Social Media Instagram 92 92 people found this article helpful 10 Things You Should Definitely Be Doing on Instagram Step up your Instagram presence by following these tips by Elise Moreau Freelance Contributor Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Elise Moreau Updated on July 15, 2020 Tweet Share Email The Ultimate Guide to Instagram The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Introduction Instagram Basics How to Use Instagram Instagram Tips for Beginners Check Messages on Instagram Add or Change an Instagram Background Search Instagram for Tags and Users Add Music to Instagram Video Use Instagram Video Chat Try Instagram Shopping Get Verified on Instagram Clear Search History on Instagram Posting on Instagram The Best Time to Post Save a Draft of a Post Repost an Instagram Story See Previously Liked Posts Post a GIF to Instagram Add Multiple Photos to Stories Save Instagram Videos How to Quickly Repost Photos Saving Photos Deleting Photos and Videos View Saved Posts With Instagram Collections Working With Followers Mute Someone on Instagram See Who Unfollowed You on Instagram Block Someone On Instagram Unblock Someone on Instagram See Who Viewed You Great Tools to Track Comments Remove Followers on Instagram Tips to Get a Shoutout on Instagram Attract More Instagram Followers Delete 'Suggestions for You' IG Tips & Tricks Instagram Tips and Tricks to Try Add Highlights on Instagram Learn About Instagram Direct Use Instagram's Close Friends Feature How to Delete or Deactivate Your Account Reactivate Your Account Reset Your Password Get Started With Location Tagging How to Repost Shoot Videos with Instagram Video Understanding IG Privacy & Security Hide Your Story on Instagram Does IG Send Screenshot Notifications? Make Your Instagram Account Private See Who Saved Your Instagram Posts Download Everything IG Knows About You Manage Multiple Instagram Accounts Hiding Photos Rather Than Deleting Them How to View Private Instagram Accounts Engaging Users on Instagram Start an Instagram Live Video How to Sell on Instagram Use an Instagram Creator Account Make Money as an Instagram Influencer How to Get More Likes Things You Should Definitely Do Get on the Instagram Explore Page The Best Instagram Apps to Boost Engagement How to Make a Poll Instagram Extras: Captions & More Steal These: The Best Instagram Captions Discover the Best Instagram Filters Have Fun With Instagram Hashtags Use Emoji Hashtags on IG The Easy Way to Track IG Hashtags How to Use the IG Questions Sticker Using Instagram on Other Platforms Can You Get Instagram on Apple Watch? Use Instagram on a PC or Mac Get Instagram for iPad What is the Galaxy S10 Instagram Mode? View Instagram on the Web Online Connect Instagram to Facebook Tools for Posting From the Desktop Instagram is an active social platform with a thriving community of people looking for as much visual content as they can take. When you want to make a name for yourself or attract more followers and increase engagement, look for new ideas on what and how to post. If you have a personal or business account, here's what you can do on Instagram to improve your content and interaction from your followers on Instagram. How to Get Verified on Instagram 01 of 10 Post Photo Collages Many of Instagram's active users post photos as a collage. You can use Instagram's built-in collage maker or use a third-party app to choose multiple images that can be incorporated into one. A collage maker condenses images into a single post. Why photo collages? Collages are perfect ways to tell stories through photos. Rather than posting each photo separately, combine those pictures to showcase different scenes of a related event. 02 of 10 Use Appropriate Hashtags in Captions Hashtags are beneficial on Instagram, mainly because everyone uses hashtags to find specifically themed content they're interested in viewing. Hashtags give users a way to filter results based on keywords or phrases categorically. Why hashtags? People search for hashtags all the time. Users who have attractive photos or videos and incorporate a few hashtags relevant to their posts have a higher chance of increasing their following and engagement. 03 of 10 Post Time-Lapse Videos Instagram has a standalone app for iOS called Hyperlapse, which easily lets users film and create high-quality time-lapse videos. Time-lapse videos are videos that are sped up to be watched in a shorter amount of time. There are third-party apps for Android that accomplish the same action. Why time-lapse videos? People's attention spans online are short. A user can take as little as one or two seconds of watching a video before deciding to move on. Time-lapse videos offer a way to hook viewers' attention effectively while squeezing more footage into Instagram. 04 of 10 Edit Captions If You Notice Mistakes or If You Left Something Out For the longest time, you couldn't edit a caption on Instagram. If you wanted to change something in the caption, you had to start over and repost it. Now, captions are editable. Why edit captions? Including captions without mistakes and typing enough information makes you look like you care about your posts. You can also add and remove hashtags, or tag users in posts you want them to see. 05 of 10 Post at the Right Time of Day to Ensure Your Followers See Your Posts Even though people look at their phones all the time, there are optimal times and better performing days of the week to make posts. If you want your posts to be seen and get as much engagement as possible, pay attention to when you post. Why post at certain times of the day? Some companies study social media traffic and report these activity trends for each platform. Knowing when your potential audience is most active can generate more views and likes. You do have to stay on top of trends as these tend to change from year to year. 06 of 10 Track Your Instagram Statistics and Activity With Iconosquare If you have a lot of followers and receive a fair bit of engagement, tracking it through Instagram can be difficult. Iconosquare is a powerful tool you can use to access your account and look at your stats. Why track your stats? Iconosquare shows trends in your engagement. Use it to find out what types of content your followers like, and when they're most likely to engage. You can also read and respond to comments and see which followers you lost. 07 of 10 Use Shoutouts to Increase Your Exposure and Get More Followers Users who have a similar number of followers often partner up and agree to promote each other to swap followers. It's called a shoutout or an s4s. It usually involves an agreement to post one another's photo or video for a specified amount of time (before potentially being deleted) and instructing followers in the caption to follow the other user. Why shoutouts? Shoutouts are a fast and effective way to grow an Instagram following. The only downside is that you have to keep posting other users' content and telling your followers to follow them. In turn, your shoutout partner will do the same. If their followers are engaged, you should see new followers start to trickle in. 08 of 10 Tag Posts to Corresponding Geographical Locations Instagram lets you attach photo and video posts to the places where you took the images, by tagging under Location. All you do is select the possible locations provided by your GPS within Instagram. Or, you can manually enter the location. Why tag locations? Tagging a post to its location files it under the public page for that location. The photos that you and the millions of other users post can be searched by location. Depending on how popular the area is, you could get more exposure from people browsing it. 09 of 10 Stay on Top of Popular Posting Trends alexsl / Getty Images When Instagram first came out, users applied different filters to make images look different or to give a vintage effect. Today, the filter trend isn't as hot as it once was. New trends have popped up, such as posting in portrait and landscape, or shooting with a DSLR and posting higher quality photos. Why keep up with trends? If you're out of the loop with what people want on Instagram, your engagement could suffer. Things move fast on social media, so yesterday's cool trend isn't as cool as today. Keep your content fresh by staying current. 10 of 10 Use Instagram Direct to Privately Message Individuals or Groups Do you love to post several times within a few hours? Some followers like following extremely active accounts while others don't. Instagram Direct is a great way to privately share a photo or video post with one or multiple followers. Why Instagram Direct? If you need to contact a user directly, Instagram Direct can be more effective than leaving a comment on one of their posts. It's also a preferred way to share content relevant to a small group of followers rather than everyone. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit