If there’s one app that everyone loves to hate, it’s Instagram. We spend hours scrolling, engaging, storying and commenting… yet it’s an app that so many will regularly hate on.
I get it, it has its faults. I guess every app does. But I really do think I have finally found my peace with Instagram and found my happy with it. I enjoy being on the app, I enjoy the content I create and the content I consume. I’ve found my Insta-bliss if you will.
And as I get messages on the daily asking for tips on how to grow, how to enjoy the app more and how to master the algorithm, I thought today I could share everything I know about making the most of the app.
Create Content For No One But You
I think one of the biggest mistakes people can make on the app is creating content that they think their audience would like to see, rather than what they want to create. Hell, I’ve made that mistake in the past. The only way to attract a real audience who loves everything you do is to create content for you. They’ll be able to see the love and passion you put into it, rather than seeing right through your feed as another one just following the trends.
Do They Spark Joy?
Remember Marie Kondo’s rule? Well it applies to Instagram too. Start by having a cull of all the people on your feed who make you feel bad, make you jealous, make you compare yourself or just make you feel like sh**. Then go onto the people’s feeds who do spark joy and who do make you feel good. Follow who they follow, follow similar accounts and grow your following list of people who are a joy to be on your feed. I promise you’ll have a much happier experience on the app.
Engage, engage, engage
Something that is so easy to preach but seems so hard for so many is to engage. No… really engage. Don’t just like someone’s comment, don’t just reply with a little heart emoji and expect that to be enough. Treat every single one of your followers like they are your best friend who’s just sent you a text rather than commenting on your post. You wouldn’t ignore a friends text now, would you? You wouldn’t reply to a heartfelt message with ‘thanks lovely’ so don’t do that to your followers.
If they comment about how much they love your top, reply with where you got it. How much you love it too. How it would really suit them and hey, here’s the link! Then go onto their page, find what you love about their feed and leave them a nice comment. Instagram is all about creating a community of a loyal audience who you really connect with. It takes work but I would much rather have 3,000 followers who genuinely want to be my friend than 300,000 who couldn’t even tell you a single thing about me.
Up Your Edit
Something that can get overlooked a great deal is an edit. People think you take a cute pic, add a caption and bosh it up. But the edit is 70% of the image itself. An edit can make what may look like quite a drab image into something magical. The best thing to start with is presets – these are essentially ready made edits you add to your image with one click. You can edit on top and make it your own, or you can leave it as it is.
Most of your favourite bloggers probably sell their own presets – I actually sell mine if you want to start somewhere. You can shop them HERE
Have a Purpose
The last and final tip I can give is to give your feed a purpose. The Instagram community is so saturated now that it takes work to stand out from the crowd. Just another page posting pretty pics? Well there’s already 100,000 others just like you out there – what are you offering your audience that’s different?
Are you the long caption girl, who pours her heart out in every post?
Are you the witty, sassy, funny caption girl, who makes her audience laugh?
Are you the quote girl? The tip girl? The relatable girl? The choice is up to you, just make sure it reflects who you are and really feels like you.
