5 New Instagram Features That Will Help Grow Your Instagram Account

#1: Now’s the Time to Switch to an Instagram Business Profile

- access to a bunch of great features, like a “contact” button, Instagram Insights, and the
ability to promote posts and add links to your Instagram Stories.
- Instagram’s Insights feature, for example. The simple ability to track your impressions,
reach, and engagement from within the mobile app is hugely valuable for businesses.

#2: Reach More Users with Location and Hashtag Stickers

grow your Instagram account with these two new Instagram Stories features: location
stickers and hashtag stickers
Instagram Stories are now searchable by location and hashtag, meaning that anyone can see
your Instagram Stories now.
#3: Turn More Visitors into Followers with Instagram Stories Highlights
Instagram Stories Highlights are like a movie trailer for your Instagram feed. They’re a
creative way to express yourself, show off products, drive traffic, or market your business

This allow brands to easily curate and showcase the content they want users to see.

#4: Grow Your Instagram Account by Optimizing Your Content Strategy with Instagram Analytics

businesses can keep track of their content’s performance more effectively on third-party
analytics tools outside of the Instagram app.

one of the best ways to grow your Instagram account is to track how your content performs.
By tracking engagement data such as likes, comments, or clicks, you’ll have a clearer
understanding about which types of content perform best, and you can use this data to
optimize your content strategy for more engagement.
#5: Grow Your Instagram Account with Instagram Live

when used correctly, Instagram Live can provide huge value for businesses.

While most businesses use Instagram Live to tease new products and services, or to run Q&As
and tutorials, there’s also big potential in the feature to reach new followers. And one of the
best ways to do this is to get featured on the Explore page. – Top Live

you don’t need hundreds or thousands of viewers to end up in the Top Live section! It
depends on a few factors, like the time of day and your location, but it’s possible to get your
broadcast into Top Live videos with under a hundred viewers.

Bonus Tip: Use the Instagram Partnership Feature to Get More Impressions on Your Sponsored
Posts
In light of influencer marketing’s growing popularity, Instagram recently rolled out a new
paid partnership feature that helps influencers disclose their sponsored posts more
easily.
 The feature essentially acts as a branded content tool that allows (and encourages)
influencers to identify posts that are paid for by advertisers.

https://www.planoly.com/blog/portfolio/art-instagram-story-
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The Art of the Instagram Story

Ways to Utilize Instagram Stories

https://www.planoly.com/blog/portfolio/new -instagram-features-stories-
highlights-and-stories-archive-planoly/

Stories Highlights
This new feature is located on your main profile, and allows you to highlight specific stories you’ve
already shared. You are now able to express your personality or tell a visual brand story by grouping
previously shared stories into highlights and featuring them on your profile. This feature is also helpful
for keeping certain stories for longer than 24 hours! Your Stories Highlights will show up right below
your bio, so they’re easy for your followers to see and click through.
How to Use:

 In order to create a highlight, you can do it three ways: within your Stories, in the Archive section, or tap
the “New” circle on the far left below your bio.
 Within your Stories:
1. You will see an option at the bottom of your screen (second icon with the “heart in a circle” with
“HIGHLIGHT” below it on the right side).
2. Tap on the + (plus) icon to add, then name it.
 Within the Archive section:
1. Go to your profile.
2. Tap on the Archive Icon (clock with a turned back arrow) located at the top right of your screen.
3. Tap on the More Icon (three dots) located at the top right of your screen.
4. Tap on “Create Highlight”
 From the “New” circle on the far left below your bio (this is appear in your bio once you have at
least one highlight saved):
1. Next, choose whichever stories you’d like to share from your archive, choose a cover image, and name it.
2. Once you’ve done that, your highlight will show up as a circle on your profile, and your followers can
click to watch it as a stand-alone story. The Stories Highlights will stay on your profile until you decide
to delete them, and there is no limit to how many highlights you can have!
3. Simply tap and hold the desired highlight on your profile to remove or edit.

*Tip: You can create Stories Highlights out of anything you’ve shared to your Stories previously. Use this
feature to share your favorite moments, highlight a new product launch, share a giveaway, and so much
more!
 Stories Archive
The new Stories Archive feature goes hand-in-hand with Highlights. From now on, whenever you post
Instagram Stories, they’ll be automatically saved to your archive once they expire – so they’ll be filed
away for safekeeping! That way, you can easily view them or share them again in you Stories Highlights!
How to Use:

 In order to view your archived stories, click on the “Archive” icon at the top of your profile (top far right
corner).
 Once there, you can access your Posts Archive and Stories Archive. Archived Stories will appear in a grid
with the most recent ones at the bottom. There is also a date indicator on the first story from each day to
help you easily keep track of your archived stories.
 Click on any story within your archive to view, add to your Instagram Stories, share as a post, or add it to
your Stories Highlights on your profile! You are the only one who can view your Stories Archive.
 Feel free to turn off the auto-archiving feature in your profile settings.

How to Utilize Instagram Highlights

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Organizing Highlights

Evergreen Content

Design Matters

Brands and Influencers

How to Engage with Your Audience

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 10 Instagram Photography Apps That Won’t Hurt Your Wallet
10 of the best Instagram photo editing apps for photographers!
1. VSCO
VSCO filters are particularly good for outdoor and nature photography, as they have a mix of
moody and bright tones that can help balance out scenes to match your overall Instagram
aesthetic.
2. Canva
It has library of customizable templates, Canva has become one of our favorite tools for
designing unique and eye-catching Instagram Stories
use Canva to enhance regular Instagram posts with the ability to edit photos and easily
overlay them with text, graphics, and other design elements—including your brand’s fonts
and logo—to create content that truly resonates with followers

03. Later

Later’s visual Instagram planner shows you exactly what your feed would look like before
photos are posted.

04. A Color Story

allows users to achieve a consistent look across individual posts. You can download specific
filter packs that perfectly suit that color palette or customize your own filters
A Color Story is that it partners with a ton of Instagram influencers who create custom filter
packs and effects

05. FaceTune

is specifically designed for editing and perfecting portraits and selfies.

Most photographers use FaceTune to blur out colors and tones that don’t match their
Instagram aesthetic, but it offers many other features from subtle effects (like skin smoothing
and color correction) to more dramatic, full-on digital makeovers.
06. Snapseed

Snapseed offers a number of unique fade filters and effects, but most photographers use it for
its Photoshop-like tools, such as ambiance, selective adjust, and brush tool—which can be done
directly on the phone instead of having to transfer photos to and from a desktop computer or
laptop.

07. Camera+
The app is best for those who like to snap photos directly from their phone, thanks to
features like touch exposure, digital zoom, and various shooting modes

08. Enlight Photofox

With powerful editing tools like brushes, layers, and masks among a few, photographers will
have a blast with Enlight Photofox. Transform your photos into art — create double
exposures, blend in graphic elements, or cut and paste one photo to another to create the
perfect Instagram post.
Free: IOS

09. Foodie
Foodie is an amazingly easy-to-use camera app for people who love to eat and share about it
on Instagram.
Download: Free (iOS) or (Android)

10. Storeo

Storeo lets you record or upload a single long video and then slices it up into neat little 15-
second packages for you!
All you have to do is upload a video from your photo gallery or record a new one. From there,
you can either upload directly to Instagram Stories from the Storeo app or download the video
and post it manually later.

New Rules for Instagram Hashtags: How to Find the Right Hashtags for Your Business in 2018
  Switch Up Your Instagram Hashtags in Every Post to Avoid “Spammy” Behavior
Since Instagram recently rolled out the ability to follow hashtags which means that instead of a
user having to search for an Instagram hashtag and scroll through an endless feed
Once a user is following a specific hashtag and suggested posts begin to show up in their feed,
they’ll have the ability to select a new “Don’t Show for This Hashtag” option to mark the
content not interesting or not relevant. While this information is meant to tell the Instagram
algorithm what sort of content a user enjoys, having too many of your posts marked in this
manner could potentially raise a red flag on your account and negatively affect all of your other
content as well.

Tips on using the right hashtags for your business

- avoid gimmicky tags such as #likeforlike as well as hashtags that have been used a million or
more times.
- choose tags that describe your account, your business, and your target market
- look to industry leaders and other influencers and brands in your niche to find out what
community hashtags they’re using so you can add those to your hashtag lists as well
The narrower the scope of the hashtag, the more engaged the users are.

How Instagram won the Olympics – Blog - deleted

 Talks about how Instagram’s versatility and ease of use made it the best medium to
capture the excitement and atmosphere of the Olympics.
 Highlighted how Olympians made use of Instagram Stories Highlights ( makes the
stories content live longer on your account ) to engage with their fans and spike up their
followers numbers

Click Link: https://later.com/blog/instagram-stories-

olympics/?utm_source=Later&utm_campaign=79cf6d41d3-
EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ed013a3012-79cf6d41d3-
17395889

13 Instagram Marketing Tools That Won’t Break the Bank

Best Instagram Marketing Tools for Photo Editing
1. VSCO
2. Snapseed
3. Pixlr
Best Instagram Marketing Tools for Instagram Management
1. Optimize Your Instagram Marketing by Scheduling Instagram Posts with Later
2. Understand Your Audience With Instagram Insights
How to use Instagram Insights: To get access to Instagram Insights, you need to convert
your personal Instagram profile to a Business Profile. Once you’ve taken care of that, you’ll
notice a “chart” icon at the top of your feed within the Instagram app. Tapping the icon will
bring you to a page with a breakdown of your account’s analytics, including insights for specific
posts and Stories.

3. Grow Your Account with Later’s Free Analytics

4. Drive Traffic from Instagram with Linkin.bio
How to use Linkin.bio: Lots of shoppable Instagram feeds start at $50/month, but when
you sign up for a Later paid plan, you get access to Linkin.bio for free! Simply enable
Linkin.bio from Later on the web, populate your Linkin.bio page by adding links to the
posts that you schedule with Later, and add your Linkin.bio link in your Instagram bio!
For starting $16/month your followers can clicks on the link in your bio, they’ll be taken
to a web and mobile-optimized landing page that resembles your Instagram feed and
displays your Instagram posts as clickable images!

Best Instagram Marketing Tools for Content Calendars

1. Google Calendar
2. Asana
How to use Asana: Start by creating a social sharing project and use sections to organize your
content tasks. You can organize them by dates, topics, and more. Once you have a rough
structure, you can populate your content calendar by adding individual Instagram posts under
different categories.

Best Instagram Marketing Tools for Graphic Design and Video Editing
1. Layout from Instagram
2. Quick
How to use Quick: Quick markets itself as the “fastest app for adding text to photos,” and it
really is. Once downloaded, you can choose 16 different fonts, and easily adjust size, color, and
placement to achieve the perfect effect.

3. Boomerang
How to use Boomerang: All you need to do is tap the record button to stitch together a burst of
photos to create a short animation that plays forward and backward!

4. iMovie for Instagram Marketing

How to use iMovie: Once you’ve downloaded the app, you can take a new video or select a
preexisting video from your smartphone. From there, you can edit the video by adding titles,
filters, themes, music, and transitions, and then save and export the video to your photo
library. You can also use iMovie to upload Instagram Stories that are older than 24 hours!

5. VideoShow
How to use Video Show: Simply select your video, add titles, music, and effects. VideoShow
also supports a ton a of creative video filters and Instagram-style color profiles. Once you’re
 finished editing your video, you can export it at the same quality as the original, or compress it
to save space.

How to Use Instagram Stories Highlights to Wow Your Customers

Instagram Stories Highlights and Archive - Biggest Instagram update of 2017
There’s also a new Instagram Stories Archive, which automatically saves your Instagram
Stories in the cloud so you don’t have to save them to your phone.
What are Instagram Stories Highlights?
Instagram Stories Highlights are curated clips grouped together by you and live permanently on
your profile until you delete them.
They appear directly under your bio and above your Instagram feed and will play as a stand-
alone story when someone taps on it
How to Use Instagram Stories Highlights
Step 1: Turn the Auto-Archiving Feature On
new Instagram Stories Archive will automatically save (or “archive”) your stories into the cloud,
so they won’t be lost forever if you forget to save them to your camera roll.
Step 2: Create Your Instagram Stories Highlights
go to your Instagram profile and click on the arrow next to “Story Highlights” and then click the
“New” button
 go to your Instagram profile and click on the arrow next to “Story Highlights” and then
click the “New” button

10 Ways to Use Instagram Stories Highlights to Wow Your Customers

#1: Highlight Products or Collections
#2: Highlight Categories & Topics
#3: Highlight Based on Audience or Interest
#4: Highlight Tutorials or How-To’s
#5: Highlight Your Customers
#6: Highlight Your Partners & Influencers
#7: Highlight Your Campaigns
#8: Highlight Your Affiliates + Ad Partners
#9: Highlight Your Events
#10: Highlight Your Reviews

Things to Know About Instagram Stories Highlights

Here’s some of the finer details:

 You can only add stories to your highlight that have been posted to your Instagram Stories
since the latest update in December 2017 (or since you started archiving)
 You can add up to 100 photos or videos to your Instagram Stories Highlights and there’s no
limit to how many Instagram Stories Highlights you can create
 If you add more than 100 clips to your current story, the first one will be removed and added
to your Archive
 Just like the regular Instagram posts that you can choose to archive from your feed, only YOU
can see your Instagram Stories Archive

7 Creative Ways to Use Instagram Carousel Posts for Your Business

 Launch a New Product Line with Instagram Carousel Posts

 Post Full Length Videos by using Instagram Carousel Posts

Instead of posting a single 60-second long video, Instagram carousel posts you can share
up to 10 videos in one Instagram post

 Showcase Before & After Sequences of Images

 Share All Your Event Photos & Videos (Without Spamming Everyone)
 Drive Traffic with Blog Post Roundups and Instagram Carousel Posts
Using linkinbio

 Build Brand Trust with Instagram Carousel Posts

a growing trend among businesses to be more transparent about how, where, and under what
conditions their products are made.

Even just showing how your products are made, or giving your followers a
behind-the-scenes look at how your business operates can help create brand
trust.

 Showcase Customer Reviews with Carousel Posts on Instagram

The fact is that sharing positive reviews with your followers is a great way to increase
your visibility and generate interest in your products or services.

How to Hack Instagram Stories: 4 Ways to Upload Any Photo or Video

 Article is superseded since IG now offers a feature where stories can stay longer than
24 hours
 
1. Take a Screenshot
The first option (and probably easiest for most people) is to simply take a screenshot of an old
photo by pressing the Home and Sleep button at the same time. Doing so will add the
screenshot to your Camera Roll, and because that screenshot is brand new, you’ll be able to
upload it to your Instagram Story.
 The main downside here is that the quality of the photo will be slightly decreased, and
that you may have to crop the picture prior to uploading it in order to remove any
excess background.
2. Use Later’s Media Library
One of the best ways around Instagram’s 24-hour restriction is to use Later’s free media library,
which lets you upload, store, and manage all of your visual content!
3. Use a Third-Party App
A third option is to use a third-party app to edit the metadata of your photos and videos, or to
save an updated version of your videos.
Edit the Metadata with Pixelgarde
 download Pixelgarde, a free app which lets you add, remove or change geotags, dates,
times of day, and other metadata in your photos and videos. Pixelgarde has a free
version of their app, but if you want to remove their watermark, you can upgrade for
$1.99!


4. Post to Instagram while on Airplane Mode

A final way to get around Instagram’s 24-hour restriction is to post a photo or video to your
Instagram feed while on Airplane mode, and then save the edited version of that photo or
video to your Camera Roll. It sounds complicated, but it’s not!
Bonus: Trim your Boomerang GIFs!
o trim your Boomerang GIFs, open the Boomerang app and snap a video. Next tap “Save” and
open the Boomerang GIF by navigating to your “Boomerang” folder in your photo library. Tap
the edit button and trim the GIF to whatever length you like. Once you’re happy, tap the
“Done” button and “Save as New Clip.” You can now post the shortened Boomerang GIF to your
Instagram Story!

5 New Ways to Get Instagram Followers in 2017

Comment strategically

“Start off by listing 10 to 20 people or brands who have a similar audience as you. Keep that list
in your phone somewhere to refer back to “When you have time to actively engage, go to each
of these accounts and leave genuine comments on their most recent posts.”
The idea is to be the last person to comment on the post. That way, anyone else who comes to
that post in the future will see your comment. And if your comment was interesting enough,
they might just click over to your account to have a look!

Leave a comment that other users will find funny, interesting, or useful. You can even throw in
a few emojis to show off your personality.

Use Instagram Stories

2. Use Instagram Stories

Goal is to get your story on the Instagram explore Page
3. Get Instagram Followers by Sharing Engaging Videos
4. Run an Instagram Contest
If you’re looking for a super effective Instagram contest idea, try partnering with another
business or influencer. It’s a great way to promote your Instagram contest to both of your
audiences, and also share each other’s followers. Start by looking for a cool business to partner
with, and then organize a 3-5 day giveaway where Instagram users are rewarded with prizes for
following both accounts, and tagging their friends in the comments.

5. Create an Instagram Hashtag Strategy to Get More Instagram Followers

Having a solid Instagram hashtag strategy is an essential component for any Instagram
marketing campaign, but it should also be a top priority for businesses that want to get
followers for Instagram.

JAN 12 2017

 The Best Time to Post on Instagram in 2018

According to poll:
1. lunch time from 11am-1pm
2. followed by evenings from 7-9pm

Own best time rules:

1. Post for your most active time zone(s)
2. Post more during off-work hours instead of during the day
3. Save the important posts for weekdays
 Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to drive the most engagement
  Sundays drive the least

 How to Use Linkin.Bio to Sell on Instagram

5 Tips to Find Instagram Influencers for Your Business

#1: Decide Why Your Business Needs Influencers
Starting a campaign with a specific objective in mind will not only keep both you and your
influencers goal-focused, but it will also help you stay on-budget, on-time, and on-brand.

#2 Finding the Right Fit: It’s All About the Story

Just as every brand has a different story to tell, so do influencers. And if these stories don’t line
up, the content you produce will seem inauthentic, and audiences will be quick to spot this.
One of the easiest ways to vet your Instagram influencers is to use third-party tools like Fohr
Card or Social Blade. From audience size to followers to following ratio, much of an influencer’s
audience demographics can be discovered through these types of tools.
Taking the time to ensure you have good audience alignment beforehand means an influencer’s
sponsored posts will appear more genuine, and your potential customers will be more
receptive and engaged with your product.
#3. Micro vs. Macro-Influencers: Why Size Doesn’t Always Matter
Indeed, a recent study by Makerly suggests that when it comes to engaging influencers,
targeting the big fish may not always help you capture more customers. Instead, the study
found that micro-influencers with 1,000-10,000 followers can attract in excess of four times the
engagement on sponsored posts because of the loyal of their following.

Similarly, if you’re looking to engage influencers by gifting at scale, micro-influencers are more
likely to engage with and feature your products than high-profile influencers who are often
inundated with gifted products.

On the other hand, if you want to boost brand awareness, then Instagram posts from an
influencer with a large following may help gain widespread exposure. Similarly, if your goal is to
strengthen brand loyalty, then engaging a single high-profile influencer to tell your brand story
— rather than promoting a single product — may be the right choice for you.

#4: Look For Authentic Engagement

Look at the comments on a influencer’s post to see if there’s real engagement with the
clothing, products, or brands in the post. The hallmark of a good influencer is the ability to
stimulate conversation in the comments section. And word of mouth reactions (friends tagging
friends in a post) is the type of engagement that leads to future conversions.
As you do this, ask whether the accounts engaging with these posts align with your ideal
customer profile, and whether the influencer is actively engaging with their followers. If one of
your potential customers has a question about your brand, you’ll want to know that the
influencer is prepared to go the extra mile to answer these queries.

#5: Put Influencer Relationships First

Influencer marketing is an investment in relationships, which means cultivating communication
is just as important as measuring and analyzing your collaboration results.
Indeed, the days of one-off influencer campaigns seem to be coming to an end, with brands
instead taking a relationship-focused approach to collaboration.