My Favorite Instagram Tips
Oh, Instagram. You either love it or you hate it - or you spend hours scrolling through with no end in sight. For me, I love the visual appeal and the creative ways to engage with clients and friends through Stories. Whether you’re just a casual Instagrammer looking to do something different, or a business owner looking to up their Insta game, you may find some of these tips helpful! Note: they range from suuuuuper simple to a little more out-there. I’ve also divided them into How-Tos and Fun Extras!
HOW-TOS
How to create line breaks in post captions: Hit ‘enter’ or ‘return’ immediately after a punctuation mark or emoji (if using). This will create a line break or paragraph break in your caption! I like to keep my hashtags within the caption to increase quick visibility of my post, but I don’t like them to be immediately visible. To hide them, I create space between the caption and the hashtags using line breaks! Hit ‘return’ immediately after a period 5 or 6 times to create a vertical line of periods - this will ‘hide’ your hashtags when your post shows up in the main feed to keep everything looking clean.
How to repost to your grid: This is a little trickier, but you can download an app called Repost that helps you do this. You tap the three dots at the top of any Instagram post, tap ‘copy link’, and go to the Repost app and paste the link. This will create a new post with the caption from the original post, which then sends you back to Instagram to share (as far as I remember). Alternatively, (after asking permission!) you can take a screenshot of their image and compose a post that also includes a tag of their account.
How to get more engagement on a post: Ask a question, encourage interaction! If you do get a comment, be sure to respond to that comment within an hour if possible, and make sure your reply is longer than 5 words! This will show Instagram that you are getting engagement on your post, and boost your place in the algorithm. The same goes for comments on others’ posts - if you want their post to be boosted, make sure your comment is more than 5 words!
FUN STUFF
How to tease a new post in your story: Tap the little arrow below your latest post to share to your story. Something I like to do is overlay a GIF that pertains to the content of the post if possible, enlarging it or laying it over a corner of the image. This helps create some fun, animated interest around your latest post!
How to add interest to your story: Make use of polls! People love polls. Get some input on a color decision, a product comparison, etc. The questions box is also a fun one, but does require more effort from your audience, so if you’re still trying to build that engagement stick to the simple interactive features like polls and the slider bar.
How to increase interaction and community: Share others’ work in your stories! Whether within your industry, your range of interests, or just for fun - people love a good feature, and will often reshare your story within their stories, and the engagement goes on.
Helpful apps:
Milkshake - similar to Linktree, this will help you create a beautiful ‘landing page’ to put in your Instagram bio with all your important links (Website, Facebook, Email, Pinterest, Shop, Blog, etc.). There are different, customizable themes you can choose from, and you can even track who clicks on the link/s!
UNUM - this is an Instagram grid planning app and website, that helps you plan out what your grid will look like. You can integrate your Instagram feed to see what’s already been posted and make sure you don’t repeat any posts, and also make sure you’re following your theme. I like to plug photos in on my desktop version, and this updates my app automatically when I go on my phone. It even gives you some basic analytics, like high-engagement hashtags and best times to post!
Buffer - this is a social media scheduling app and website. The free version gives you several social media accounts you can connect and schedule posts for. Even though there is a phone app, I like to use the desktop version for scheduling so that I can spend less time on my phone (and type faster!).
I hope you were able to find this post helpful for growing your Instagram, whether personal or business! A successful brand depends on multiple factors, and social media is one of the biggest factors these days. With a little time, planning, and implementing of the above tips, you’ll be on your way to growth in no time. Leave me a comment letting me know which you’ve started using, or send me a note at melodyfulone@gmail.com!
