Whether you use Instagram to share your work or grow a community, you’ve got to know how to form an ideal feed and retain your followers. It takes a lot more than just posting pretty pictures to win at the Instagram game! So if you’re wondering how to be an Instagram pro, here are 7 easy tips that’ll help you be one!
1. Composition is key!
Instagram is all about using pictures as a medium to express yourself. So there’s nothing wrong in staging, arranging things in a certain way to achieve a great picture. Think about it, you wouldn’t revisit a person’s Instagram profile if it isn’t for the pictures they upload.
2. Personalise your feed
Some people only know you through your Instagram feed. So make sure that you’re posting about things you like – your pets, paintings or hobbies, for instance. List down any 5 things that make you YOU, and make your posts relevant to those categories. People are more likely to connect with your profile if it makes them feel like they know you!
3. Engagement is everything
Whether you want to retain your followers or get new ones, you have to ensure that your content is worthy of it. You could tell a story or ask a question in your posts to increase engagement. Your content should make your audience want to comment, like or at least feel something. If they can’t relate to your content, they’ll soon unfollow you.
4. Use the right #hashtags
To make your pictures visible in other people’s explore feeds, you must use the right hashtags. The hashtags that accompany your picture should be relevant to what you’ve posted so it reaches people who are interested in the same. You can quit copy pasting the same bunch of hashtags. They’re really of no good use!
5. Crop that photo, NOT!
How do you post outside the box when Instagram only allows you stay in one? Some pictures need to go up as is because cropping them really takes away the feel of the image. There are a lot of apps (like NoCrop) that allow you to fit a landscape or portrait shot in a square with white borders. You can use such apps to create a theme in your Instagram profile and make every picture stand out using negative spaces.
6. Apply the rule of thirds
This may sound a little technical but it’s easy as a breeze. Imagine the picture to be divided into 9 equal parts (squares) by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. The subject should be aligned along these lines or their intersections rather than just being in the centre. There’s a reason every photographer swears by this rule.
7. Post regularly!
Now that’s a no brainer! If you want to retain your followers, you’ve got to post regularly instead of going offline for a long time and then suddenly bombarding them with a dozen pictures. Always choose quality over quantity and post regularly enough so your followers don’t forget about you.