10 Instagram Tips For Bloggers

If there's one thing all you lovely readers have in common it's this: you like Instagram. A lot. The most popular posts on Zola are by far 8 Accounts You Should Be Following, and How To Make Your Feed More Beautiful. So, I thought I'd add to my little Insta series give the people what they wanted. I originality wrote these tips for a friend who's just getting into using Instagram to promote his art. Which by the way, is amazing and is something you NEED to follow. Check out his work @ferguspaints.

With that sneaky super sly/10 not even promotion out of the way, here's my Top 10 Instagram tips for Bloggers!

1. Follow every person you've ever met

Ok this might be a little extreme, but at least follow everyone that's obligated to follow you back. I'm talking Mum, Dad, Sis, and your weird cousin. It doesn't particularly matter who your followers are (as long as they're not ghost spam accounts!!), what matters is they're following you! It's a great way to start off, with a base of supportive friends and family as followers.

2. Be social!

There's heaps of ridiculously cool bloggers all across Instagram. Go follow them, be sure to like and comment on their photos as much as you can. A lot of the time this will mean they like/comment/follow back. Also, if you comment on another bloggers photo their followers will see it and maybe have a look at your page too.

3. Make your page look incredible

When possible new followers come to your page, they're only going to follow you if you've got an exciting collection of photos. This is your first impression in a way, so it's worth putting the time into. A lot of making your feed 'match' is just trial and error. Post a photo and if you're just not feeling it, delete it. A lot of people use themes as a way of making your feed match. I try and do a colourful photo followed by a more neutral photo, but I don't always stick to it. Play around with your look and find one that suits you!

4. Try editing apps

Filters are a great way to make your feed match. There is a serious bucket load of photo editing apps on the App Store and it's hard to pick out the good ones. I use VSCO Cam to edit my photos. It's free, it has great filters and it's a pretty quality app. A lot of bloggers also swear by Afterlight. After contemplating it for literally a few months I forked out the $1.19 to buy it. There is A LOT of filters and fancy photo enhancing stuff but I haven't used it that often to be honest. Worth checking out though!

5. No shame in self promotion

Some people are a bit thingy about self promotion but I'm going to draw the line right now - THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH SELF PROMOTION!! The idea behind this is you basically shout out yourself on every piece of social media you've got. If you've got a Twitter or Tumblr or Facebook page, link them all up so your Twitter followers go follow your 'Gram etc etc. Also, make sure you have the same username for all your social media. this makes it heaps easier for people to find you. Possibly the most important one is make sure you have your URL in your Instagram bio. Also, have somewhere on your blog that people can go to and follow your Instagram. I've got 2 on Zola here, one on the right and one down the bottom. You can find some cool photo widgets on Google and they make a pretty addition to any blog.

6. HASHTAGS ARE OK!

Hashtags are another thing that have become a bit of a no go lately. Bloggers are thinking it makes them look desperate or whatever, but I think that's stupid. Hashtags sort things into categories on Instagram, and it's actually a great way to get new followers. Someone might well be on #teenblog looking for something fabulous for example, and there you are!! My only word of advice there is go for a few relevant hashtags rather than trillions of random ones #photo #spam #woo #cool #instagram #blog #linkinbio #bestofig #lol

7. Know your followersAn easy way you might be missing out on likes is posting at the wrong time. For the best results, post when most of your followers are online. There's a really cool website called Iconosquare, and it gives you all sorts of useful statistics about your account. I've been using it for ages and I've found it really easy to use and super helpful. Would definitely recommend it!

8. Post often

I've been really slack with this lately, sorry guys promise I still love you. Despite whatever the heck I'm doing, post often!! Your followers follow you because you're really cool and they want to see new things from you. More importantly, your photos at the top of the news feed will keep your blog fresh in people's minds. I try to post every day or two to keep that up.

9. Tag brands

A really smart way to get your name out there is to tag brands. If you post a photo wearing a certain brand or featuring a certain product, go ahead and tag them in the photo. Brands Instagram pages work similar to blogs in that they're always looking for new things to post. If they like your photo, they'll repost it and give you credit. This will mean all their followers (which is usually a lot!) will be directed to your account.

10. Be personal with your followers

It's so easy to just think of your followers as numbers, but they're not! They're real people *shock*. In your photo captions be sure to say hi, ask your followers questions, tell stories and fun stuff that's going on. This kinda stuff acts like a behind the scenes for readers and makes your photos 200% more interesting.

So there you have it! Apologies that this has been super wordy, but if you've made it this far I'm sure it's been helpful. Go ahead and follow my Instagram here. Have a great week chickies xoxo