How Instagram can improve your Blog

Promoting your blog through social media is one of the most important things you can do. But sometimes the sheer amount of platforms can be daunting; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, Lookbook, Tumblr, LinkedIn and probably a hundred others which I'm not cool enough to know about yet. Choosing the right platforms for your blog can be hard, you want to generate readership but promotion through channels takes time, valuable time which could be better spent testing products, writing content and generally just enjoying your actual life. 

So maybe it's time to think quality over quantity? 

The best way to do this is to pick the best platforms for you, the ones you actually ENJOY using and then to work hard at making those select platforms work for you and your blog in the most efficient way. 

Today I'm going to talk about Instagram and why Instagram is rapidly becoming one of the most significant social media platforms in terms of bloggin. Ok, so there are still a lot of pictures of peoples cats and lunches on there BUT on the whole Instagram is actually hugely beneficial to a bloggers wider social media strategy, both in terms of generating readership and connecting with brands.

A huge number of brands and retailers have embraced Instagram in recent months. We all know by now how important photography is to blogging, a picture paints a thousand words. Therefore a platform focused on product photography is always going to be a winner when it comes to promoting brands and products and here is why: 

• 43% of brands post on Instagram more than once a day
• 73% of these brands are producing Instagram videos
• Brands are posting approximately 15 images for every one video they create
• 14% of brands integrate user-generated content from Instagram on their brand sites
• 54% of brands link to their Instagram accounts from their websites and other platforms

In the past 12 months Instagram has seen the fastest growth, most engagement and highest conversion from browser to shopper than any other social media platform. Instagram now has 15 times the engagement of Facebook  - If that's not a reason to get involved then I don't know what is.

So how can your Instagram Account help your blog? As an avid Instagram user here are my top tips to getting the most out of Instagram:

1. Put the word "Blogger" in your Instagram Bio -  It sounds simple but it's a quick and easy way for brands and other bloggers to identify you as such

2. Put a web link to your Blog in your Bio. This allows people who land on your profile to instantly access your blog and content. Also feature you email address so readers and brands can contact you directly

3. Share a picture from your blog posts. Take one of those pictures you used in your post, it could be a product, a swatch, a before and after, anything! Post it on Instagram then follow the next steps

4. Title the picture or add the Comment "Check out .... (Insert brand, product, review) on my blog" and "(link in my bio)" Unfortunately Instagram are not yet allowing users to post web links in either comments or titles. By telling readers that they can access the related post easily by following the link to your blog in your bio you are facilitating them visiting your page and therefore upping your potential readership

5. Tag the brands feature by using the "Tag" feature. Almost all brands will have some sort of Instagram presence these days as well as someone employed to monitor the platform, their job is to look for bloggers to work with and reviews to repost. Tagging a brand also allows readers to quickly identify whats been featured in your post

6. Utilize Hashtags. Hashtags are really important. If I want to buy something I'll search the Hashtag on Instagram to see other peoples photos of that particular product or brand. Typing associated words into a site such as "Top-hashtags.com" allows you to see whats trending and maximizes readership for your post, this again links back to your blog provided you've followed Step 2. You can use 30 hashtags so why not maximize your circulation, go hashtag crazy but beware of being to vague. #cute might have billions of hits but your post is going to get lost in there

7. Be creative, research photo editing apps, re-post photos that have inspired you. There a huge number of photo editing apps out there, do some research and find what works best for you. Some allow you to post multiple images which is great for creating before and after posts, whilst others allow you to create mini videos and slideshows - great for  all you Youtube bloggers

8.If you use Tumblr or Pinterest don't be afraid to re-post pictures which you love and which have inspired you. The same goes for other peoples Instagram pictures; If you loved another Intagram-ers outfit post then why not re-post it? BUT you must always always ALWAYS credit the original source. It's bad social media manners and just plain bad manners to post other peoples pictures without crediting them - It's pretty much just stealing 

9. Get involved with others. There are some BIG bloggers on Instagram, I'm talking 40K plus followers, follow them and learn from them. What works for them may not work for you but remember that they got to the top for a reason, because they worked hard and utilized the platform. Comment on their pictures, if they inspired you then tell them, whether they're "Big" or not it is always nice to read peoples comments. You know how it's nice when people comment on your blog posts? The same goes for Instagram 

10. Link with your other platforms. If you've posted a picture on Instagram then post it again on Twitter with a link to your Instagram. Link your profile to you Facebook account, you can edit the photo-tag so you don't irritate everyone with your brand focused hashtags so don't worry

IN CONCLUSION

Personally, I love Instagram. I loved it before I started blogging and recently it's really helped my blog to grow. I've had emails from brands which have directly stated "We love your Instagram account, we would love to work with you." Proof that if you do it properly Instagram can be so much more than somewhere to just post memes and selfies. You can keep it purely business, you could even set up separate accounts for personal and blog use. Personally I like to mix it up with a bit of both, readers like to get to know the person behind the blog and the same goes for brands.

I hope these tips help you. If you're new to Instagram it's definitely worth also checking out the Instagram Help Centre which has all you need to help you get started.

You can follow Millydaydreams on Instagram here