Answering the most asked questions about Instagram

This blog post is answering your questions about Instagram, how to succeed and what things like Instagram Pods, themes and business accounts are.

I recently asked you guys on my Instagram Stories what you wanted to know about how to be successful on Instagram. These questions are a summary of what you guys asked. Originally this was going to be a ‘how to get to 10k’ post, but that would have been a super long blog post, so stayed tuned for that later on!

Do you need an Instagram theme?

There’s nowhere that says you need a theme to succeed on Instagram, however, in my opinion, it helps a lot. Take a look at some of your favourite Instagrammers, accounts you take inspiration from. Most of them will have some sort of a theme, whether it’s the same filter, the same colours in the photos or the same setting.

The advantages of having a theme on Instagram:

• Helps you create consistent content
• Your account looks aesthetically pleasing
• Your followers know what to expect

Here’s an example of my own theme. It’s tied together by the filter I use and the hints of yellow. So you don’t have to take photos in the exact same setting every time to have a theme!

What is an Instagram Pod?

An Instagram Pod is a group chat on Instagram of up to 15 members. You then share your latest post into this chat and like and comment on the other posts shared by other members of the pod. This helps you get engagement on your posts as soon as you publish them, which is more favourable for Instagram’s algorithm.

I’m in four Instagram pods and I think they help massively! It’s also a brilliant place to go to meet new people and discover fantastic new accounts!

You can find out more about Instagram Comment Pods here. 

Which hashtags should you be using on Instagram?

This is entirely dependent on your niche, for example, I post about books, so some of the following hashtags are good for me:

#Booknerd #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #booknerdigans #booklion #bookphotography #yalit #yafiction #bookworm #bookishlife, #booksforlife #BookstagramUK #BookstagrammersUnite #Bookstagrammers #BookCollector #AlwaysReading

It’s important to vary your hashtags and to be specific for each photo, for example if I was posting a Harry Potter photo, I would also include hashtags such as, #HarryPotter #Potterhead #PotterFan, etc.

You can find a list of hashtags for your niche here.

How many people should you be following on Instagram?

This is entirely down to you and your account, personally, I am following around 800 users, which is quite a lot! The more accounts you follow, the more photos you will see on your feed. I try and go through the users I’m following every now and then to see if they’re still active. It’s good to follow a decent amount of users though, otherwise, you won’t be properly engaged with the
community.

How can you find inspiration for new Instagram photos?

I definitely take a lot of inspiration from other users on Instagram. I follow a lot of accounts with themes similar to mine and they are brilliant to make me feel motivated and inspired. I also find if I try lots of different types of shots for my own photos, I quickly see what works well and what doesn’t and can then find inspiration from that to take new photos. Sometimes just scrolling through the #Bookstagram hashtags can help too to get the creative cogs in my brain working.

How do you come up with new caption topics?

I definitely use my photos for inspiration when it comes to writing new captions. I always try to talk about the book in my photo, but usually, I’ll also mention something relevant to my day/week or something I’m going to be getting up to. I actually plan out all of my posts in Planoly, so I write my captions in advance in case I’m low on time or inspiration when I come to posting.

A must for my Instagram Captions is to ask a question at the end. This encourages users to comment back and gets more engagement and conversations on posts.

What editing app do you use for Instagram?

I use a brilliant app called VSCO, it’s free to save one customised filter, which is all I need! The filter I use is M5 and then I’ve made my own adjustments to have the filter suit my theme. You can find so many Apps in the App Store, or use software such as Photoshop or Lightroom.

How can you schedule Instagram posts?

I post my photos out live, but I use Planoly to help me plan them and you can also use this to schedule your posts. It’s a really great tool that shows you what your photos look like on the grid, so you can see if they fit in with your current feed.

You can also use websites such as Later, these are both free sites but with added extras, if you want to pay.

What type of photos should you be posting and how often?

If your account sits within a niche, such as books, fashion, travel, then you know your followers will want to see these kinds of photos. I know there are certain books, such as Harry Potter, that will perform better in my photos. You can look back at your posts and see what did well to know what to post in the future. This is all a learning curve though, you have to post different types of photos to see what performs the best.

I try to post daily or every other day because this is what benefits my account. However, if you find this isn’t getting you good engagement, there’s no reason not to try a different posting schedule. I’ll go into this on the question below, but if you have a business account, you can view your analytics. This will show you when the best days and times to post are if you click on the three lines at the top right of your profile and then ‘insights’. For me, between 8-9pm gives me the best engagement when I post.

Should you have an Instagram Business account?

The difference between a business and a normal account on Instagram is the analytics and contact details. By linking your Instagram account to a Facebook Page and setting it up as a business account, you will have access to a range of analytics. These indicate when you should post, how well your photos did, how many people they reached and how many people saved them. It’s really interesting feedback to be able to see. You also get the added benefit of customising contact details on your account and having a phone number or email address linked for people to reach out to you.

There’s nothing to lose by changing your Instagram to a business account, so why not give it a go?

How can you use Instagram Stories to benefit your account?

Instagram Stories can often see more engagement and reach than your grid posts. They are becoming more and more popular on the platform, which is great for you! You can create graphics for your Stories using sites such as Canva or the app A Design Kit, these can help you create custom story posts. This is a place for your brand/account to become more personal and for your followers to see more of your content without it being perfected for the grid.

You can also use your Stories to let people know you have a new post on Instagram or even a new blog post. When you reach 10k followers, you will also receive a swipe up feature, so you can send users directly to web pages.

How can you increase interactions on Instagram?

The best way to increase interactions is to engage with more and more users every day. Dedicate 30 minutes in the morning and evening to finding new accounts to comment on and like and even follow. Keeping your account fresh with engagement is so important, it makes you look part of the community.

If you really focus on commenting and liking on other’s photos, you’ll definitely see an increase of engagement on your own photos.

How do you deal with ghosts accounts following you on Instagram and how do you make sure your followers don’t unfollow you?

Instagram is well known and disliked for occasionally shutting down all ghost accounts it can find. I say disliked, because this means users see a decrease in their followers. So generally I don’t do anything about ghost accounts and just let Instagram take action.

As for making sure your followers remain followers, all you can do here is post brilliant content that your followers will find engaging. You can’t really stop people unfollowing you, and I see that about 20 people unfollow me each day, but I also receive enough new followers that this doesn’t really affect my numbers.

Keep an eye out on my blog for my next Instagram tips post, it will be talking about how you can reach 10k followers!