An Intentional Approach to Instagram

Instagram is awesome. When I first discovered it about five years ago, I was amazed at the filters. At that time, I thought that the filters were professional quality and I never needed to to anything else. Believe it or not, I kind of held to that thinking until recently when I took an Instagram class, and learned a few things about being intentional with Instagram.

Here are the tips I want to share:

Your Instagram page should look cohesive. When you lookout your profile page, pay attention to your first nine photos. Ask yourself this question, can anyone looking at these nine photos have an accurate representation of what’s important in my life? Hint: that answer should be yes.
If it is not, delete the photos that don’t fit.
Use hashtags, but do not use more than two. Okay, maximum three. A comment full of hashtags just looks tacky. Sorry, I could think of a better way to put it.
Use natural light as much as possible. All photos — mobile and otherwise look better in natural light.
Find a filter you like and use it all the time. This will give your photos continuity.
The same thing goes from framing. Frame or nah, but be consistent either way.
Look at your profile and make sure you describe yourself and include your personal website (if applicable) in the profile. Remember what you say about yourself should be reflected in your top 9 photos.
Remember this, just because you take a photo, you do not have to post it on Instagram. Sometimes, Facebook is enough. It’s up to you and your online presence as to what goes where. That’s the part about being intentional. Give yourself permission to post when it’s right, not because you think that everything needs to go on Facebook.

I hope these help you in creating a more intentional approach to Instagram. Feel free to read additional posts from my 31 Days of Social Media series.