Instagram time- Social media tips series.

This week I’m going to focus a little bit on Instagram. I’m still pretty new to Instagram but it has quickly become one of my favorite social media tools. Here are the things I’ve learned that I have found to work the best.

1. Find popular hashtags (I always use #catsofinstagram, for photos of my cats) Hashtags allow people to find you. They are especially good if they are related to your niche or business.

2. The purpose of Instagram is to attract strangers to follow you and interact with you. It gives them a visual idea of what your brand is.

3. cross promote. Post your instagram pictures on to Facebook and twitter, with catchy titles to hopefully get people to click over to your instagram.

4. Include a little description with your photos.You don’t have to write a paragraph but a sentence or two can help your audience connect with the image more. Social media in general is about connection.

5. I use my instagram as part of my blogging business and part of that is by letting my followers see a behind the scenes look at my life. I think that if you feel you know someone you will be more likely to want to work with them.

6. Do some playing around to find out what your followers like to see. My inspirational quotes tend to do well. I also have a lot of moms who follow me so funny pictures of my daughter do well also. It will depend on your business or blog and what your niche is. 7. use call of action in your Instagram posts (ask people to tag their friends in a post, include a link to your blog post in the description)

8. Fun tools to edit your photos on your phone for Instagram that I enjoy are: After Photo and Snapseed. I’m not very good at using them yet but they are fun to play around with. I’m trying to take better photos and learn to edit so my Instagram feed is prettier.

9. I use the App Instafollow to track my followers and use their insights upgrade to find out the stats of my most and least commented and liked posts. That way I know what types of posts are popular.

10. Search for people to follow. You can follow people who like and comment on people you follow, you can search for hashtags and find new people to like that way.

I hope some of my tips help and that you will give me a follow on my Instagram . Leave your Instagram in a comment and try to follow other people who comment.