4 Instagram Hacks You Should Know
Everyone who uses Instagram knows the basics of the platform. Upload a photo, write a caption, and VOILA...you’ve shared it with the world. But, what if we told you that there are several ways you can make your account unique and build your brand through methods that most people don’t know about?
We’ve compiled a list of 4 great Instagram hacks that will surely set your brand or business apart and keep you Instagram savvy. Check them out below.
1. Spice Up Your Instagram Bio
The first thing people see when they go onto your Instagram page is your following, bio, and your first 6-9 posts (depending on how big your phone’s screen is). Your bio is EXTREMELY important. The standard bio states your name, the basis of your brand, your contact info, and a link to your website.
One thing that can set your brand apart from others is making your bio memorable. Later has listed the many ways you can work on the branding of your bio, while we’re here to show you how you can center it to veer its’ appearance from the boring norm.
Here’s how to center your bio:
Copy the space between the arrows (not the arrows themselves). >>⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀<<
Go to your Instagram page through your desktop and click the “Edit your profile” button.
In the “Bio” section, paste the space you copied in the first step before each line of your text. If the text isn’t centered perfectly, then you can add or delete space to achieve the perfect center.
The 160 character limit may be a hindrance with this method, since the spaces use up some of your characters. If you can condense your bio to a short and sweet representation of your brand, this is perfect for you. On the other hand, if you prefer to use line breaks then proceed to the next hack to find out how to achieve them for your bio too!
2. Add Line Breaks To Your Instagram Caption
Don’t you hate when your witty caption, emojis, hashtags, and tags get jumbled together? It makes me feel claustrophobic just looking at it. Here’s a quick step by step process on how to add line breaks, leaving your words space to breathe.
Go to the Notes app on your phone.
Write your caption in its’ entirety.
Press return at any point you want to break the text.
Create an accented break through periods “.” or break lines “__________________”
Copy the entire text once you’ve written it down.
Paste it into your Instagram post’s caption, and you’re all set!
Line breaks can be used for both captions and Instagram bios (like we mentioned in hack number 1). If you’re planning on using this hack for your bio, just follow the same steps above and paste the text into your bio. Make sure it’s only 160 characters long. Then, the space is all yours!
3. Utilize Ecommerce Sales On Instagram
Instagram limits you to one clickable link in your bio, but here’s the cheat code! You can use Linkin.bio to steer traffic directly to your online stores. Linkin.bio explains how it works, “When one of your followers 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.”
The benefit to Linkin.bio is you can place links directly in any post you publish on Instagram through Later. It appears as your feed, yet you have the ability to link posts to the specific product you’re selling. You can also link to several websites without ever changing the link in your bio! A subscription costs $16/month, which seems to be worth it for the new-age entrepreneur.
4. Pick The Best Times To Post
The time you choose to post on Instagram can determine whether you get 20 likes or 100. Forrester states that Instagram has the highest per-follower interaction rate of every social media platform with 2.2% versus Facebook’s 2.0%. The question is, how do you really know when the right time to post is? Many would assume that the weekend is when most engagement occurs, but that’s actually far from the truth.
According to SproutSocial:
Weekdays are the strongest days to post to Instagram
Mondays typically have the highest level of engagement in the week
Highest recommended posting times include 2 a.m., 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Everyday around 3 p.m. seems to drive the least amount of engagement
Safe posting periods (excluding 3 p.m.) include most times between Monday and Thursday
Experiment some of these days and times with your own audience to see which works best for you. There are several factors to think about when deciding your perfect times to post, such as your timezone, audience demographic, target audience, etc. If your target audience is adults with a 9 to 5, then chances are you want to reach them when they’re getting ready for work or just getting off of work. There’s also the evening when most people wind down from their day and begin to habitually scroll through their timelines. Whatever the case may be, there is a set of times that will benefit your following, brand, and engagement. Find the ones that are just right for you.
If you’ve got all of these in tow, you’re well on your way to making your mark on Instagram unique and successful. Look out for more hacks in the future!
