10 Tips To Improve your Instagram

I used to think Instagram was purely for pretty pictures and inspirational quotes but it is so much more than that, it is a great platform to build an audience and engage with your readers, if done right. I have come to realise that simply posting images does not mean you have a good account nor does it mean you will build a following.

I am going to share some of the lessons I have learnt recently but I strongly suggst you sign up for some of Alex Tooby’s videos, join her Facebook group and Ashley Knights Facebook group, both have some valuable resources, advice and lessons.

1. Make sure your profile is relevant and contains information about who you are. Use keywords and make sure they will attract the audience you want. Remember your call to action in your bio!
2. Know your audience. Who do you want to follow you? Moms? Fashion peeps? Brands? Once you know this, you will know what photos to full your feed with.
3. Take photos that fit with your “theme”. This is a little bit tricky for mommy bloggers because most of us blog about everything so often post photos of our kids, food, crafts and anything we find interesting. You can make it work though if you keep the photos similar. Check out the feed below and you will see what I mean. The photos are all different, of different things but they are also similar. Instagram is all about the visual appeal so you when people arrive at your account, it needs to be as appealing as possible.
4. Take GOOD photos. We can all point our camera at something and click but not all of these photos need to be shared. Don’t share blurry photos or photos that are grainy or have no point (other than to you in the moment). Share those images on twitter, save your thought out, pretty photos for your Instagram account.
5. Don’t post too often or too seldom. There are mixed thoughts on this but once a day on Instagram is often enough, you can do two or three posts but more than that can be too much. Instagram is more about quality than quantity but you do need to be active.
6. Use hashtags. I have avoided hashtags because they are messy and I find posts with them in annoying but during one of Ashley’s videos she says  to put them in the comments. It is neater and you can go wild with the amount of hashtags you use because it doesn’t interfere with your caption. Make sure though that the hashtags are relevant to your brand and your post.
7. Interact with other brands similar to yours. Find other mommy bloggers who blog about crafts if that’s your thing and comment on their posts. (You can find them by searching hashtags you are using). Commenting brings followers and creates engagement.
8. . It is ok to use images that aren’t your own. What I mean by this is that there are  resources that offer free images that you can use. Obviously you don’t want to use an image of someone on the beach and caption it “I am enjoying the weather”, but if you want to create quotes then these images come in very handy. Remember to credit the original source!!!
9. Be unique. There are millions of people on Instagram. Millions of fashion bloggers, mommy bloggers, parents – everyone wanting a piece of the pie. People will follow you because you offer something special, something unique to you and your brand.
10. Be Real! We all know that often a lot of work goes into creating an Instagram photo but do not lose your “realness”.

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First image credit – City Girl Searching

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