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How to start your instagram over


Why I Started Over on Instagram After Gaining 10,000 Followers | by Natalia Toborek

I’m much happier with my smaller community and higher engagement

Starting over on Instagram was a daunting but ultimately rewarding decision for me. Here’s why I did it, and why you might consider it too.

Instagram engagement is by no means important to everyone. If your main focus is to connect with friends and family, watch fun videos, and scroll through memes to unwind, this post is probably of no interest to you — and that’s beyond okay.

There’s enough stress out there in the world without adding unwanted pressure into the mix. Social media is a multifunctional tool, and no two people have the same approach. What works for me might be the last thing you want to do. But if you want to use Instagram as a tool to showcase your work, share content and build a community, I hope this helps shed light on how I go about it.

With that in mind, let’s chat starting fresh on Insta.

  • You feel disconnected from your content, feed, or past posts. Your content doesn’t reflect the real you. Sure, you could just archive the photos, but sometimes you wonder if it would be easier to start fresh.
  • Your Instagram engagement levels have a negative effect on your wellbeing. You’re feeling the pressure to perform. While you know likes don’t mean everything, you’re bummed that your quality content is underperforming. You know there are people out there who would enjoy it — you just need to find a way to reach them.
  • You want to enjoy social media again, but feel that you need a fresh start to do so. Starting over on Instagram would offer control over who you follow, and the kind of content you most want to see.
  • The majority of the accounts you follow almost never inspire you, and you’re bored scrolling through your feed. You don’t recognise or remember following most of the people. You want to find a community of inspiring people whose content provides value to your life.
  • You have a new vision for a business, a personal brand, or a project, and want to use social media to promote it. Giving it a platform of its own would allow you to make it stand out as a new venture in your life.

If any of the above ring true, starting over from scratch — or at least rethinking your approach to social media — might be worth considering.

If you feel that most of your followers are not seeing your posts anymore and you’ve suffered low engagement no matter how hard you try, you might have already thought about starting over on Instagram. This is especially true if these stats are negatively affecting your mental health and wellbeing.

Of course, it’s possible to revive your account and get back on your audience’s radar. The algorithm has changed over the years, prioritising content that people have been regularly engaging with. That puts many older accounts at a disadvantage — but by no means a fatal one. Through regular engagement with your audience and connecting with other accounts outside of your audience, you can still build a community.

But for me, the “blank page” mindset of starting from scratch was too appealing to pass up. So, instead of trying to start reviving my account at 3.5% engagement, I decided to start at zero.

Less than a year later, I’ve ended up with a more positive approach to social media, a place to connect with people who genuinely enjoy engaging with my content, and a solid feeling of community.

That’s why, for me, starting over on Instagram was worth the effort.

Like many of us, I’ve had an Instagram account since around 2012. My formative years, from teenager to student to member of the workforce, have been framed by ever-changing feed themes, usernames, and colour schemes.

Just like my 2012 feed, Instagram is entirely unrecognisable now from what it used to be. With constant update rollouts and the rise of social media influencers, the look, feel, and function of the app has completely changed and expanded. In this time, Instagram has gone from 40 million monthly users to a whopping one billion.

When I first joined, there were no stories or direct messages, and every photo posted had to be square. The feed was still chronological. Every Valencia or X-Pro-II filtered snapshot came with a mysterious caption and a million unironic hashtags. These days, the setup is a little more sophisticated but also more competitive.

My first Instagram account peaked in 2015, when every carefully edited picture brought in around 1300 likes. By today’s standards, this might not seem like much, but I was chuffed. When I reached 10,000 followers, I couldn’t fathom how so many people could be invested in what I had to say.

The constant engagement provided my high school self with the dopamine kicks I needed to feel good about myself, making me feel more social, more accomplished, and better understood by my peers. Of course, this was all mostly illusion, but it was effective enough to raise my confidence.

Instagram provided a creative outlet I was otherwise missing in my life, exposing me to inspiring creators whose work made me feel like I could share my thoughts and talents too.

So, I spent hours meticulously planning my feed and watched the pressure rise.

When I started college, the bubble popped. Not only was my schedule too busy, but I also had two phones stolen in my first year. Months went by without a single feed post, and my engagement halved, then quartered. And the follower count was dropping faster than I could keep up.

With no community left, social media no longer felt social at all.

And although I worked hard to improve my photography throughout college, my heart just wasn’t in it. Everything I posted left a sour taste, and I felt like I had to perform better — the way I had done before.

Virtually no business can thrive these days without a robust social media presence. When I started thinking about putting my thoughts online and opening a website, I knew I wanted my primary social media presence to be on Instagram, where visual content is king.

The more I got to thinking about the goals I wanted to reach, the more obvious it became that I could never reach them with the engagement I was getting. How could I ever reach an interested audience when nobody commented on my posts? How could I form a community of like-minded people when the majority of my followers were ghosts?

Social media engagement may sound silly to a lot of people, but it’s the only way for small businesses to reach their audience and get their feet off the ground. And if I was going to create something valuable, I needed to start over.

I knew this, but still, the thought of starting over from scratch terrified me. How could I find community when I was starting from zero? How credible would I look as a blogger with no followers or engagement?

One day, I ripped off the band-aid and just went for it. And this was by far the best decision I made in my personal branding strategy.

When I started over on Instagram with a fresh account almost a year ago, I felt liberated. None of the metrics I had tried to live up to — followers, likes, comments — mattered anymore. I was new, right? Since metrics didn’t matter, my focus went right back to my content — the creative outlet that made me enjoy Instagram in the first place.

Instead of trying to fit into a mould, I started making connections with like-minded people. I followed creators of positive content that made me feel inspired every time I scrolled through my feed. I made a point of not following accounts that made me feel that I wasn’t good enough, prioritising authenticity and value.

Building a community became my main focus. In stark contrast to the immature like-for-like interactions of my teenage ‘gram, the main concern was not followers, but conversations. Building a real community on social media means listening and providing real value to your audience, showing up to support your peers, and seeking out realness.

Thanks to that mindset change, Instagram feels like a positive space for the first time in years.

Don’t get me wrong: I still feel pressure to create better content or compare my account to others. I don’t think that will ever really go away. And sure, I get a dopamine boost when one of my posts ends up on the Explore page. Equally, I feel bummed when a post flops.

But I don’t obsessively judge my own worth based on the numbers anymore.

We’re all marketing people here — we know the proof is in the pudding. So, can restarting Instagram really hold up as a legitimate strategy?

While my previous Instagram account hit 10,000 followers at its peak, my current one hovers around 2,000. At first glance, this seems like a loss — and I‘ve missed out on opportunities to collaborate with certain brands based on this figure alone. But behind the scenes, the value of this change is obvious.

According to the Phlanx Instagram engagement calculator, my engagement rate has increased from 3.5% on my previous account to around 20% today. My average likes have doubled. I’ve gone from virtually no comments to having conversations with around 20 people every day. Each week, my posts reach around 8,000 people and 25,000 impressions.

I won’t lie and say these numbers don’t matter — they do. In fact, they’ve even offered me the opportunity to collaborate with small businesses I love.

But while the stats validate my efforts, the most positive change I’ve seen is in my approach to them. By starting from scratch, I broke the link between my own worth and the stats. I’ve gotten a chance to build new, strong foundations for my approach to social media.

These days, the pressure is almost completely off. Instead of worrying about the engagement of my photos, I have been able to focus on creating a community. I curate my feed, following only content that inspires me, directs me toward other interesting material, or makes me think.

I also put more thought into the content I publish. If my content is thought-provoking, high quality, and true to my vision, I know engagement will come along with it. It might take some time, but value and quality come first.

My biggest tip: get your hashtags in order

Truth be told, my success after starting fresh on Instagram is mainly due to a great hashtag strategy that gets my posts thousands of impressions from hashtags alone.

If you’re looking to build a hashtag strategy that grows your reach and connects you to your people, I recommend trying out a hashtag tool called Flick. While I am affiliated with Flick, I have been using their tool myself for a year now to consistently great results.

Flick allows you to research relevant hashtags in your niche and group them according to the type of posts you share. This means your hashtags are always relevant and accurate. Whether you’re sharing a flatlay or a travel shot, you’ll always capture the right people.

I used to think hashtags were difficult to find, but a tool like Flick makes it easy to reach a wider audience.

Was losing 10,000 followers and a bit of ego worth it?

I don’t see it as losing anything at all. Here’s what I’ve gained:

  • I’ve found community and support where there once was silence.
  • I’ve found positivity in a part of my day-to-day that was once a burden.
  • I feel creatively inspired every day, and almost never feel like crap after scrolling.

So, if you ask me, it’s paid off more than I ever could have imagined.

How Starting My Instagram From Scratch Increased Engagement, Opened Doors, and Made Me Forget About Follower Count

This past week I passed the one year mark of shutting down my old Instagram when it was about to hit a new milestone, and starting from absolute scratch. Why did I do this? Was it a good idea? Let's dive in and find out.

The Why

I started my Instagram account years ago, somewhere around 2013. I had no direction and I didn't even start photography for years afterwards. It was random photos of my life, me trying to be an "influencer" and all sorts of random junk. This resulted in a lot of followers that didn't care about my account when it took a shift to photography only, or people that joined instagram and then stopped using it, as well as follow for follow accounts etc.

This gave me a result of dead accounts, uninterested accounts, and just people not giving a darn. I was very close to reaching the milestone of 1200 followers, however it seemed that for every follower I gained, I lost one. It felt like Instagram was keeping me from reaching that peak. I had to think hard about how to grow my Instagram organically, what was happening, and how to fix my account without impacting important things like my business card. I decided it was time to go nuclear. 

I shifted the account to private and changed the account name from DaveOverThere to DHJF1991, and then started a new "DaveOverThere" account so that all of the links for my socials stayed the same. No need to order new business cards, or change my site, or remember a new account name. I made some new posts on my "old" account promoting the new one and decided to make a promise to myself that I would only post work I am truly proud of on this new account. 

A before and after of the old account and new account with the same photo showing increased engagement

The Result

After starting the new DaveOverThere I wanted to be sure I could go back to the old account if the experiment failed, so I've never deleted the older account. Because I wanted to concentrate on engagement, rather than followers, I decided to keep up with who was following me and check if they were legitimate or not, looking for red flags of bot use/purchased followers etc. The way I checked this was threefold:

1: Did they only follow me without ever interacting with a post?

2: Are they following an suspiciously high number of accounts (either way more or eerily equal to the amount of followers they had)?

3: Are they pitching some weird app in their bio? 

If the answer was yes to any of these it was a big red flag, causing me to block them. I post to my Instagram to share my work with people that want to see it, and with the new algorithm it works similar to Facebook's, so accounts that don't interact will hurt my overall engagement. 

As a result, my old account had about 1150 followers at its peak (it has since fallen as people unfollow over the past year), and averaged approximately 49 likes per post, equaling an engagement of about 4. 3% which is... okay. My new account, on the other hand, has 880 followers as of the writing of this post and an average of 73 likes per post for an engagement rate of 8.3% which is much much better. 

With the new account and increased engagement I've had a few doors open, I've been having the right people seeing my work and it has directly led to some paid gigs, which ironically enough I rarely post on my Instagram. Choosing hashtags more carefully, posting work I'm proud of, and even deleting posts I don't like anymore has really helped me out in the past year in how I am perceived by clients.

Conclusion

While doing this isn't necessarily the right call for everyone, it is definitely recommended for some people. If your instagram is stagnating, or it is a blend of personal and professional, I definitely advise you to keep it under consideration. I have never deleted my old account, mostly because I think it is kind of funny to see bots try and follow it, but I probably will one day. If you don't want to start your Instagram from scratch, I do recommend going through your followers and deleting/blocking those that seem fishy — go with your gut along with the three tips above, ensuing that you are only followed by real people means that more people, overall, should be seeing your content. 

What do you think of totally deleting a social account to start from scratch? Have you ever done anything similar? Sound off in the comments below.

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:

  1. Decide on a topic if you're blogging.
  2. Find a photo style and processing style that you will follow.
  3. Follow competitor accounts and profiles you want to be like.
  4. Fill out your profile: choose a bright avatar, write in the "Bio" section about yourself and the topic of your blog.
  5. 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:

  1. Draw a general portrait of TA . Here, describe gender, age, geography, income level, possible professions, marital status (if it is important).
  2. 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.
  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.
  4. 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:

  1. Make a list of possible competitors on Instagram.
  2. Divide this list into direct, key and indirect.
  3. Analyze the profiles of direct competitors: profile header, avatar, content, what they offer, how much it costs, the number of subscribers, profile activity.
  4. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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 2023. Therefore, I will not tell you about visual trends, but I will suggest general principles that you can follow.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Watch the balance of light and darkness . The photo should not have highlights or, conversely, too dark fragments.
  4. 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.
  5. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. Make text of different lengths . Write both short posts and long ones. There is no universal recipe here, test it.
  3. Write the way you speak . Some people, sitting down to the text, for some reason, begin to fence complex constructions.
  4. Follow logic . First, Anna Karenina fell in love and only then threw herself under the train. Not vice versa. ⠀
  5. 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.
  6. Divide text into paragraphs, spice it up with emoji .
  7. 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.

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