Instagram Part 2

Instagram is a highly visual free social media network (app) for sharing photos and videos. While it is now on your computer and tablet, it is optimized for smartphones and you should interact with it there. Since its launch, Instagram has become a popular way to connect with brands, celebrities, thought leaders, friends, family, and more. Instagram is also about connecting like-minded people with community, creativity and culture to fuel business.
“Compared to other platforms, people surveyed cited Instagram as the #1 place to keep up with their favourite brands.” (Global media research company)
One billion people, creators and businesses are part of the Instagram community, co-creating and interacting each month. Instagram allows anyone to be an active participant in reimagining, remixing, and refashioning the world to spark new
possibilities and opportunities.

Let’s start with some basics
Instagram is primarily an application for smartphones. Instagram is available on computers and tablets but the experience is not the same and the display is not the same, although it is improving over time. Via computer, you can use your browser to edit your profile, view your feed, like and comment on posts, and send and receive direct messages. But you cannot post photos or videos which is the crux of Instagram promotion. On your smartphone, you can do everything.
Every time you open Instagram, you’ll see a feed of recent posts (photos and videos) from the accounts you follow.
On a smartphone, a menu bar is displayed on the bottom of every page of the app—see example below.

This is what the symbols mean from left to right:

  Home:

Your main feed where you can scroll through photos and videos posted by those you follow.

Search and explore:

The magnifying glass icon takes you to the Explore page where you can search and browse content from accounts that you don’t follow but which might interest you.

  Reels:

Instagram’s answer to TikTok where you can create and share 15 second video content.

  Shop:

The traditional heart icon in Instagram’s navigation menu has been replaced with a shopping bag icon. Shopping is where you can browse/ buy products without leaving the app.

  Profile:

This icon (here we use the WITIA logo) navi- gates to your profile page that shows your bio and posts. It’s also where you can access your settings.

Uploading, editing, and posting photos
To share a photo or video on Instagram, tap the large plus button and select photos or videos to post
from your phone’s gallery. Instagram allows you to select up to 10 photos and videos to post at once.
For every post, you can choose to apply a filter. Filters make it easy to edit shots with different visual pre-set overlays. Once you’re satisfied with your post and you’re ready to go, there are a few more options to select before you hit the “share” button:Add a caption
Captions are always a good idea. You can use words, emojis or hashtags. Just as in comments, you
can also “mention” friends by placing “@” in front of their Instagram username.Tag people
When you tag someone, they will get a notification on their Instagram activity feed.Add location
Location tags let others know where your photo was taken. Clicking on a location tag brings you to its corresponding location feed, where you can peruse other public posts.

Post to other social accounts
Instagram gives you the ability to publish a post to other social accounts at the same time. By linking
accounts, you can cross-post to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Post interesting, colourful photos and videos
When you post on Instagram, you should publish photos and videos that evoke some kind of emotion,
such as happiness, humour, motivation, nostalgia, love or surprise. Colourful, high-quality photos tend to get the most attention and action. Don’t overdo it with the filter effects
Instagram provides a variety of filters you can apply to your photos to automatically enhance the look
and style. People want photos and videos that are colourful, but relatively natural-looking. Although
filter effects are tempting, try to limit their use and keep the colour and contrast normal in most of
your photos.

Feel Free to Use Hashtags But Use Them Sparingly
Using hashtags on Instagram is a great way to increase your reach on the platform, encourage more
engagement and even attract new followers. If you decide to use hashtags, make sure to keep them
to a minimum and only use keywords that are relevant.

Let’s stay connected through Instagram! If you have any areas of social media you’d like to explore
more, please let me know at socialmedia@witia.org.