Hello Readers! Hope you are doing well. Today in this blog, we are gonna discuss how can you master Instagram like a pro. Every one of us is aware of the huge impact of social media platforms on online businesses. As the number of users is increasing on these platforms, it is easy to reach out to more customers at a time.
Not only for business purposes but also for building your own profile stronger, you should know how to make most of these social media platforms. One such very popular and fastest-growing social networking site/app is Instagram. Before opening up on the tips on how to master Instagram like a pro, first I would like to introduce Instagram to them, who are not much aware of it.
Instagram And Its Features
Instagram is an American free photo and video sharing app which is available on Apple iOS, Android as well as windows phones. It was released in October 2010 and bought by Facebook just after 2 years in April 2012. This app allows users(above 13) to create an account and upload their photos and videos there. Users can choose, who can follow or view their posts and share their posts with them.
What can you do on Instagram?-Features
- Follow people and their posts.
- Allow people to follow you.
- Post photos and videos there.
- Edit posts using many filters, use different tags, add location, tag people to your posts.
- Save, Like, comment, and share the posts.
- Send messages to people.
- Add stories that will be available for 24 hours.
- Connect account with other social networking sites and share the same post to those sites as well at a time.
- View map using the geotag.
- Archive posts.
- View IGTV for longer videos up to 10 minutes in length.
- Verified users can upload videos up to 60 minutes in length.
- Buy and sell products.
- Can start Instagram Blogging.
So far we have seen, there is so much we can do on Instagram, but many of us would not be knowing how to make the best use of all the features and master Instagram like a pro. So here I’m mentioning some of the coolest tips which will help you understand how to use Instagram features to the fullest.
Tips To Master Instagram Like A Pro
1. Give you account an attractive look
As the saying goes “First Impression Is The Last Impression “, so to make people come and stuck with your profile, you first need to attract them with a good impression and the first look does it all. Let’s see what we can do for it.
Select Unique and attractive User name
In order to make your profile attractive and engaging you must choose a unique and beautiful name that can leave a good impression on people and compel them to look deeper. Many times these names could be defining you or your work as your brand name or something like that. Therefore it is suggested to think and decide in advance the username that is appealing, related to you or your work, and excites people to look into your profile.
Add a great profile picture
The next thing after choosing a unique and attractive username is that you should take care of the profile picture in your account. Since a profile picture shows the identity of the person or brand in a more clear way, it also gives the authenticity of the user profile. You might have ignored the profiles on Instagram or any other place with no/unattractive profile picture. So make sure you put an elegant and attractive profile picture or brand logo with your account.
Add your website link(if any)
If you have an online business, you can promote your website by giving the link to your website in the Bio section there. There’s one limitation with Instagram that we can include only one website link there. Giving the website link in the bio will help people to reach out to your website whenever they visit your Instagram account and see that, bringing much more audience or customer to your work.
Add an effective bio mentioning the highlights about you and your work
Giving link is okay but that’s not enough. Today people have a tendency of getting everything in one place with ease. So possible they will skip the link without knowing if it was of their interest or not. So to hold people there, add a creative Bio to your account. However, it is a small space, but use the art of putting every important thing about you/your work through the highlights. That will make users understand your profile and make them stay if it is of their interest.
Add Call to Action buttons such as Email, Call, Directions, etc
Suppose someone comes to your account or profile and he/she likes it so much and want to know more about that, how easily can that person connect with you, it matters. Possibly you would say to use the comment section or direct messages but come on, we all know that the comment section is not for longer discussion as anybody can see it.
Also checking direct messages may take time and people can lose their interest which you don’t want. So it’s important to provide them the medium to connect with you directly as soon as possible. You can add Call to Action buttons in that case. These are buttons like Email, Call, directions, etc for guiding them to connect with us.
2. Post quality content
Giving the best impression at first is not all obviously, since it may help you to bring users or followers for the first time but in order to make them stay for a longer run, you need to provide them quality content. Your content should be of good quality, unique, and one of a kind under your niche. So what makes it quality content?
Select a niche for your post
People like consistency. They would love to see the posts in a symphony. So instead of choosing a new style every time for your posts, choose a particular niche for it. And post the best content under that niche. It will give a win-win situation to both the users/followers as well as you. Where they will get balanced content, soothing for their eyes, you don’t have to take much pressure of thinking a new theme every time which will save you big time and energy.
Post regularly
Consistency and continuity are the two important pillars to master Instagram like a pro. If you post regularly, your followers would know that every day they will get something new for sure and they will come for that. The same applies to other areas also like blogs and all, where continuity is needed for much traffic.
Edit your posts properly
People will stay without much effort if you provide them what they have come for and satisfies them. It includes everything about using a proper theme, filters, edits, etc, and makes your posts more and more stylish and attractive. Don’t forget to use different filters, edits, and designated Instagram apps like Boomerang, Layout, Hyperlapse, etc. You can also use some third-party apps for editing your photos and videos.
Add proper captions
As on Instagram, you can post videos and images, you are not always able to portray the real meaning or context of the posts especially for the images. In that case, to make the users/followers understand everything about the context of your post, it is a good habit of explaining it in the caption. It gives a broader vision to understand and get the idea perfectly. So it can also help you master Instagram like a pro.
Use proper hashtags
Hashtags are keywords/phrases, written without spaces that aggregate all social media content of similar kind posted with that same hashtag. So using proper and trending hashtags with your posts help them appear in the searches wherever the same hashtags are used. You might have seen the power of hashtags, especially on twitter. So including that to your Instagram post will also take you a step ahead in the journey of master Instagram like a pro.
Add location
Somewhat similar to the function of hashtags, Adding Location/Geotags also helps in increasing engagement on Instagram. This feature is mainly about tagging your photos or videos with any particular location, so if anyone searches or clicks on the same geotag that post will appear there as well.
Adding geotags tells about which area or location is related to your post like at which place it was taken, also if you use your account for business purposes, it tells your customers about your service location. In the end, it’s a smart trick to increase the traffic on your profile.
3. Connect with the Followers/Users
Now suppose when you have attracted people to your profile and provided good quality content from your end, but there might be a situation when your followers or customers want something more from you. In those cases, there must be enough way for them to reach out to you easily. Let us see how you can master Instagram like a pro using this.
Keep your profile public
It depends on you if you want your profile to be Public or Private but there are advantages of keeping it as Public. I will tell you how. Suppose while scrolling your Instagram feed you come across a page which you like at one glance(with the name or profile pic) but when you open it and find it as a Private account, what would you do? It’s a common tendency that we don’t wait for getting approved and then see those posts and walk away.
So to avoid this, keeping profile as Public helps people see, understand, and follow your profile.
Follow and Invite friends
This is one of the basic things you do or you must do to increase your engagement on your profile. When you start or have already been running a page or an account on Instagram, it’s good to reach out to your friends, colleagues, and other people out there. It’s the same as promoting your own brand. Tell them about you, about your work, start following them, invite them via syncing contacts and see the rise in your followers’ count.
Reply to the comments or pings
As mentioned above, not only posting quality content matters, but you should also know what exactly is your followers’ demand. Like using the Call to Action buttons, users can ask or suggest something to you through your comment section or personal chat. Feedbacks or the queries, both are equally important to learn and improve your work, so value them. Reply to the comments, thank your followers, help them clear their queries, it will make them feel important and yea will help you build a good name.
Work on user Interest
When you are done taking feedbacks and suggestions, you will get the market demand. Now it’s up to you how smartly you use them. Start working on it, implement the ideas accordingly as it will help you reach better content for your posts.
Share stories
You must have seen the bubble-like icons on your Instagram profile of your friends’ feeds. They are actually the Instagram stories, which are available only for 24 hours. You can also share your story and share your thoughts more easily. Two things to be kept in mind are, don’t put many posts at once and keep them simple, raw, and organic. Stories are meant to be raw so no need of hanging on to it for perfection. There are many Apps for Instagram Stories creation, you can check them too for delivering amazing content.
Broadcast live videos
Broadcast/streaming live videos are part of Sharing Stories only, the only difference is that here you post live videos from the “Your Stories” section. When you start your recording, you get the option to go live. If you’re streaming a live video, your followers get notified about it so that they can also join it. The advantage of sharing live-videos is that you can show your friends and followers what exactly you are up to, at that very moment. You can also select the Commenting ON/OFF option there.
4. Other Special Tips
So far I have told you some easy but effective tricks to be used to master Instagram like a pro. Let us see what is still left to be covered.
Be Authentic
Be authentic and organic then only you would survive in the long run. The thing is, it will save you from the controversies of copyright contents and all, also will make you stand out of the crowd so that people love you for your work. Taking inspiration, ideas are good but do your homework, use your creativity, add some extra essence, and provide what is yours and people will love it if it is good, for sure.
Allow Instagram ads
Above were the things which you can do. Let us talk about something which can help you externally. You must have heard and come across the Google ads while browsing different sites. These are paid ads that pop up while you search for something related. Similarly, Instagram provides the functionality of posting ads. You need to pay Instagram some bucks and in return, they will show your content to users feed on Instagram. It gives you wider visibility as people see them and comes to your page if they like it.
Engage with the Influencers
Influencers are persons with huge followers. Getting a shout out from a well-performing influencer can be a fuel for the instant credibility of your account. Nowadays many companies collaborate with them and offer them a big amount to showcase their products in their own posts and stories. So you can also use this trick (Might be you also become one such influencer and get offers like that.)
Use cross-posting on other social media handles
Suppose you are using many other social media handles and you wanna post the same content to all those platforms. Won’t it be a hectic job to do the same thing again and again? No worries! Instagram provides a feature that lets you post the same content (while posting) to other social media handles such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc, right from there all at once by just permitting the apps. And that’s all, you job is done. No more tension of using efforts for doing same thing again and again.
Review your posts
With time, you need to brush up your feeds, try reviewing your posts regularly. Remove if something seems irrelevant or out of the box item. Add something if you think, is needed, it will make your profile and account refresh for the new coming users and won’t give the obsolete feel.
5. Use Your Account Settings Properly
Okay so now we have some knowledge of what to do to master Instagram like a pro. Now comes the most important thing on the online platforms- Your Privacy and Security. Many people don’t give it much thought and time but believe me it is as important as you keep your home safe. Let’s see what we can do for this.
Select account privacy settings- Public or Private
The first thing I would suggest is to check your settings for profile visibility, whether it is public or private. Though I have suggested you to keep your profile as Public so as to get more users, it totally depends on you how you wanna keep it, which type of content you are sharing, etc.
Since once you have posted something on the web, most likely you don’t have much control over to remove it from everywhere. So keep this in mind. You also can do something like turn your account as Private when you have a good amount of followers because, after that, people will share your content and refer your account to their friends and contacts on their own.
Choose which type of account you want
This would not come under privacy but still, you can choose which type of account you want or need like a normal or a business account. You can choose it while creating the account or can convert later at any time. With a business account, you get so many options for making your business activities easier.
Merge your accounts
There is a possibility like you are using more than one Instagram accounts and wanna access them all together. You can do that. You can merge different accounts and can handle them more easily and smartly.
Use your Security setting properly
Before launching your accounts to the public, go to the Security section under Settings, and have a thorough look into the different security settings there. Ensure that your data or your account doesn’t have to face any security issue later. Though it won’t save you from every possible threat, at least it will prevent you from some common issues.
Choose who can comment on your posts
Like any other social media accounts, you can select who can comment on your posts. If you find any wrong person commenting, you can block and report the user. You can even disable commenting for your posts if you need it.
What is Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels is a hot topic nowadays and everyone is so excited about it. Let’s explore what’s special about it.
Instagram has come with a new feature named “Reels” which is supposed to be an alternative for the world-famous Chinese video-sharing app Tik-Tok. It will give you a more or less similar experience as Tik-Tok. Instagram took this step and brought this feature “Reels” at a very good time, knowing the demand for it after some serious allegation and the ban of Tik-Tok in many geographies due to its privacy policy.
Facebook has been testing this feature to countries like Brazil, Germany, France, India, and recently launched it in India on 11th July. It is supposed to get really popular in India at this time since the Government of India has ban Tik-Tok in the country and people are looking for a good alternative for it.
Instagram has paired up with many music companies to provide better music for creating videos. The reel icon is available next to the Boomerang, Layout, etc options in the upload section. You can click through it, select music, and start recording your videos. After creating videos, you get the option for how do you wanna share it such as sharing as a feed or to the Explore. And yes! it is as simple as that to use.
What you can do with it- The Features
Now you can create videos of up to 15 seconds on Instagram using Instagram Reels unlike before when you were allowed to create only shorter videos of up to a few seconds for your stories.
You can also edit these videos/reels later using a wide range of filters and music available for it and share them with your followers or as public.
These reels are saved to your account as your post and you have full access to control who can see it. So unlike Instagram stories, it doesn’t disappear after 24 hours and is stored. You can also share your reels in the Instagram Explore section. Not even that, you can share these videos on other social media platforms as well.
So what are you waiting for? Check your Instagram Update and enjoy the Instagram Reel feature, use them into your posts, and play cool to master Instagram like a pro.
Wrapping Up
Instagram is an American free photo and video sharing app which is a very popular and fastest-growing social networking app. There is so much we can do on Instagram, but many of us would not be knowing how to make the best use of all the features and master Instagram like a pro. So here are some of the coolest tips which will help you understand how to use Instagram features to the fullest.
1. Give you account an attractive look
- Unique and attractive User name
- Add a great profile picture
- Add your website link(if any)
- Add an effective bio mentioning the highlights about you and your work.
- Add Call to Action buttons such as Email, Call, Directions, etc.
2. Post quality content
- Select a niche for your post
- Post regularly
- Edit your posts properly
- Add proper captions
- Use proper hashtags
- Add location
3. Connect with the Followers/Users
- Keep your profile public
- Follow and Invite friends
- Reply to the comments or pings
- Work on user Interest
- Share stories
- Broadcast live videos
4. Other Special Tips
- Be Authentic
- Allow Instagram ads
- Engage with the Influencers
- Use cross-posting on other social media handles
- Review your posts
5. Use Your Account Settings Properly
- Select account privacy settings- Public or Private
- Choose which type of account you want
- Merge your accounts
- Use your security setting properly
- Choose who can comment on your posts
Hope you have enjoyed reading this article and now you are close to master Instagram like a pro. To read more such interesting articles you can turn to the other posts at SocialMirror. If you have any queries regarding anything in the blog, you can reach out to me through the comment section below.
Happy Reading! See you soon. 🙂
