Chris Macdonald, Author at Instagram marketing & influencer growth

Font Hacks for Instagram Stories You Should Know

Introduction

Stories are Instagram’s greatest inventions. It is a great way to show off your personality to your followers.

To catch the attention of your followers and different brands, you’ll need to use all the font features of Instagram stories at your fingertips.

But, don’t know how to do it?

Well, with the availability of different Instagram story font hacks, you can easily create visually appealing and creative stories that are sure to impress your followers.

Thus, here are some font hacks for your Instagram stories to wow your audience.

So, happy reading!

According to a research,

Over 60 percent of users log in to Instagram daily , making it the second most engaged social network after Facebook.

1. Change font size

Instagram has five different types of fonts – Classic, Modern, Neon, Typewriter, and Strong.

Here’s how to do it –

1: Go to the story mode and click on the text icon.

2: Type your text.

3: Then, select the font style you want at the top of the screen.

Among these five font styles, you can change the font size of only ‘Classic’ style. You can zoom the text by pinching in and out.

However, if you don’t like the above five fonts, you can add more fonts to your content.

Here’s how to do it –

1: Go to the browser and open a website called Coolsymbol.com.

2: Select the ‘Fancy text option’ and type your text.

3: You’ll see that your text will automatically transform into different styles. Select the style you want.

4: Now, open Instagram stories and select the photo you want to share.

5: Select the text icon (Aa) and hold on the screen where the blinking cursor is.

6: At last, click ‘paste’.

Now, you’ll have a font that no one or very few does.

2. Use all text colors

Instagram stories provide a basic 27 color palette. But, do you know that Instagram offers a full- color wheel? Yes, that’s right!

However, if you don’t like any color among those 27 colors, you can use the color wheel and can choose any color in the world.

Here’s how you can do it –

1: Go to the Instagram story mode, tap on the text icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and type your text.

2: In the keyboard that open at the bottom, you’ll see small color circles. Tap and hold any color of your choice.

3: Within a second, a color palette will open up that allows you to pick any color that perfectly goes with your photo.

4: At last, choose a color, keep your finger tight on the screen and move it side to side until you get a color of your choice.

To design professional-looking stories, it is advisable to use existing colors in your photo or video. For example, if you’re posting a photo of a sea landscape, using colors like blue for your text will work really well. However, if you use colors like red and yellow, it will make your photo look boring and unprofessional.

Also, the eyedropper tool helps to make this possible. It lets you access every color on your Instagram stories content so that you can perfectly match your text with your image or video.

Here’s how to do it –

1: Tap the color dropper icon to the left of the color palette.

2: A color dropper tool will appear in the centre of your image.

3: Tap and hold down your finger on the color dropper and move it side to side on the image until you find the perfect color that goes with your image.

Thus, using the eyedropper tool adds a level of detail and styling to your stories making them more appealing to the audience.

3. Add three-dimensional or a drop shadow effect to your text

Create a three-dimensional or drop shadow look, to add more dimension and depth to your text.

Here are the steps –

1: Open the Instagram story mode and enter your text in any font of your choice.

2: Select the appropriate color and place the text wherever you want on the image.

3: Now, tap the text icon again and using the same font style, write out the same text again using a different color.

4: After that, drag this second text and place it on the top of the first text slightly off-centre, so you can see the original text.

4. Create the Ombre/ rainbow text effect

Do you want to make your Instagram stories look colourful and subtle? Then, this hack is for you!

Rainbow effect simply means that each letter of the text has a different color.

Here’s how to add it –

1: Open the Instagram story mode and enter your text in any font of your choice.

2: Select or highlight all the text.

3: While your text is highlighted, open up the color palette.

4: Once the color palette is open, don’t lift your finger from the palette. At the same time, take your another finger to the right side of the highlighted word.

5: Now, with one finger on the color palette and other on the highlighted text, slowly drag them towards the left side of your screen at the same time. Thus, you’ll see that your letters will change color as you drag your finger across the color spectrum.

Though, this hack is a little tricky but can be improved with a little practice.

5. Use the color palette of your image to create an interesting background

This is another cool hack for Instagram stories. You can create a fun background for your text based on the color palette of your image or video.

Here are the steps:

1: Open the Instagram story mode and select the image you want to share.

2: Click on the text icon (Aa) and write up the first letter of your text either in classic, strong, or typewriter font. (Only these three fonts allow backgrounds to be added.)

3: While your text is highlighted, open up the color palette.

4: By clicking the top left corner icon, add the background to your text.

5: Click on the pen icon to see the tool pop up.

6: Move this tool around the photo for the background color of the text to change.

7: Once the background color of the first letter is selected, you can move to the next letters.

However, this hack may look time-consuming at the onset, but in reality, it’s quite a fast and easy exercise.

Final words-

As you can see, Instagram provides you with many features to make your stories unique and interesting. Moreover, you don’t need to be a professional designer to create such creative Instagram stories. Hence, you just need these 5 simple hacks to create such stories that help you stand out from the rest of the crowd and make your followers coming back for more!

Want to make more followers and expand your reach? Get in touch with WeJustSocial to learn new ways to create unique posts and stories and increase your visibility among different brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Why is it important to stay active on Instagram?

Introduction

Social Media has evolved as the mode of communication with regards to sharing pictures, exchange of information, discussion platform, and marketing services too. There lies a great opportunity for individuals and businesses to express opinions and market their valuable services to the distinguished crowd. Instagram is one of the most used social media platform registering thousands of new users every day. Instagram account has become a part and parcel of many lives eventually. Millions of users are active and review posts at least once a day on their Instagram accounts. Obviously, the influencers and those who wish to convey a message to the public need to be proactive and interactive to reach their audience.

Users may pop out for a while and rejoin the conversations at a later stage. However, if you are not regular with your account and posts, the users may find your page or the conversation lines stagnant and overlook other accounts. To keep your followers from leaving and disconnecting from your Instagram page, it is essential to keep updating regular pictures and posts. This way the page visitors will remain interested and stay connected with you through likes, comments or shares. The to and fro conversation should be steadily on to let the followers know you are consistent and connected.

Here are a few reasons why staying active on Instagram helps to strengthen the relationship with your potential followers –

According to a research,

73% of brands post at least one photo or video per week on Instagram.

1. Generates Traffic

When you keep updating your Instagram page regularly, the followers are up-to-date with your latest happenings. The visitors, who visit your page, may convert into loyal followers if your wavelength and interest levels are the same. The ultimate goal of your pictures and posts is to drive more audience to your Instagram account. Millions of users log in to check for recent updates, blogs, and information about a specific topic.

Unless you are active and lively, there is a high chance that users merely scroll down your posts. There is no point in having a huge number of followers who do not connect or engage on your posts. You can even add a link to your blog or webpage or youtube channel to let the users know more about your interests. Your posts should be exciting enough to compel the users to click on the link so that you can redirect traffic to your desired social medium.

Image source : Instagram

2. Loyalty and Reliability

With so much competition revolving around you on Instagram, many users post similar posts and pictures every day. In order to ensure followers engage religiously to your posts, you must post creative and unique content. You must be honest as far as possible while posting anything personal to build the trust of the users.

Deem as a trusted source once the followers start believing in you. It will end up in a strong connection and add more followers to your Instagram account. Display a positive aspect of your personality to your visitors through your pictures and posts so that they get curious to know further and follow you on Instagram without any further delay.

3. Stay Aware Building Relations

Instagram is one of the strongest social media to build fierce relationships with your followers. A lot of people use Instagram to stay updated on current affairs, brands, and other news around them, or know what is happening with their followed accounts and influencers, that too within no time. Therefore, when your account has a strong online presence among the rest, you can draw the attention of the followers easily.

Showcasing your traits and happenings with your followers adds to the personal connection and user engagement. It gives the visitors an opportunity to engage thus increasing your chances of being viewed by more users. Interacting with your followers is a good way to keep them involved and let them feel noticed.

As an influencer on Instagram, you wish to add more and more numbers to the list of followers. Even if your target audience is inactive at a given point of time, it shouldn’t affect your updates. This helps in raising your credibility among your followers. Your Instagram activity makes your account look fresh and active and increases the glance of visitors. And if your posts are exciting to the visitors, in no time the same visitors will be your account followers.

Additionally, when you go through other similar accounts, you will get an insight into what attracts the users. You can look for the most liked posts and analyze the reason for the same to ensure better future posts. You can take a peek into the engaging posts or pictures to help you plan your future posts and pictures. It is important to know about the information that your followers are involved in.

4. Sharing and spreading information

When you share premium quality content, it will not just be liked by the visitors of your page, but also they will glad to spread the message around. You can get more audience to view your content and follow you on Instagram. Your personality traits and personal details are further known to many other people on social media. Your exposure is multiplied, thus creating awareness of your thoughts among larger audiences. Not updating your account can let the visitors get bored soon and get disconnected with your account. Remember, there are others who are eyeing the followers and can easily take advantage to seize the attention of the Instagram users.

Image source: Instagram

Conclusion

To draw more followers to your account, it is important that your loyal followers engage with your posts frequently. Information passed on through other followers is considered more reliable as people believe in the feedback of other users quickly. Nurture relationships and build a good image among the audience by staying updated with regular posts on your Instagram page.

Want to increase your Instagram reach and engagement and turn your followers into life long customers? Get in touch with us immediately to get some tips and tricks on how to grow your reach and make your account visible to various brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Why you should keep control of your Instagram and do not share the password?

Introduction

As in the case of any other social media platform, it is important to secure your Instagram account. As you share pictures and posts, the Instagram account accumulates private information online. Do not compromise on your privacy by sharing your password with someone else. Instagram is mainly used to share pictures and information with friends and followers. No plan is foolproof and there are chances of compromising with your privacy on social media. Instagram too comes with its own set of pros and cons. While the idea of updating your whereabouts is thrilling, there is a chance that this information may fall in the wrong hands.

Get the most out of Instagram by keeping your account safe in different ways. Make your account private giving access to only those you wish. Pass the information only to those who really care. Save yourself from sharing your data with any third party access. Keep an eye on hackers to avoid falling prey to them. Lower the security risks with two-factor authentication on your Instagram account. Do not use Geotagging and share your location with the strangers. You can even turn off your stories for specific followers if you wish to. Escape the evil eyes of the hackers and unwanted followers by setting your privacy on Instagram.

Let us know why you should keep your Instagram account secure without sharing the password.

According to a research,

There are 39% of active Instagram accounts with over 15k followers are influencers.

1. Geotagging provides location details

Unless you turn off the location and geotagging, once you post a message or picture, Instagram automatically tags your location. It gives an idea to the unknown people about your vacation, location, and whereabouts. You cannot tend to compromise on your account safety by passing on the login credentials to anyone. You must turn off the location sharing settings and Geotagging for your posts sometimes. Do not let anyone know about where you spend time during the day and manipulate your information to their advantage.

Sometimes it is a good idea to not let know where you are. Staying away from the hassles of social media is divine occasionally. Safeguard your private moments with friends or family not always making it accessible to strangers.

2. Access to your activities

As you may know, the notification tab displays details of your followers’ activities such as what they like, where they comment, what they share, etc. Therefore when you follow some account on Instagram you provide access to the audience to peep into your daily online activities on Instagram. When someone eyes upon your real-time tiniest of an act, you lose privacy. Therefore, it is essential to secure your account. No one likes to be watched over for little things they do.

If you do not want someone to see or know what you are doing on Instagram then keeping your account private is a good option. Thus, you can escape the side effects of social sharing with Private Account settings.

3. Data collection

Instagram, or as a matter of fact, any social media platform revolves around data. From signing up to polls to device information, etc. you are unknowingly sharing your details with third parties. The hashtags and comments you share on Instagram can also be used as a source of collecting data. Many times while resolving issues, upgrading the system or testing new products, the platforms collect data from you.

Once you share your password with someone, you are giving them the key to your data. It is easier to revive data from your Instagram account when someone logs in from your account. Therefore it is essential to secure your data from reaching unwanted sources.

4. Using photos without permission

Instagram is all about pictures. Every post and picture you update has some bit of information about you in it. Anyone can access your pictures, even the most private ones, and misuse it if you share your password.

Even if your account is not shared, anyone can save a picture from your profile and reuse it. Without you getting to know, your photo can be posted on any other platform which is dangerous.

5. Access to the contact list and other social media apps

Your contact list is at stake when you give control of your Instagram account to someone else. While searching for a person on Instagram, you will find friends list and common friends across the platform. Your personal details are shared unknowingly unless you have changed your privacy settings.

It is essential to take charge of your Instagram page and keep tight control over the settings. When someone logs in from your Instagram account, they will get access to your contacts too.

6. Live activities tracked

When making live videos, you let the world know what you are up to, and exactly when you’re doing it. You may not want everyone to know your activities. When you share or comment on any post, your followers get a notification of the same. This leaves no privacy in life. To be safe while using any social media platform, be mindful of the information sharing and live tracking features.

Instagram allows you to watch stories, vote on polls, direct messages, and even like comments. That is quite a lot of information to share with strangers. Turn off your location settings if you want some personal time off the followers.

Conclusion

Instagram is the most popular social media app due to the display of pictures. Privacy of pictures and posts come into question when you share details on an open forum. It is advisable to change your privacy settings to avoid any misuse of your information. Additionally, keep your password intact and not easily guessable.

Especially if you are hiring a service provider or a marketing agency to handle your Instagram account, be careful. Keep a watch on what and how much your agency is involved in your account. While it is good to attract the audience with flashy pictures and catchy posts, you should be careful it is not misused.

Want to grow your Instagram account and become a successful influencer? Contact us immediately to get some tips and tricks on how to grow your reach and make your account visible to various brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Tips for choosing the best profile picture for your Instagram profile

Introduction

Instagram is a popular social media application used mostly by young and dynamic users. Unlike Facebook, Instagram is known for its photos and videos posting than long texts that go unnoticed. While twitter handles are mostly for Celebrities and big shots, Instagram is for all. It is a well-known saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. It can’t get truer on Instagram. Adding a good profile picture is a high-priority task as it represents you as an icon to make you stand out of the crowd.

The Instagram page should thus be upgraded from time to time. Your followers and page visitors, who might later be followers, should be impressed with your picture and feeds. The first thing that a user notices is your profile picture. The profile photo is the first impression of your personality and purpose on Instagram. Though it looks pretty simple to select any picture, nailing it down for a long lasting impression is not a plain-sailing. Choose the correct size and dimensions to make heads turn to your Instagram page.

Here are a few tips to help you choose an apt profile picture for your Instagram account

Best time to engage followers?

Our data found Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. were by far the safest days to post to maximize engagement. Thursday has the highest amount of engagement in the week. Sunday has the weakest engagement of the week.

1. An evergreen picture goes a long way

If you choose to add a profile picture that needs to be changed with every occasion, season or achievement, it is surely a tedious task that needs to be done in time. You do not want to look awkward with a summer or spring picture during snows in winter. If your profile photo is obsolete or outdated, a new user may assume your account inactive and will not look further.

It is therefore advisable to use a picture that is evergreen and looks fine at any given point of time. Every day you can save time on changing profile picture and instead focus on the content and aesthetics of your Instagram page to grab the attention of the new users as well as religious followers.

Image source: Instagram

2. Match the picture with Aesthetics

Imagine a profile picture totally off the color palette that you choose in the creatives of your post. Your profile picture should fit right with the other aesthetics of your Instagram page. Only then your feeds will look consistent and symmetric.

Ensure you edit the profile pictures to match up with the rest of the pictures of your grid. If you opt for a color theme it should reflect in your profile picture too. Plan your profile picture in sync with the rest of the page to impress your audience and make your page look visually bright and content well planned.

3. Choose a perfect size

The size of your photo is scaled down on the mobile screens. To add fuel to the fire, the square size of the picture is further trimmed as it is seen as a circle on-screen. Thus, make sure you leave some empty spots in the corners of the picture.

Don’t let the small size worry you. You can add a bigger version of the picture but ensure it scales down in a 1:1 ratio to avoid blurring out. Keep an eye on the pixel size that does not distort upon viewing on small mobile screens. You can choose to crop the excess picture to let the users get a full view of the image displayed.

When you add or edit a profile picture, before posting it, you can see the preview and center the image correctly as per the circle in which the image appears to the users.

4. Keep the background right

A major factor while adding a profile picture is the background of the image. The background should not only be subtle and not predominant, but also impressive and shouldn’t be dull. Thus, neutral backgrounds are the best bid for any kind of profile picture.

Keep the background mess free. It leads to distraction if there is too much clutter in the background. The focus shifts from your image to the background and dilutes the purpose of the profile picture. Choose wisely between the bold colors and subtle textures to create the focus on your image. But do not forget to stick to your Aesthetics.

Image source: Instagram

5. Use props wisely

Show off your personality trait to the users in style. Add a trendy prop to your image that makes it obvious as to why the profile picture is posted. Working in with some good props can help you stand out of the crowd.

You can also experiment with props and their angles in the picture and choose the best shot! Props show off your image as weighty and meaningful to the users. For example, a photographer may want to add a DSLR or a high-resolution camera in his hand in the profile picture to create goodwill among the audience.

6. Opt for a soft light source

Take the advice of professionals if you are not sure of lighting in your pictures. Natural and bright lights are best for any image. However, under direct sunlight, you need to work on angles to avoid or show off shadows. Lights in your picture also depend on whether the image is shot indoor or outdoor.

Natural lights are the best source when it comes to best captures. Too flashy or too dull lights can ruin the perfect shot. It is tough to get the right image in the presence of backlights. Preferably, go natural during golden periods of sunrise and sunset for the right shot.

7. Crop it for the perfect headshot

A professional with a powerful camera can help you get a perfect headshot image. Crop the excess in the background to focus on your image. A casual photo with inappropriate background or lighting can be easily ignored or decrease the interest of the audience in your profile.

Add a professional touch with a crisp and clear headshot that defines your mood and personality and a face people would love to connect with. Since your profile image is small and circle, ensure you use that space the best way. Add a perfect headshot that draws the attention of the visitors.

Conclusion

You need to spend some time and effort and play around with features to get the best profile picture on your Instagram page. Remember, success is the result of hard work and planning.

Want to grow your Instagram account the right way? Please reach out! We help many individuals and brands to build their following in just a few months. If you are looking to increase your Instagram following & engagement, or become an influencer, get in touch with us now!

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Instagram post ideas to increase your followers

Introduction

Instagram is the most popular social media platform with over 800 million daily active users.

People use Instagram for many reasons, but all of us are obsessed with only two things – likes and comments. This can only be possible by posting creative and unique content on Instagram.

Instagram is all about visual content. Images grab a lot of attention as compared to simple text. Thus, people spend hours scrolling their Instagram feed.

Posting content is very important to capture the attention of your potential followers and brands. And this can only be possible if the content is appealing to your followers’ eyes. Also, posting your content at the optimal time is equally important as such posts are more likely to be noticed by your followers and brands.

Here’s a list of some Instagram post ideas that can help you boost your engagement in no time. Some are quick and easy, others will take preparation.

So, let’s get started.

According to research,

over 300 million people use Instagram stories every day.

1. Share Instagram stories

An Instagram story is a fun and quirky way to engage with your followers. These run for 24 hours and are discoverable i.e., even people who aren’t your followers can see your post too. Instagram stories give a sense of urgency to the users as they’re gone after 24 hours. Moreover, these stories are pretty short (maximum 15 seconds) means they don’t consume a lot of attention and time of the viewer.

Instagram stories are a great way to avoid filling your feed with personal stuff and get more views and likes on your account. There are different modes to share your stories such as normal, live, boomerang, Superzoom, rewind, stop motions, hands-free, etc.

Here are some creative ways to use Instagram stories –

Organize Q&A sessions
Host a giveaway or contest
Post tutorials or tips
Share behind-the-scenes photos and videos
Feature other accounts that you think are worth following
Ask for suggestions for your next post
Create a poll
Promote your recent blog post
Share a sneak peek of your new projects
Stream live videos

If you want to make some of your content to make readily accessible to your followers, you can do so by marking Instagram stories as Highlights. These are shown at the top of your Instagram feed and can be accessed anytime when required.

Image source: Vogue Magazine

2. Post-Behind-the-scenes content

If you’ve never posted such content before, it’s high time to think about it.

A behind-the-scenes post is an effective content that can be created easily and quickly. Sharing such content regularly not only brings an extra human element to your profile, but also builds an emotional connection with your followers.

There may be some influencers who want their feed to be full of professional and polished images only. So, in such cases, you can share your behind-the-scene content via Instagram stories.

If you’re confused about what to share, here are some ideas for your behind-the-scenes content on Instagram-

Photos of you and your work environment
Your daily routine
A teaser of your new product or project.
A picture of your workspace or office
Fun or entertaining content
Your progress or success, such as training, certificates, workshops, etc.

People crave authenticity and want to connect with people and not only brands. Therefore, behind-the-scenes posts can prove to be the most effective way to build trust and loyalty.

3. Give IGTV a try

Instagram TV or IGTV is a feature on Instagram that allows you to post longer videos than Instagram stories. These videos can be up to 10 minutes for all users and up to an hour for verified users. IGTV is a video platform just like YouTube, except it doesn’t have any ads.

Here are some tips and tricks that can help you master the art of posting videos through IGTV –

Shoot vertical videos
Cross promote your content through IGTV
Share behind-the-scenes videos
Learn how to edit your videos for Instagram TV
Shoot your videos in good lighting
Link an IGTV video to your Instagram story

IGTV is described as the ‘most exciting feature to date’ by Instagram itself and allows you to create vertical and long-form videos that can only be watched on smartphones. Just like TV, IGTV also had various channels that you can follow to view different content by different brands and influencers.

Image source: Netflix

4. Host Giveaways and contests

Instagram Giveaway is another creative way to engage more followers on your profile.

But, what are giveaways?

Well, giveaways are free stuff that is distributed among people, often for promotional purposes. It can be a product, cash, discounts, or coupons.

A giveaway is a fun and great idea to increase your reach to various users and brands. If done right, it means more followers, likes, and share. There are different strategies to run Instagram giveaways and these depend upon your objective and the actions that you want your followers to take. Some of these strategies are-

Follow and like a post to win rewards
Leave a comment and tag a friend on the post to win
Post a picture or a selfie relevant to a brand along with a specific hashtag.
Share and tag a post

Image source: Kopari

5. Repost user-generated content

You don’t always have to post your personalized content on Instagram. You can repost other users’ content on your feed as well. Sharing and reposting others’ content can make Instagram a more interactive experience. It can not only help to grow your account but also helps to build relationships and trust with your followers.

If you’ve run out of ideas or simply like a post of one of your follower, you can repost it on your account. But make sure that you give proper credit to that person as it may lead to copyright issues. All you need to do is to tag that person in the caption so the users can know the original content creator. You can also ask him for permission to post his content on your feed through personal message or comments.

6. Other post ideas

Apart from this, there are many other ways to post creative content on Instagram –

Memes
DIY ideas or tutorials
Doodles, sketches or calligraphy
Offers and promotion
Statistics and numbers to tell a story
Inspirational or funny quotes
Throwback pictures
Follower testimonials or feedback
Link your post to your blog
Promote a positive message
Recipe tips and tutorials, etc.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these tips and ideas helped you create interesting content on Instagram. Experiment with different types of content based on your niche to build followers, gain likes and success on Instagram.

Want to gain more likes and followers on Instagram? We Just Social makes it easy for you to plan and manage your Instagram posts thus boosting your engagement in no time.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Best time to post on Instagram

Introduction

What is the best time to post content on Instagram?

This is a very common question that many social media marketers and influencers are trying to figure out for years.

Many influencers are determined to find the perfect time to post their content on Instagram to maximize the number of followers and likes they get.

Instagram uses its own dynamic algorithm, like other social media platforms, that keeps on changing over time. In the new Instagram algorithm, user’s content is shown based on its engagement rate instead of the time posted. Therefore, finding the best time to post on Instagram is very important to capture the attention of your potential followers and brands.

You put a lot of efforts in creating compelling content to increase your reach and engagement. But, even the best content will flop if you’re not posting it at the right time.

Learning the best time to post on Instagram is equally important as the quality of your posts.

Best time to post on Instagram?

The best time to post on Instagram depends upon various factors such as location, day of the week, time of the day, and audience preferences.

What is the best time to post on Instagram?

The best time of the day to post content on Instagram is when most of your followers are actively scrolling the app.

Many studies are conducted every year to find out the best time and day to post the content on Instagram.

According to Hubspot, Monday and Thursday are considered to be the best days of the week to post on Instagram. The best time to post is between 8:00 am to 9:00 am. And time between 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm is the worst and should be avoided. Moreover, posting a video between 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm gets 34% more interactions.

Later, a platform that allows users to schedule Instagram posts, analyzed 12 million accounts from all over the world. It found that the best time to get the most engagement is between 9:00 am to 11:00 am.

A study conducted by Sprout Social shows the following results-

The best day and time to post on Instagram is Wednesday at 3:00 pm, Thursday at 5:00 am, 11:00 am, and 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and Friday at 5:00 am.
The most engaging day on Instagram is Thursday.
Sunday is the least favorite day to post on Instagram.

Image source: Sprout Social

Confused, right?

The thing is that every Instagram influencer has a unique following located in different time zones. And thus, the best time to post isn’t the same for every influencer. Therefore, it is essential to find your personalized best time to post your content on Instagram.

So, how can you find out the optimal time to post?

You can start with the above-mentioned best time and day. But if you aren’t seeing much engagement, you can test and experiment yourself with different posting times to see when your audience is actually more active. Once you’ve established this, you can finally decide your most engaging hour.

For example, if you notice that your followers are more active between 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, post your content at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 pm, and track the engagement rate of each post, along with the day and time of posting.

Pro tip: Test your best time at least twice to make sure that your post’s success is due to the time of posting and not due to the quality of your content.

Also, consider some basic things you know about your target audience. For example, if you’re targeting mothers, you might want to schedule your posts around the time when their children are in schools. This is because, at this time, they have some leisure time to check their Instagram feed. On the other hand, if college students are your audience, scheduling your posts after college hours (after 2:00 or 3:00 pm) might be considered effective to boost your engagement.

Track different posting times every day in a spreadsheet such as Google sheets or MS Excel. Record the time when you shared the post, as well as the likes and comments it received within 24-hours.

Well, here are some practices you can follow to hack the Instagram algorithm and find the perfect time and day to make your post more visible to users-

1. Know your audience’s time zone

I cannot stress this enough. Knowing from where your followers are situated is an important factor to get success on Instagram.

For example, if you’re from New York, but your followers are situated in LA, you should schedule your post keeping the LA’s time zone in mind. But, if your followers are from both the UK and the US, posting at odd times may be best for you to engage with as many people as possible. This is because midnight Pacific Time is 8:00 am in London, which means that there are a lot of chances for your content to reach more people in both the locations.

2. Post more during off-work hours

Office professionals may not be active on Instagram during their working hours but may check it over lunchtime. Therefore, posting your content between 11:00 am to 1:00 pm (lunchtime) and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm (after work), can be the perfect time to engage with your followers.

3. Schedule important posts for weekdays

Your posts may not get as much attention on weekends as it may get on other weekdays. So, it’s better that you save your most important posts for weekdays. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t post anything on weekends. You can still post fun, entertaining content on Saturdays and Sundays.

4. Schedule your posts in advance

If you don’t have enough time to post your content on your personalized best day and time, you can schedule all your posts in advance. This will ensure that your posts are consistently getting published at your perfect time on your Instagram account. There are many tools and platforms that allow you to manage and schedule your Instagram posts such as Buffer, Later, Tailwind, Hootsuite, Iconosquare, etc.

5. Optimize your content

Posting your content at the best time is not the only factor that determines your success on Instagram. If you want to engage more followers on Instagram, you’ll need to optimize your content. This means that you need to post images and videos which are appealing to the eyes of your followers. Also, make sure that you use catchy captions and hashtags relevant to your post.

Conclusion

Instagram is one of the best platforms to increase your following and choosing the best time to post is the first step to boost your engagement and gain more followers and likes.

Do you wish to build a strong Instagram presence in 2019? We Just Social makes it easy for you to grow your reach and engagement thus, making your account more visible to different brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Ways to Generate Leads with Instagram Stories

Introduction

Instagram continues to be a favorite social media app among users across the globe. With almost all the people logging into Instagram, it becomes an awareness creating medium and information passing channel for many. With Instagram stories burning the stage, people are using it to generate leads for their accounts.

To reach your target audience, you put endless efforts in your content and aesthetics of your page. However, there are changes that the content gets lost in the hundreds of other similar posts on Instagram. This is when Instagram stories define their place. Since it is published on top of the page as a different setup and not part of the feed, Instagram stories are more likely to be noticed and viewed by the users.

An Instagram story is a collection of pictures, videos, and GIF’s blended together to form a story. A lot of times, the stories are posted unfinished and thus the users don’t get sufficient information from it. To ensure the users really stay loyal and engaged with your stories, try to create short and meaningful stories that cannot be missed.

An Instagram story is good to generate the interest of the users initially. However, you can add a URL link to your website or blog or youtube channel to channelize the curiosity of the audience.

Listed below are few tips to help generate leads from Instagram Stories-

According to a research,

There are 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram.

1. Find your target audience

When you are ready to post on your page, you should be aware of the people you want should see the post. Your post should revolve around a particular age group, common interests of people or specific income groups.

Share posts that serve a purpose. You must plan your posts to align with your personality and show off your skills. Since the Instagram story is available only for a short time period, your content should boost user engagement in less time. This is why you need to target your loyal followers and audience that share a common interest.

You can have a call to action for the users or a URL page to visit for the audience to keep up their interest in the post. The post should be a value add for the visitors otherwise there are high chances of redirection of visitors to other Instagram stories.

2. Get the URL link set up

Instagram stories are short messages to users. You can plan content well in advance to draw the attention of the viewers as the stories do not form a part of the feed but appear evidently on top of the Instagram page.

It is a good idea to include URL links set up in your Instagram stories to direct the curious viewers to a landing page for further details. Ensure the links are included wisely to compel the users to take action.

If the users go through your story and do not find any link till the end, the story ends in no time and the cohesive content may not be worthy enough. You can load your Instagram page or a feed that you wish to show off to your users through your URL.

3. Create a compelling content

Once you decide to post an Instagram story, you need to curate content that your views will benefit from. Think of what appeals to your audience and schedule content in advance to save time and effort.

Make sure the purpose of the post is clear and the visitors find it valuable to compel them to take a call to action. Your heading itself should convey the reason for your story followed by an image that highlights the benefits to the users.

If you are adding a link to your form or website, ensure the right information is passed on to the client to drive more traffic to your website or page. Make sure you follow up and revisit the followers’ page to display loyalty.

4. Use trial and error method

Create content that is fun, entertaining and beneficial to the viewers. Above all, the content should display your personality and highlight the purpose of your post. You must check and review your content before posting it.

Keep an eye on the content that generates leads and tries to create the content of a similar pattern. Do not fall prey to unusual viral posts. The same may not be appropriate for your target audience.

Upgrade the parts in your posts that are visually appealing and add value to your Instagram story. There should be a perfect blend of creativity with planning and organizing to produce superior stories that stand out of the crowd.

5. Share your purpose clearly

Let the viewers know the reason for posting your story. Let them analyze the benefits and be willing to know more about you through your Instagram page. You must plan your content strategy to drive more traffic to your page.

Use relevant hashtags so that your story is easily found by users on Instagram. Hashtags also highlight the purpose of the post and give an insight into the content to the viewers. Your call to action should be evident and simple for users to know what their next step should be.

If possible, add a call to action in the caption itself to ensure the users click on the URL or land on the page you want the viewers to be.

6. Create value through content

Why should a visitor turn on notifications or convert into followers? This is the question you must ask when creating a story. Your story should be so crisp and beneficial to the viewers that they should automatically convert into loyal followers.

One of the most important aspects is user engagement. Viewers should be able to connect and understand the purpose of the post through the substance in the post. Constantly, post stories to ensure your users know you hold a consistent and active Instagram account.

There is much more to an Instagram story than just a mere image or video for the users. It acts as a powerful lead generation tool if used properly. A lot of planning and organizing is needed to increase the number of followers on the Instagram story. Thus, use it wisely to capitalize your posts.

Want to grow your Instagram account and market yourself successfully? Contact us immediately to get some tips and tricks on how to grow your reach and make your account visible to various brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Ways to Create High Quality Instagram Content That Grows Your Account

Introduction

To ensure your page visitors stick to your account and engage with your feed on Instagram page, create high quality content that interest your users. This helps to create good will and in turn grow your audience. With so many posts of similar content lying around on Instagram, it gets difficult to grab the attention of the audience and let them stay loyal to your account.

It is important to stay consistent and create feed that is liked by your users. Plan ahead about what should go onto your page. Focus on your Aesthetics to keep the posts visually appealing for the new users as well as old followers.

There are a lot of free applications that assist in creating quality content for your Instagram page to stand out of the crowd. Choose the tools wisely to draft an attractive post or edit pictures to nail down the content for your posts. Figure out in advance how to shoot, edit, post your content consistently to let your users stay tuned to your page.

Here are a few tips and tricks to create quality content on Instagram to grow your followers-

According to a research,

38% of users check Instagram multiple times a day.

1. Plan in advance

The basic step in planning your content is to think of what appeals to your audience. The content designed should be parallel to your personality and purpose of your Instagram page. If it looks fake, it will surely lead to falling number of followers.

Once you research the liking pattern of your audience, you can easily create posts that engage your users. Try to spend some time looking at other contents on Instagram that your users appreciate. You will then be able to post feeds in your niche and work on creating premium quality content only around your niche.

Many a times, lack of fact-finding can result in off track content that can bring down the number of users on your Instagram page. Focus on the purpose of your post and create content to show off your personality virtues to your target audience. Once you are ready, plan your content in advance listing down the number and what goes into your feed every week.

You can decide on a particular day and time to post your content regularly so that the users are looking forward to your posts at the same time. The more straightened out you are with your content, the more interactive your feed turns out.

2. Retaining high resolution images

Instagram is all about pictures! Posting high resolution clear images will attract more users to your account. You can lay hands on DSLR cameras and accessories such as Tripod, lens and lights to shoot best pictures and videos. However, if it burns a hole in your pocket, you can click reasonably good pictures with your phone too.

Many Influencers click amazing pictures just from their phones not investing too much on expensive cameras. However, the pictures are well planned and edited to show off their skills to the audience.

Think of the best angles, lighting during the time the picture is taken, the object and the background and above all, the aesthetics of your page. The picture should stand strong on all the aspects. Get a good variation with different poses, distance, and background to please your audience.

3. Content changes

Once you know which picture will go into your next post, consider editing it to align with picture grid and aesthetics of your page. Arranging pictures to make your page visually consistent and attractive is very important.

The visitors of your page will decide about your content as soon as they view your page. A tidy look always grabs more attention than assorted pictures in no particular order. Same color palette, order of posting pictures, content around it, all should be synchronized to leave a good impression in the minds of the visitors.

Try using presets and analyze your posts before making it live for the audience. There are plenty of tools to edit and use pre-saved creative’s and looks to save time. It gives a professional touch to the pictures and makes your page aesthetically consistent. You can plan and edit your pictures in advance and save it under drafts to view it quickly before posting.

4. Post it in time

As soon as the planning and editing is complete, it is time to post your content for the audience. You need to be careful about the time and aesthetics of your posts to ensure long lasting effect in the minds of the users.

To keep the interest of the users, avoid repetitive pictures and posts in a short span of time or close to one another on your page. You can use online planners to preview your feeds and drafted content to understand what it looks like to the audience. If you are unhappy with something, just edit it and post it quickly before making it live. You can also schedule a post for a future time.

After the post is available to the audience, ensure you spend time in engaging audience. Comment and respond diligently to the users. You may even like and share their posts to make them happy. Remember, a happy user is a potential follower.

Build long-term and loyal relationship with your users and stay active. Your feeds appear on top when it gets engaging and active.

5. Research and Repost

If you don’t have much time to create attractive content, Instagram has plethora of feeds for you to choose from. Invest time in finding out posts that interests your audience. Keep an eye on your contemporary accounts on what they post and what the audience prefers.

String onto hash tags that are followed the most by your followers. Find out the engaging feeds that can help you grow on Instagram and create your content around it. You can save a post that you may wish to change a little and repost to your account In future.

You can make changes and repost the content with proper credits. However, nothing beats original. Therefore, once you have spent time in finding out content that your audience engages in, you can use online tools to quickly replicate content of your niche in different formats to please your target audience.

Final words –

Dedicate time and efforts to grow on Instagram. Creating content is just not enough with so much competition around. Stick to your audience preferences and your niche. Spend time in planning and editing your content and you will surely rise and shine on Instagram.

Want to increase your Instagram reach and engagement and turn your followers into life long customers? Contact us to get some tips and tricks on how to grow your reach and make your content attractive to various users and brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Instagram hashtag hacks you must know

Introduction

Everyone wants to accelerate their user engagement on Instagram. Hashtags are one of the best ways to let users to the right spot. You can use as many as 30 hashtags per post to generate interactive feeds on your profile. Among thousands of posts, there is a high chance that your post gets lost. To avoid this, use unique and individual hashtags that spawn interest in your profile and convert your page visitors to followers.

Build your engagement and take it to the next level with Hashtags. This also helps the Insta users to find your content quickly and identify the purpose of the same. Your intentions are thus clarified among the visitors. Grab the attention of more and more users with trendy and unusual hashtags that are relevant to your post. Make sure you place the hashtags in the caption section which is clearly visible to the users.

A lot of us spend so much time in creating creative content, editing pictures, and research the hashtags to use it with the post to keep it on the top. Here are some super duper hacks for hashtags on Instagram that you wish you knew earlier

According to a research,

73% of brands post at least one photo or video per week on Instagram.

1. Hook on to a lot of Hashtags

There is no fixed concept around the number of hashtags per post. While a few prefer minimum hashtags to avoid clutter, many sticks to ‘more the merrier’ hashtags to include in their Instagram feed.

Hashtags provide a chance to be found. Thus, using the right number of hashtags with your posts definitely rises the chance of coming up in top searches. If you wish to add more than 30 hashtags to your post, trying using “&” before the #hashtags and surprisingly you will be able to add as many hashtags as you like.

However, be sensible to use hashtags as it may not necessarily draw the attention of the users. Too many hashtags can spoil the look of the post or even make the interest of the visitors go down at times.

Image source: Instagram

2. Break it up

Including Hashtags as line breaks give your post a real makeover. You might have created highly interesting content, yet it may not be able to capture the interest of the users due to no line breaks.

Many a time, you will have to use symbols such as stars or dash to every line to give a line break. Now it is easier to add line breaks with the use of advanced apps. Many apps allow users to add a line break by just pressing a key.

To space out your content in order to make it visually appealing, Hashtags play a vital role. It makes the content look clean and clear, and uncluttered.

Image source: Instagram

3. Use apt Hashtags to highlight the content

Including regular and popular hashtags will definitely catch sight of few users and your likes and comments may rise to some extent. However, if you are looking to target a specific category of followers, it is recommended to add relevant hashtags to highlight the purpose of your post.

Using super relevant hashtags not only increases user engagement but also lay focus on your niche. This is a perfect opportunity to show off your personality and style to the target audience.

Apt hashtags can bring in new followers every time you post content on your page, as it boosts searching power of your content and connects you with your followers instantly. Plan your hashtags in accordance with the picture or video and the purpose of posting it on your profile.

4. Put up with Hashtag Suggestion feature

The more often you use similar hashtags for your posts, such hashtags are likely to appear as hashtag suggestions for your future posts. It does not require too much labor. You just need to add a hashtag and place it under hashtag suggestion and click on suggest. You will find other relevant options that can be used as hashtags for your post.

Once the list is curated, you can select the hashtags that should go into your caption. This saves a lot of time and effort which can be otherwise used to plan your content and attract more followers on your page.

5. Spruce up your Instagram stories with Hashtags

Including hashtags in your Instagram story makes it a hot selling cake among the audience. There are increased chances of people searching for similar posts and find yours on top of their list. Impress your followers with trendy hashtags that go well with your story.

When you use a popular hashtag, your real-time story is added to the hashtag’s page attracting more audience to the story. You can either use a hashtag sticker to your story or type in the hashtags that you want to be added to your story. The former allows only one sticker per post and the latter can let your story have a maximum of 10 hashtags with it.

Maximize the views by adding the hashtags that suit your story and style.

6. Hide the Hashtags when needed

Wondering why should you hide a hashtag when it brings so much attention to your page? Though hashtags bring your post in top searches, it often spoils the creative look of the page and content designed around it.

Cluttering the content with too many hashtags can act as a drawback as it makes your feed spammy. Thankfully, you can shrink the hashtags by pinching it to look tiny. Then, be smart to paste a sticker or an emoji on top to hide the tiny hashtags completely.

Alternatively, use the color of the background of your picture or post and cover the tiny hashtags with the same color to perfectly blend it with the background. However, you need to keep in mind that too small hashtags may not get registered and thus best is to mask it up cleverly.

7. Keep an eye on your favorite Hashtags

A less popular feature not known to many is that you can follow hashtags in the same way as you follow profiles on Instagram. You can keep an eye on your contemporaries by following the hashtags used in their posts or partner with like-minded people with common hashtags you and they follow.

You can also ask followers to follow your popular hashtags that are common in your posts to make your posts easily searchable. It is a great way to connect with the audience by following hashtags and understanding the mindset of the people and plan your content accordingly.

Once you follow a hashtag, you will find the top posts and stories appearing on your page with the hashtag you are following.

Final words –

Bio is the introduction of your profile to the users. Impress your audience by using hashtags that define your personality and raise curiosity among the people to know more about your profile.

Using hashtags in Bio can highlight your content, promote your page and drive user engagement.

Want to increase your Instagram reach and engagement and turn your followers into life long customers? Get in touch with us immediately to get some tips and tricks on how to grow your reach and make your account visible to various brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management

Ways to visually plan your Instagram feed

Introduction

The aim of every Instagram account owner is to grab the attention of their visitors and transform them into followers. Planning Instagram feed is thus the most important step towards drawing more and more people to your account. Definitely artistic and stylish feeds that do not blend in the crowd cannot be a day’s show. It needs efforts in planning and organization.

For any Instagrammer, the most important moment is when someone who is just exploring feeds and stories, catch the attention of their post and compel the visitor to take a look at who you are through your profile. Instagram feed is the first impression of your profile to the unknown and the known.

The Instagram feed shows off your personality and tells a lot about your mindset to the people. Therefore, it is essential to curate worthwhile content with sincere efforts in planning and organizing the visually appealing feed. Make sure your feed is unique and does not turn heads of the people to other accounts. With the advent of latest trends in editing and posting stylish pictures on Instagram, a lot of spurts are required to show off your profile to the world.

Leave a long-lasting impression by getting the users involved in your Instagram feed with these tips and tricks to plan your Instagram feed visually

According to a research,

38% of users check Instagram multiple times a day

1. Pick the creatives wisely

Check out the profiles of the contemporary influencers to understand the use of aesthetics for your profile that matches your personality. Understand which feeds are liked by your followers and what is the aspect that they like the most? It could be the color combination or the crisp content or the pattern of the pictures added.

Scan through the most popular profiles to get an idea of the vibrant aesthetics that will show off your style and personality. Keep in mind the impact of different pictures that are posted at various locations. A dark and moody post may look apt for beaches while the colorful and attractive feed is for a bright sunny morning.

Your mood and personality can be easily depicted with the choice of colors in your feed. Thus, be sensible in the selection of palette to avoid looking fake and disconnected from the crowd. Keep a perfect blend of colors, patterns, textures to stay visually enticing for the visitors.

To highlight your content, choose the color scheme that brings positivity and interest among the users. As the user scrolls through your profile, the visuals should be so alluring that one cannot take their eyes off the screen.

2. Stay uniform in filters and unique in feed

Photo and video editing tools help you in organizing consistent and cohesive feeds for the users. The choice of filters and editing process should be the same while posting to stay uniform and visually tidy. Many free apps are available online to edit pictures and videos quickly.

Often, the free apps give you the liberty to use their preset packs with complementary filters, ready patterns to make your feed attractive. You can save the adjustments and settings to be able to recreate similar effects to all your feeds so that your pictures are consistent and neat to look at.

Consider creating Boomerangs, GIFs, stories that are visually appealing to the audience, using the apps that are readily available at no or minimal cost. Scale up your videos without difficulty to best fit your style and creativity. Let the videos match with the rest of the feeds and not look like an odd man out.

You can give your pictures and videos a professional finesse with most of the apps that offer predefined content and filters to speed up your work. There are readymade tools to edit brightness, contrast, and background to create personalized feeds in order to grab the attention of your followers instantly.

3. Strike a balance

Credibility is built through unique, original and creative feeds. Move away from the fake and hypothetic content and stay focused on what is real. You must not only take time to plan the feed, but also ensure the feeds look consistent when added next to each other. Lighting, location, reason – everything matters in a curated content.

While posting pictures or content, you need to give a thought on its appearance on the page as a whole. The feeds should be rightly balanced and look visually pleasing when someone visits your page. Too crowded or busy feeds may lose the interest of the visitors. Break things up when necessary.

Grid planning is key to the finished look. It should be easy to scroll down the content while being able to view the whole content. Capture the eyes of the audience by adjusting the color scheme and the grid to your advantage.

Think about how you want your viewers to look at your page. What would hold their attention on to your feed. Place the right content in terms of quantity as well as quality.

4. Plan ahead

It is time to make it or break it when you post the content on your page. Think and plan in advance as to what goes in when and where. Consistency in posting is as important as to placement on the page. Too clustered feeds often escape the eyes of the visitors.

Let your feeds look flowy and connected. There are apps to help you check out how your feed will look on your page. You can swap the positions of the photos and rearrange the content as per your choice to make the page look visually attractive.

Upload and save drafts much ahead in time. You can then view, edit, rearrange or change the content as per your liking without delaying the post on your page. If you know what goes best for the users, you will surely know when to post your content to get the maximum views. You can time it accordingly if you plan ahead.

You can also schedule your post in advance to be regular in posting feeds. It is essential to post regularly when you want followers to check out your profile. Your followers will be aware of the time of your posts and can know when they can view your latest feed.

Final words –

Let the viewers know what to expect from your feeds and let them follow you for what you are! Do not go overboard creating professional content. Keep it casual and relative for the users. If you invest time in planning and curating your content, the posts will surely capture user engagement in terms of likes, comments, and shares. Play around with features and functionality to curate and recreate content that is the game changer on your profile.

Do you wish to build a strong Instagram presence in 2019? We Just Social makes it easy for you to grow your reach and engagement thus, making your account more visible to different brands.

WeJustSocial Social Media Management