like the best way out, focus on a specific topic. Culinary blogs, profiles about proper nutrition, about dancing, about clothes, make-up - yes, Instagram already has it all. But you will do it your way. And people don't collect a list of subscriptions based on the principle "I already subscribed to a food blog, so I don't need another one."
Of course, if your idea is interesting and relatively new, it will be easier to move forward. But if you don't find one, don't give up. Maintaining Instagram is constant experimentation and finding a balance in content and interaction with the audience.
How to be in business? You need a concept too. Remember the character of the brand, decide on the tone of voice. Create value for subscribers: talk about topics related to your product. Consider that SMM from 2010, when beauty salons could post "10 hairstyle ideas" and get thousands of likes, is in the past. People won't subscribe to something they can google. Create authoring content: create a branded character or choose your storytelling style and list of topics you can cover.
Instagram profile design
At first glance, your account should be clear what it is about. Briefly formulate the topic of the blog in the bio and tell us about yourself. Typically, users enter their first name, age, and city.
How to get a business account to start Instagram?
The company account must contain contacts, information about the work of offline points and detailed conditions for ordering or recording. If you are unable to fit all the necessary information in your bio, you can use the multilink service.
Use emoji to highlight different information blocks in your bio. It is not necessary to choose bright and intrusive ones: dots, arrows, squares will look neat, but everyone will visually separate the text (name and topic of the blog) in meaning.
How beautiful to lead Instagram
There is an unspoken rule: profile photos must match. Open the pages of bloggers again: you will surely notice that the pictures standing next to each other were taken in the same tone or overlapped with each other in vivid detail.
A Facebook study showed that users spend 0.2 seconds per post on the mobile feed. Therefore, your posts should be visually cool and catchy at first sight. Let's figure out how to manage Instagram to be qualitatively different from others.
Photos must be of high quality, interesting and well processed. Instagram has its own trends - just try to bring photos processed in the Retrica app to your audience.
Follow Audience Members to find the visual style for your profile.
See what content they post, what profiles they follow.
It is not necessary to use professional equipment, but you will definitely have to learn how to photograph and process images. See the photos you like, save them, don't be afraid to repeat, you're unlikely to be seen through, but you'll get your hands on it.
Layouts - a separate big topic. Think this is a joke? Try to create something similar yourself. You will find that you don't have many items that match. And those that exist cannot be organically placed in the frame.
To make high-quality layouts, bloggers buy accessories (candles, sparkles, postcards, fruits, garlands, frames, flowers) and spend a lot of time on them.
How to blog on Instagram
In 2017, a new trend appeared on the social network: users are interested not only in photos, but also in texts. Thematic blogs have appeared that talk about proper nutrition, makeup, motivation, parenting, or just about your life.
And judging by the number of subscribers on such accounts and interactions under publications, users are ready to consume not only visual content in contact, but also read texts, even long ones.
Therefore, the desire to create and maintain an Instagram blog may be a good idea. But first, how to lead it? As with the concept of an account, a blog also needs one. Define a list of topics you write about, designate them in the profile header.
Follow the pages of users whose content you like. Pay attention to how often they publish posts, at what time they do it. How the audience is asked questions in posts, and what topics the audience is discussing more actively.
Instagram post contains up to 2200 characters. If your text does not fit in this size, move the part to the first comment, this is a common practice among bloggers. The problem will arise if there are too many discussions: then users will have to get to the first comment in the topic for a long time. Therefore, it is better to shorten the texts or split the story into several posts, publishing them under one hashtag.
How to broadcast on Instagram
Anyone can broadcast on Instagram. After the end, it will be available, like stories, 24 hours.
To start the broadcast, go to the news feed, click on your profile picture (just like when creating Stories). Select the option "Live" in the horizontal menu below. Now by clicking "Start" you will be able to broadcast live on Instagram.
How to attract an audience to a live broadcast?
Warn your subscribers about the broadcast in advance: make an announcement in a post or story. Pick a time when your audience is online. To do this, analyze the social network account in Popsters. On the chart "Activity / Days of the week" and "Activity / Time of day" you will find the most successful days and times for live broadcasts.
Wait for a larger audience, don't go straight to the main topic of the broadcast. But at the same time, you can’t lose the audience who have already arrived: figure out in advance what will take the waiting time.
