How to start posting on instagram

How to Post on Instagram: A Step-by-Step Guide

With over 1 billion active users, Instagram is one of the best social media networks to advertise your business, reach new audiences, and grow brand awareness. So even if you aren’t active on the website yet, it’s never too late to adopt an Instagram strategy in your marketing plan.

If you're ready to start sharing content through this channel, we've got you covered. Here, we've cultivated a quick-and-easy guide to posting on Instagram, to ensure you can begin attracting the attention of your audience with Instagram marketing.

How to Post on Instagram

Tap the + icon at the top of your screen.
Choose a photo or video from your library or shoot one in the app.
Post multiple images on Instagram.
Crop the image.
Pick a filter.
Edit your photo.
Type your caption.
Use hashtags for post optimization.
Tag friends.
Add your location.
Play with emojis.
Share the post on other social media platforms.
Edit the post.

Posting to Instagram consistently can help businesses find resonance with their audience and grow better, but doing it right is just as important. Here's how to post to your Instagram account step-by-step.

Step 1. Tap the + icon at the top of your screen.

See that plus sign [+] in the image above? That's your starting point. See that post from our culture account? That's your endpoint. Click that plus sign and you'll be ready for the next step, below.

Step 2. Choose a photo or video from your library or shoot one in the app.

Instagram will show you the photos already saved to your phone. Choose one of those to post. Alternatively, you can click on the camera icon to take a photo or video within the Instagram app itself, if you don't already have an image you want to use.

Once you select and crop an image (or carousel of multiple images), click the arrow button in the top right corner of the app.

Step 3. Post multiple images on Instagram.

Do you have multiple photos and want to highlight them all? Instagram allows you to do this with its carousel feature.

As you go to tap a photo or video, first tap the icon just above your photos to the right that looks like stacked squares. Once you tap this, you'll see a number on the corner of every image or video you tap. This number notes where the content will show up in the carousel.

Step 4. Crop the image.

You aren't limited to just a square image on Instagram. You can actually share horizontal or vertical images as well. To get more of your image seen, pinch the screen of the photo you've selected on the Library screen.

However, while Instagram does allow vertical and horizontal options, the images still need to fit into some specific dimensions. So, you might still need to crop a tiny bit of your photo to get it to fit.

Step 5. Pick a filter.

Instagram offers 24 filters — scroll to the right to peruse your options, and click on one to preview how it will look on your photo.

By default, the filter will be applied by full strength. However, if you want to scale back the intensity of the filter, double click the filter tile once it's been applied, and a scale selector will appear, allowing you to downplay the effect.

You can also tap the magic wand at the top of the screen to adjust the photo further.

(Take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Instagram Filters to learn more).

Step 6. Edit your photo.

You can also click "Edit" at the bottom right to adjust the image to your specifications.

Here are the editing options that come built into Instagram for you:

Adjust - This helps subtly rotate the image along the center plane, giving it a tilt either to the left or right according to the linear scale at the bottom of the screen.
Brightness - This helps lighten or darken the image. All you have to do is pull the selector to the left to darken or to the right to lighten.
Contrast - This helps to increase or decrease the intensity of the image's colors. Pull the selector to the left for less contrast (a dulling effect) or to the right for more contrast (a higher intensity effect).
Structure - This helps to add an HD-like effect to the image, bringing out specific details in your photo. Drag the selector to the right to help the image "pop."
Warmth - This helps you adjust the temperature of the photo. Drag the selector to the left to increase cool tones in the image, or drag the selector to the right to increase the warm tones in the image.
Saturation - This helps you adjust the saturation of the colors in your image. Drag the selector to the left to desaturate the image (all the way to the left if you want a monochrome look), or drag the selector to the right for extremely saturated colors.
Color - This gives you a number of color options to overlay over your image for interesting color effects. Simply select your color choice and see how it changes the image in the preview box.
Fade - This softens the intensity of the blacks in your image to create an "aged" photo effect. Simply drag the selector to the right for a higher degree of fade.
Highlights - This helps you control the intensity of the highlights in your image. Dragging the selector to the left will darken the highlights in your image while dragging the selector to the right will lighten the highlights in your image.
Shadows - This helps you control the intensity of the shadows in your image. Dragging the selector to the left will darken the shadows in your image while dragging the selector to the right will lighten the shadows in your image.
Vignette - This darkens the corners of the image, leaving a circle shape in the center. Drag the selector all the way to the right for the most dramatic vignette.
Tilt Shift - This helps blur the edges of the image in a radial or linear way, drawing focus to the details in the center of the image.
Sharpen - This helps sharpen certain details of the image, bringing a more dramatic look to subtler elements in the photo.

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Step 7. Type your caption.

Get creative and write a nice, interesting caption to go with your photo. Since text can help optimize your post in Instagram's search, writing something can only benefit you.

Step 8. Use hashtags for post optimization.

With Instagram's search feature, users can search by hashtags. So, you should make sure to write relevant hashtags in your caption. If someone does a search of a hashtag you placed in your caption, they might find your post as well as others that included the same one.

Step 9. Tag friends.

Want your friend or their followers to see a photo that you posted of the two of you? Tag them!

On the new post page, you can click "Tag People" to tag other Instagram accounts in your post. Alternatively, you can include their handle (or their username beginning with an @ symbol) in your caption.

Step 10. Add your location.

If you're on a fun vacation or at a neat event and you don't feel like including that information in your caption, you can mark where you are in another way. On the new post page, tap "Add Location" to put a location on your image (which makes it easier for people to find your post).

When you post an image or video with a location, it will show up between your name and the block of content on the feed.

Step 11. Play with emojis.

Emojis are fun and can make your caption more eye-catching. If you know of a few relevant emojis that could fit with your post, stick them in the caption area. For example, if you're posting a vacation photo, you could include a palm tree 🌴 or a plane ✈️ to show you flew somewhere.

Here are the top Instagram emojis you can use:

❤️
😍
😘
😂
😊
😎
💕
😉
💋
👍

However, keep in mind that there's a multitude of choices to add flair to your posts, from keeping it real 💯 to the cringe face 😬.

Be sure not to go overboard and post emojis just for the sake of posting them. If you post a bowling emoji along with a photo of a beach, that obviously won't make sense to people. Similarly, if you post 20 emojis that loosely relate to a post, you might just annoy your followers or come off as desperate.

Step 12. Share the post on other social media platforms.

Finally, if you want to share your content on your other, connected social media sites (like Facebook or Twitter), simply slide the bar from the left to the right.

When you're ready to post, click "Share" in the top right.

Instagram Saved Drafts

If you're not ready to post right away, you can also save it to your Instagram Saved Drafts. Simply go back to the filtering and editing step, tap the back arrow in the top left, and select "Save Draft."

Step 13. Edit the post.

Typos happen to everyone! If you just posted something and notice a glaring spelling error, don't panic. Simply tap the three dots that appear on the right across from your name, then tap "Edit."

Make the adjustments you see fit and save them so it reflects on your Instagram. Otherwise, your post is complete and live for everyone to see.

Grow Your Audience on Instagram Today

Now that you know how to post to Instagram, you can begin creating content for the platform and connecting with your audience. If you're a business or brand, you'll want a solid strategy for earning engagement and awareness.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics: Instagram Marketing

Don't forget to share this post!

How to Be Successful on Instagram in 5 Steps

Let’s put this notion to rest before we even start–you don’t have to be Instagram famous for your brand to see the best results.

Learning how to be successful on Instagram isn’t just about follower count. Instead, success comes from engaged audiences and great content. It might seem overwhelming to think about ensuring a successful outcomes when you’re just starting an Instagram marketing strategy, but you’ll find that the same approach of careful planning will help you here.

That’s why we’ve put together a simple but highly effective five-step guide on how to be successful on Instagram. Follow these Instagram success tips to boost your strategy.

1. Plan Out Your Content Strategy

You probably already know it’s not enough to post a few photos or videos, and wait for the audience to come rushing in. Instead, you have to build a content strategy just like you would for any other marketing campaign.

Here are a few specific guidelines for Instagram:

Research the bests posts in your industry and track your competitors. Find 5-10 competitors (such as similar brands) and document their top posts within the last few months. Mark all commonalities: product-related, bright colors, photos of people and other themes, and see what works. You don’t just want to copy other accounts, but this will help you get a pulse on what’s grabbing attention in your niche.
Start building a plethora of content around a similar theme or idea. You’ll get greater consistency in your quality and message by planning out enough posts that could provide at least a month or two of content. Adjust them to your social media calendar and ensure each post has a consistent vibe.
Try to be as unique as possible with your content. While that’s easier said than done, a creative play on Instagram works and there are plenty of reliable ways to get inspiration for Instagram post ideas. Whether its the endless table by Reynolds Wrap or the consistent bright color theme of Bioré, themes work.

Invest in photo editing tools for your content. Whether it’s Adobe Photoshop or VSCO, your content has to be stellar to grab audience eyes. Beautiful, breath-taking photography always gets your viewers’ attention.

It might seem like a lot of work at first just to build out content, but the rewards are worth it. Better content leads to more engagement. When followers genuinely enjoy and look forward to what you post, you’re increasing your chances of converting them to a lead or customer.

2. Use Branded Hashtags

As a brand on social, you need some form of marketability. It’s a thin line between being promotional and resourceful. According to our 2016 Sprout Social Q3 Index, 57% of users unfollow brands on social because they’re too promotional.

To avoid being overly promotional but still market your brand, consider branded Instagram hashtags. An important stat to know is seven out of 10 hashtags on Instagram are branded. This means your hashtag has to be unique, memorable and engaging.

For example, Thrive Market uses the hashtag #letsthrive to promote user-generated content on Instagram. The hashtags works as a source of interaction between the brand and users. Instead of a promotion, you’re simply highlighting your users.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Thrive Market (@thrivemarket)

Instagram success pro tip: Remember to fully inspect your chosen hashtag as sometimes it can be associated with something else. Avoid the embarrassment and be thorough with your hashtag campaign.

Run Instagram Hashtag Analytics

It’s critical to know how your hashtags perform so you can make adjustments before it’s too late. With the help of Sprout Social’s hashtag analytics tools, you can easily gain insights into your top keywords and most engaged hashtags on Instagram.

Additionally, you can see if your keywords are sticking with your Instagram audience. Sprout can pull hashtags commonly mentioned with your brand in its Trends Report, so you gain context into what people say about your brand. Analyze your results or compare hashtags to know what works best.

3. Have a Call to Action

Here’s a question every company should ask themselves about its Instagram strategy–what drives users to follow and engage with your brand? Like we mentioned before, having gorgeous photos certainly helps attract users. However, how will your audience know what the next step is if you don’t have an appropriate call to action?

Instagram captions are essential for a successful account. They give your audience everything from context for your products and services to essential calls to action to drive conversion forward. For example, Bucketfeet, a shoe manufacturer, uses Instagram captions to highlight collaborations and new or limited designs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRt0fXmg1x7/?taken-by=bucketfeet

This caption does a great job of highlighting the design’s limited edition run to nudge users to purchase now. Captions also provide great opportunities to use your newly developed branded hashtags and spread awareness.

Don’t Forget Your Link

Instagram is unique because it allows only one link located in the user bio. It’s a common practice for your captions to lead viewers to the link in your Instagram bio. That’s why your link should be as relevant and fresh as possible.

It’s a very common best practice to link to a custom Instagram landing page, which typically features a lot of easy-to-find links to recent content, products or services mentioned in your feed. You can use an Instagram-specific page builder or create and update your own–either way, you’ll ensure users have access to a plethora of highly relevant content that lines up with what they’ve seen in your recent posts and moves them into your marketing funnel effectively.

Evernote does this to promote its latest collaborations and speaking events. In this example, the company posted a link that directed users to the SXSW speaking sessions, but also had a direct button to get Evernote as well.

By using a unique landing page, you direct users from specific Instagram content to an actionable page that’s aligned with the intent of that post.

4. Engage With Instagram Users

If you’re relatively new to building your brand on Instagram, it’s essential to take small steps toward building engagement. However, smaller brands can start following their fans or those considered “power users.”

At the same time, use your space to engage with users and follow them if they produce content relevant to your industry. Urban Outfitters regularly posts user-generated content from artists, photographers and collaborating designers.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Urban Outfitters (@urbanoutfitters)

Some of your biggest fans might already be producing great Instagram content. Try to see how they can collaborate with your brand to work out for both parties.

Avoid Robotic Interactions

No one really wants to talk to an automated message, so avoid robotic replies. Even big brands like Dr. Pepper find the time to respond back to followers with quippy and fun responses. It doesn’t have to be a full on conversation, but replying can do wonders to your Instagram engagement.

According to our Sprout Social 2016 Q2 Index, one in three users will go to a competitor if they’re ignored on social. This should mean everything to your business on Instagram. Unanswered questions leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

So make sure you’re willing to put in the effort to respond to those in need. If you want recommendations and good reviews, be ready to use Instagram as a source of information and connectivity.

5. Connect With Influencers

As we previously mentioned, many brands incorporate user-generated content to connect with users, collaborate on content and promote one another’s Instagram. But these people don’t need one million users or have to be a celebrity to help you gain more exposure.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by YETI (@yeti)

Instead, brands have to find their niche social media influencers that can actually increase engagement and the discussion around your company. Here are key steps for finding influencers on Instagram:

Use BuzzSumo to find your industry leaders and follow them. This is a great way to find lesser-known influencers with a core demographic following in your specific industry.

Engage with influencers and don’t jump straight to asking about collaborations. Comment on their content or ask a few questions that are related to your industry. Then you can ask the bigger question.
Start small. More likely than not, top tier influencers have already been contacted or possibly have a process in place for collaborations. Start on the smaller side and build your way up to those who have massive followings.

It’s smart to nurture and value your connections because just like your audience, influencers deal with robotic messages all the time. Try to build real relationships by meeting up at industry events or asking to host joint webinars.

There’s a lot of ways to connect, but if you do it right, your successful Instagram account will be a source of entertainment and information for your audience.

Update: Instagram made changes to their Graph API in 2018, which may affect functionality mentioned above. Read here for more information

How to run Instagram the right way: making your account successful

Instagram has evolved from a social network where people share news and photos of food to 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 it is to have 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 jump straight into 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. Tell stories about the topic of the broadcast or arrange an interactive one: answer subscribers' questions or, conversely, ask them about something.

How to start Instagram?

Keep step-by-step instructions for maintaining an Instagram account:

Decide on a topic if you're blogging.
Find a photo style and processing style that you will follow.
Follow competitor accounts and profiles you want to be like.
Fill out your profile: choose a bright avatar, write in the "Bio" section about yourself and the topic of your blog.
Make several publications in the new concept. In order for new visitors to be able to get an idea about the account, 6-8 posts are enough.

Useful related articles:

10 advanced Instagram tools;
Effective Advertising in Instagram Stories: Actionable Tips;
Guidelines for creating an Instagram profile description;
How to correctly set up and run ads on Instagram.

A complete guide from A to Z

Are you going to publish your first post and tell the Instagram world about yourself, but don't know how? Or maybe you already have a blog, but are not satisfied with it? What about earnings? Is your profile bringing in enough customers or would you like more?

You are reading a complete guide on how to start blogging on Instagram. In this article I talk about what points to pay close attention to in maintaining an account. Consider everything:

niche selection,
target audience,
competitor analysis,
account registration,
useful applications in maintaining a profile,
writing posts and publishing stories,
free and paid promotion methods forbidden topics.

In almost every block you will find links to more detailed articles. I recommend reading each, in them I tried to answer all possible questions.

In this article you will learn:

What do you need to do before starting an Instagram account?

Look, there are hundreds of happy wives, needlewomen, fitonies and knitters, knitters, photographers, trainers on Instagram. If you write about the same things they write about, then you will simply drown in a mass of similar blogs.

You need your own chip, and instagram doesn't need another blog .

Start managing your account the right way with Lecture "The Content Engine" .

As a result of the lecture, you will receive a scheme that will help you sell more on Instagram without constantly posting stories.

Bonus - ready-made content plan for an expert for a month!
Read more

Start with market analysis

Before you learn how to manage Instagram, you need to start with market analysis . I'm not talking about serious marketing analysis, you just don't have the resources and experience to do it. I encourage you to see what people are searching for in your niche with:

Yandex Wordstat,
Google Trends,
Comments on forums and competitor accounts.

Before the advent of the iPad, there were PDAs (personal pocket computers) on the market. However, they were not popular with people: it was expensive, incomprehensible, ugly. And in 2010, Apple presents its first iPad, which combines the functions of a laptop and a smartphone.

saw the potential of the niche, responded to 's expectations and people's requests, and released the product.

To properly start from scratch - answer the question “ What do people need? »

For example:

Beginning confectioner Masha saw in Yandex.Wordstat a demand for birthday cakes for boys and girls. Based on this, Masha decided to make two main products: a birthday cake in the form of superheroes for boys and a birthday cake in the form of princesses for girls.

Use Yandex.Wordstat and Google Trends to find your niche.

Make an analysis of the target audience

It has already been said and retold about the target audience, but still I meet a bunch of comments in the style: "I don't know who my target audience is."

Target audience is a group of people united by some sign. This includes not only existing customers, but also potential ones.

Through the analysis of the target audience, you know:

What a potential buyer watches, reads, listens to . When developing texts and advertising, you take into account their slang, traditions, religious or political beliefs, ways of obtaining information, etc. All this increases the effect of advertising.
Audience Needs : What does your client need? what problems he faced and what he can offer her. This will allow you to make the most targeted offer. As one cliché says: An offer you can't refuse .
What the audience breathes . You also know the people they listen to. This is especially true when buying ads from bloggers.

4 steps to define your target audience

A little reminder for those who don't know or have forgotten how to define their target audience. To do this:

Draw a general portrait of TA . Here, describe gender, age, geography, income level, possible professions, marital status (if it is important).
Divide the overall portrait into segments . If you develop a profile on Instagram, then we reduce the age of our target audience. According to official data, the average age of Instagram visitors is 18-34 years old . Agree, at 18 and at 34 there may be different needs, and this is important - this is point number 3.
Explore the needs of the target audience . To do this, go to Google, rummage through forums, VK groups, competitor profiles and write out your assumptions in a mind map.
Refine product or positioning . Remember, you cannot change the habits and pains of your target audience. But you can change your product to solve the pains of the target audience.

It's like in the story about Vasya and Petya:

Vasya first made a product, and then he didn't know who to sell 1000 units of his product to.

Petya found out what people needed, made a product that solves their pain and sold everything without a trace.

Be like Petya.

Get to know your competitors for a successful start

For some reason, many people associate working with competitors with struggle, conflicts or even war. Let's agree, from now on, to consider our competitors as colleagues from whom you can learn something or build up against their background. It seems to me that this point of view is more suitable for constructive affairs.

Why analyze competitors:

in order to understand the differences between your own assortment and that of a competitor,
to see its strengths and weaknesses ,
understand how they sell and where their customers come from,
adjust their own development strategy .

Competitor analysis is also a great way to find out the client's pains . Go to the comments under a useful post and see what questions people are asking.

Competitors are:

Key - companies whose actions can significantly affect sales (both upward and downward).

Direct - companies that sell a similar product in a similar market and work with your target audience.

Indirect - companies that sell a product with different characteristics or a completely different product, but work with your target audience. ⠀

“But how is it, Zarina. Does that mean you have to keep an eye on everyone? And when to work?

Of course, you don't have to keep track of everyone, you won't physically have time to do it. Therefore, remember the algorithm of actions:

Make a list of possible competitors on Instagram.
Divide this list into direct, key and indirect.
Analyze the profiles of direct competitors: profile header, avatar, content, what they offer, how much it costs, the number of subscribers, profile activity.
Think about where you can offer the best conditions, how you can distinguish yourself, and what ideas you can borrow.

How to start Instagram

After you have figured out the niche, target audience and competitors, you can move on to the account itself. In order for readers to notice your profile, it is important to format it correctly. This means that you need to make a header, think over the visual, write a content plan and start promoting your profile.

Decide on the type and theme of your blog

Decide on the type of blog to start blogging. On Instagram, it is customary to divide any accounts into 3 large groups: a business account, a personal blog, and an expert blog.

Business account

You will get a business account if you want to create a shop, studio or salon page. Such profiles are monetized by selling their services and products.

In terms of content, everything is simple: selling and informational posts (for example, about the benefits of your product) + rare entertaining posts or videos for engagement. There can be no personal content in the feed of a business account.

An example of running a business account (shop, salon, studio)

Personal blog

A personal blog is any profile whose author maintains Instagram and does not provide any services. The authors of such blogs often shoot funny and not so funny videos, comment on world events, express their opinion on topical issues in posts and stories. They also broadcast their life, relationships, sports results, nutrition, hobbies. They earn, as a rule, by selling advertising integrations.

Personal blog example (humor, travel, food, fashion)

Expert blog

Expert blogs are ideal for promoting your services. For example, if you are a makeup artist, copywriter or photographer. It is important for the authors of such blogs to work with the loyalty of the audience, increase their expertise, and engage them with interesting and useful content.

Expert blogs are monetized by selling services and training (courses, marathons, master classes).

An example of an expert's blog

Absolutely any field can be a topic for a blog. If you don't know what blog to start, here are two tips for choosing an account theme:

Blog about topics that are close to you and that you understand. If you have no idea what to write about skiing, don't write about skiing.
Niche and find your audience.

Let me explain the second advice. Let's say you're a psychologist. Yes, you can write about everything and a little, this area is limitless in terms of ideas for posts. But it would be much better to choose a narrower direction and better reveal each topic. This will increase your expertise and average check. For example, you can write about problems with children, relationships, or emotional burnout (the latter is a direct scourge of the 21st century, which I also faced).

Think about visual design

An example of a good profile visual: high-quality photos with different angles. On the left ribbon is my profile in warm colors, on the right - a profile in cold colors. If text is used, then it is readable, and the font is the same everywhere.

Instagram is a social network where the main content will always be photos and videos. Your useful publications will remain unread if the profile or post does not attract attention.

An example of what not to do: stock images, different font on the photo, it is unreadable on some photos, there is no single direction in color design.

In the left tape on none of the 9there is no photo of the author, but this is an expert blog.

Visual design includes a profile header, an avatar and a photo of posts in the feed. Trends are constantly changing and what was relevant in 2020 has already gone out of fashion in 2022. Therefore, I will not tell you about visual trends, but I will suggest general principles that you can follow.

Look at the description of the target audience . Your visual should be close to those we want to attract. For example, if you sell an expensive service and are looking for solvent people, then you will never attract them if you publish a photo against the backdrop of a Soviet carpet.
Post quality photos . And now I’m not only talking about professional photo shoots, although they are also needed for the blog. Choose clothes, accessories and surroundings to take good photos.
Watch the balance of light and darkness . The photo should not have highlights or, conversely, too dark fragments.
Choose different angles . Do not post only selfies or only portrait photos. Make sure that different angles alternate in your feed: details, medium, long-range and ultra-long shot.
Process photos . You can use presets for Lightroom or edit images in other photo apps.

YouTube is full of video guides on mobile photography and editing. Look at them, it will make it easier for you to create photo content.

Design features

Each type of blog has its own design features.

Which image answers the question "What does the profile sell" faster?

The best solution for avatar business account will be the product photo. You can put a store logo on the avatar only if you are Nike, Adidas or the logo contains an image of what you are selling. In other cases, with a 99% chance, your logo will be almost impossible to make out, and you will lose your avatar as an advantage.

Write the addresses of your stores/studios, current discounts, calls to action and a link to the site/taplink in the header.
Alternate product photos from different angles and plans.
Avoid foreign objects in the photo, unless they "enhance" your product.

The author of personal blog must be recognized, so we put 100% of our face on the ava in close-up, maximum to the waist.

In the profile header, write what you can interest the audience, why it is worth subscribing to you.
Keep the design of the ribbon natural. Fill it with bright "live" images. Avoid the same type and fuzzy photos. Photos should convey emotions and attract to the reading of the post.

For the blog of the expert, it is appropriate to use both a personal photo and a photo of the result of your service. A copywriter, for example, cannot show a photo of his service, just like a psychologist. Therefore, for such experts, a personal photo is the best option. Again, close-up or to the waist. A photographer can post a personal photo with a camera, a confectioner can post mouth-watering buns or cakes.

The header should hook a person from the first words, so place the most important things in it: the key phrase in the name, USP and call to action.
The visual should be combined with each other both in color and in content.
To make it easier to navigate your blog, you can place post titles on photos. This will allow the person to immediately understand what the post is about, or find the right one in your feed.

Install applications

This item may seem strange, they say, why install applications when there is an insta. The built-in tools are not enough to schedule the tape, do the necessary processing, and even more so glue the video. I have compiled key Instagram apps that make it easy for me to work with content.

The Preview application

Preview allows you to schedule a tape and get the same profile "in the same style. " For basic tasks, the free version will be enough for you.

The app has a clean interface, photo editing tools and a font pack that you can use in your posts or bio. With Preview, you can create a grid layout, rearrange photos, and get the best version of your feed.

The app also has a post planner and analytics tools, but I don't use them. Internal analytics from Instagram is enough for me, and if necessary, I schedule posts for free through delayed posting on the Facebook website.

Photo editors

I'll tell you how to process photos easily and simply, what editors to use to get beautiful photos and likes:

Lightroom is a cool visual photo editor. You can find many presets that make works of art from ordinary photos. Here you can change the saturation, brightness and hue separately for each color. It is convenient to crop the photo and change the contrast. The free version is enough to work.

Snapseed is the basic editor. It differs, perhaps, in speed. Very fast loading, exporting images. Suitable for removing unwanted objects in the photo, quick color correction and cropping. The application is also free, with an intuitive interface.

Available tools in Snapseed

PS Express - where without it. Photoshop is the father of all photo editors. Also free. In it I use only the “Restore” tool to delete objects. Photoshop does it best, I recommend it.

My favorite tool in PS Express

Video editors

Some blogs consist entirely of video posts. And now that Instagram has rolled out Reels, you absolutely need a video editor to keep up. I use it myself:

InShot is an excellent mobile editor, many people know it by its watermark. In it, you can glue a clip from several videos, trim where necessary, add music, text, change the speed of the video. All basic tools are free to use, but your videos will be watermarked. You can get rid of it by purchasing a subscription for 349₽/month, 1150 ₽/year or for 3290 ₽ forever. I take an annual subscription, because. videos are not the main content type in my account.

Pay attention to the same watermark in the right corner of the preview. You can remove it for free once a day.

Videoleap is also a video editor, but I keep it only because of one useful difference. Here you can work with several tracks, as in a full-fledged editor. InShot loses in this regard, there is only one track and you cannot overlay one layer on another.

You can overlay both images and audio tracks.

iOS Basic Video Editor - 360-degree video rotation is now available after the latest update. It helps a lot if you suddenly took something at the wrong angle. Free, available by clicking the "Edit" button in the upper right corner.

Start writing posts

You figured out the type of blog and theme, installed everything you need, filled out the header, what's next? Tell the audience who you are and how you can be useful, write a post-acquaintance.

Maximum post length 2200 characters , but Instagrammers have long learned to bypass this limitation. There are two ways to publish something that does not fit in the post:

1. Text on the photo in the carousel . In addition to the first photo, you have 9 more slides in the carousel, where you can write what did not fit in the post. Do not forget to write in the post that the continuation can be read in the carousel.

Make an entry in a text or photo editor, save it, add it to the carousel to the post.

2. Comment under post . Fewer people use this method, but it is still alive, so I will write about it. Each comment can contain up to 1000 characters, and if not less than this figure, write a comment. Don't forget to pin it so it's right below the post so people don't have to look for a sequel. To pin a comment, you'll have to post it as a different account.

For each type of publication, you can come up with and find a lot of topics for posts. Depending on the content and purpose, posts are distinguished:

Sellers . The purpose of such posts is to sell a product, product, service. These are posts where you directly encourage readers to buy something from you.

Informational . Delivering information to the audience. This may be an up-to-date price list, information about a change of address or the opening of a new branch. We also include useful posts on the topic of the account.

Involving . Such posts are aimed at engaging existing subscribers to leave comments and communicate with you. Here you can discuss procedures and products, hold competitions.

Entertainment . Posts of good mood and increasing loyalty. Humor brings you closer to your readers. Entertainment content includes funny memes and videos, curiosities and polls.

Of course, in one post you can't reveal the topic of blog copywriting. Therefore, I give 7 rules for a good post for Instagram:

Write for your target audience . Use the same words, terms and slang. If you write for moms, then greet them: “Hello, mufflers!” at least indecent.
Make text of different lengths . Write both short posts and long ones. There is no universal recipe here, test it.
Write the way you speak . Some people, sitting down to the text, for some reason, begin to fence complex constructions.
Follow logic . First, Anna Karenina fell in love and only then threw herself under the train. Not vice versa. ⠀
Follow the structure . Attract attention with a headline (if you practice captions on pictures) or the beginning. Then talk about the benefits of the product and end with a call to action.
Divide text into paragraphs, spice it up with emoji .
Write every day . Regularity is the key to success in copywriting.

Post Stories and Reels

Stories examples: lifestyle, questions, polls

In Stories tell us about yourself, personal insights, how your work day went, share achievements. Emotional content brings the blogger closer to the audience. It is very important to publish stories daily so as not to get lost from the feed of subscribers.

business accounts can post current promotions, new products, arrange interactive questions and answers about products or services. This will increase coverage and find out what is interesting to the target audience.

I advise the owners of personal blog to conduct more live communication: polls, voting, situations from everyday life, breaking news.

Blogger-expert can share the results of work or achievements of students in stories. Show subscribers customer reviews, tool or product reviews. Arrange an interactive with a vote or a request to evaluate the result in a before / after style. Don't forget to show the personal on the blog, it has a good effect on the reach.

Reels video examples: they can be both entertaining and useful videos

Reels is a new feature from Instagram and it is also an attempt to move TikTok. It appeared in the world in August 2020, and in Russia it was launched only at the end of June 2021. It is a short video for 15-60 seconds. They are displayed on a special tab and do not disappear after 24 hours, like stories. The main difference between rils and stories is that they are shown not only to your subscribers, but also to random people in the feed.

Track statistics

Statistics are needed to understand what the audience is interested in and to properly promote your blog.

I'll note right away that statistics are available only for business accounts and author profiles. To transfer an account to a business account, you need to connect statistics to Instagram. In it, you can see the age of the audience, their gender, location, periods of greatest activity by day of the week and hour.

Pay attention to posts, stories and Reels that have received more reach, a lot of comments and likes. Analyze them and make similar content. Over time, you will find your recipe for fasting that will “get in”.

How to start promoting on Instagram

We have come to the final step in order to start attracting an audience on Instagram. Even the steepest profile will bend without advancing. So let's see what options we have.

Free promotion

The social network annually cuts this direction and it becomes more and more difficult to gain followers on Instagram for free.

Geotags . Indicate in the posts the places where your target audience is. For example, if you photograph newborns, you can use the geo-tags of antenatal clinics, perinatal centers, maternity hospitals.

Barter or Mutual PR (VP) . You advertise a blogger for free, he advertises you. Be sure to analyze the account with which you want to conduct the VP. Ask for statistics on stories, take a look at the percentage of likes and comments from the total number of subscriptions, it should be at least 6-10%. This method of promotion is appropriate if your blog has at least 1-2 thousand subscribers.

Hashtags . It's good, but you need to know how to use it. Don't even try to post high frequency hashtags like #fit , #girl , #work . They will only work if you are a Kardashian with a billion followers who will bring your post to the TOP of the recommended with their likes. For young blogs, there is a chance to get into the recommended ones only with low-frequency hashtags. For example, #website text or #weight loss workout .

Spamming HF hashtags in a post is a useless thing and will not bring a loyal audience. Most likely, after such hashtags, stores, other fitness trainers and motivation blogs will subscribe to the author of this post.

SFS . Post a useful or not very useful post with a call to talk about your blog in your profiles. In response, you talk on your blog about the people who supported your account.

This list used to have geo tags and hashtags for stories, but in 2021, Insta turned them off as well. Stories by geo-tagging are no longer available, which means that they cannot be used for promotion.

massliking and massfollowing never go away, but I have always been against this method. You can do it manually better than with the help of services, albeit longer.

But remember - there is always a risk of getting banned for using MF and ML, so think a thousand times whether you are ready to lose what you have been gaining.

Paid promotion

In the vastness of the network, you can still find articles in which there is the cherished phrase “... although Instagram does not have ads …”. Right now, you can buy placements in Posts, Stories, Reels, and IGTV only in Facebook Ads. In addition, you can always buy ads from bloggers, bypassing the official advertising tools.

Targeted advertising

Examples of advertisements in the target: 2 ads in stories and 2 posts in the feed

Target is a one-love for me. You can choose the goal of promotion: more visits to the profile, site or increase in the number of comments. Customize the audience: specify gender, age, location. Target will show your posts or stories exactly to those who could potentially become your client. Or it will remind people about you who have already visited your profile, saved posts, but for some reason did not subscribe.

Advertising with bloggers

A great way to increase the audience of your blog is to buy ads from bloggers. Choose to start microblogs with a small number of subscribers. The audience of such accounts is quite involved, and you can get more return on advertising in such a profile.

You can use popular exchanges like Sociate, but I recommend always looking for handles and contacting blog owners directly for advertising.

In addition, you can buy advertising in the public. But here you need to analyze well and choose sites. See to it that the audience is alive and active.

What is forbidden to post on Instagram?

It is forbidden to post nude photos, posts that incite conflicts on religious, political or social topics on Instagram. Plagiarism is not allowed - the social network is against content theft. For spamming in Direct and spamming comments, you may be subject to a permanent account ban.

Also, the service may consider publication of several posts on the same day as doubtful:

New profiles 2-4 weeks old can publish no more than 3 posts per day .
Profiles older than 6 months can post up to up to 25 posts per day .

Instagram reacts sharply to any mass action. Numerous identical hashtags, comments and direct messages are perceived as spam. Endless likes, subscriptions, unsubscribes make the page activity suspicious. For various violations, insta can ban you for several hours, days, months, and even forever.

Conclusion

Now you know everything to start blogging on Instagram. This social network is a goldmine for business and self-expression. I hope you understand the algorithm of actions and this article will really help you in maintaining a profile.