The first mistake I made as a blogger was treating every social media platform the same way. It took me years to understand how each one works, and how I had to use them differently. I wrote a few weeks ago about how Twitter is mainly for chit-chat and networking. It took me ages to figure that bit out and it took me even longer to fully understand the ever changing world of Instagram. Instagram is not my favourite social media platform but it has grown on me. It is one of the trickiest social media platforms at the moment and one of the hardest to grow, which is why many influencers find it super frustrating.

I made so many mistakes in the early days of being on Instagram and I am still learning how best to use the platform. It is not quite as straightforward as Twitter. The ever changing algorithms make it more difficult to find the right technique to grow your account, which is why many  users end up using bots to increase their engagement and following. However, this is not recommended.

Instagram is a social media platform to showcase art and creativity. It is all about pretty photos, videos and catchy captions! Here are 5 tips you may find useful in making the most of your Instagram –

Treat it as a standalone

Instagram is a standalone kind of platform. It doesn’t allow you include links in your photos/videos like other platforms, so you don’t get much blog referrals from it. The best way to handle Instagram is to use it differently from how you use other social media platforms, and not to promote every single blog post on it. The users of Instagram don’t want to be redirected to another platform. They want to stand on it, and Instagram has created the app to do just that. Trying to send your followers anywhere else won’t work.

My approach to instagram is very different now from how it was years ago. I don’t promote every blog post on it, only a few. I hardly even talk about my blog on there these days. I just share photos with captions that work. My blog link is in my bio so it is clear I have a blog, but I don’t try to drive every engagement I get over to the blog anymore.

Use the Instagram Stories

Another way of making the most of your Instagram account is by putting up stories. This is  something I only started doing regularly and I can see the results already. My engagement rate has increased massively so I know Instagram likes when you use the stories feature. I now put on stories everyday and my views keep increasing tremendously. So start putting up daily stories if you want your account to grow.

Spend money on Instagram Ads

Now I know many people would not want to put spend money promoting their posts on Instagram, but if you want some form of growth, another way is to spend money on Instagram ads. I do this quite regularly and it has helped. The trick to this is to make sure the post you are promoting is worth the amount you are spending. I also spend the minimum amount I can most of the time and I am happy with the results I get.

Have an interesting bio

Since Instagram is all about art and creativity, it makes sense to be as creative as you can with your bio. Anyone who visit your page should know what you are all about just by reading your bio. You have a limited word count to use in your bio, so make every word count.

Use hashtags

Using the right hashtags can introduce your page to a new audience every time you post. I like to keep my hashtags to 30 or under and I use relevant hashtags with less than a million posts most of the time. It works but I won’t say it works massively. I do get an average of an extra 50 – 80 likes when I use the right hashtags.

What do you think of these Instagram social media tips? Do you have any tried and tested tip to share?