Lets face it, we spend WAY too much time these days scrolling through each others Instagram feed every spare moment of our waking lives. And to be honest, I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. (Well at least not today!) So while I was researching the best ways to keep my Instagram fresh, fun and fabulous, I figured you might want to know how its done too! So I’m sharing the love. Because I’d #DoubleTap that 🙂 xoxo
1. Watchya Posting?
Obviously rule #1 is take beautiful pictures and only post those. I know how much you love your dog/cat/coffee/own face very much but feel free to send 400 versions of the same photo as direct messages only to your BFF. Keep your public feed for well composed, eye-catching clicks that everyone will love. Here are just a few that I think are absolutely brill courtesy the official @Instagram account (which you should totally follow btw). I love that they tell stories. They tell stories everyday.
2. Lets Play Tag.
As you probably already know by now, tagging is essential on Insta. A tag is like your key to the Insta-universe! And many Instagrammers spend countless hours clicking on their favourite tags and scrolling through various accounts. (You know who you are.) Here are some of the most popular tags according to a stats site I stumbled upon called Iconosquare (formerly known as Statigram.) How many of these are you using regularly? (Obviously only when relevant to your post.)
PS. You can add your tags in the comments if you don’t want to flood your other social media with tags. They’ll still work the same way!
3. Socialize.
I really can’t stress this enough. Social Media is supposed to be just that – social. If you’re going to be that kid at the party that doesn’t ever respond to anyone, chances are no one will want to come to yours. This by the way applies to all social media platforms not just Instagram.
But on Instagram the benefit of liking other people’s photos, tagging friends in the one’s you think they’d like, commenting on pictures that you love and replying to comments on yours, will win you massive congeniality points. And think about it this way; don’t you love it when you post something and get a ton of likes? Or when someone leaves you a comment? So double tap away my friends, because that’s the Insta-way to everybody’s hearts!
4. Make a connection.
A lot of people don’t think to interconnect their various social media accounts. But it’s super easy to link your Instagram to Facebook, Twitter and whatever else you’re using. This will help people in other networks find you. Besides Facebook now OWNS Twitter so there’s a lot of cross-love there already 🙂
A couple of things happen when you sync up your Instagram and Twitter. When someone uses an auto-posting feature on Instagram if your accounts are linked it will automatically tag you’re Twitter handle even if it’s different from your Instagram handle! (If not it will simply remove the @ and post just the name with no link, if no such handle exists again it will add the @ but no link.) So people will be talking about you and you wouldn’t even know it.
5. A recipe for Insta-awesomeness.
Wouldn’t it be great if all your Instagram pictures showed up on Twitter imbedded in your tweet instead of as a link? Well the good people over at IFTTT have figured that out for you! IFTTT stands for If This Then That (a phrase you probably remember from boring math class while making proofs, you feel me?) But the good news is they’re doing ALL the calculating for you and once you activate what they call a “recipe” you’re golden!
6. How much is too much?
You want to post frequently enough that you’re not forgotten, but you also don’t to flood everyone’s timeline because then they’ll be forced to unfollow you and that’s not good. It’s ok to post several each day along as you space them out. Also try to find the right time for your Instagram posts because after a few hours you’ll be buried in the fray. Iconosquare also has a great tracker that tells you when you’re posting and when your audience is most online. Try to set your posting schedule to according to that. 🙂
7. Watch and learn.
You’re on Instagram and you already know what pictures make you want to double tap them right away, right? So let your feed guide you. Think about what you liked so much about a photo, was it the composition? The filter? The subject? The lighting? The caption even? Once you understand that, try to apply some of it to your own posts and pretty soon you’ll feel proud of the insta-awesomeness you’ve created. Remember you can be inspired by other people and still create something absolutely new. FYI, The Huffington post did an article on the best Instagram accounts to follow in India take a look. (Love that my pal @BombayBhukkad made the cut, yay!)
So there you have it, social media advice from your favourite geek (I hope). Which tip was your fave? Be sure to leave me a comment below and remember; socialize, keep up with what’s cooking and tag the universe and soon you’ll be #winning the Internet! Ok now go play, you’re it.