Instagram – what is it?
Instagram is a social network, which has recently gained wide popularity among users. The main opportunities provided by this social network is the promotion of your own brand, with the help of photos, videos and stories.
When was Instagram started working?
The photo and video sharing had launched for the public after the midnight of October 6, 2010.
Who Created Instagram?
Apart from finding responses to when was Instagram started, it is essential to know who created Instagram. It was created by two great masters, Kevin Systrom, and Mike Krieger. They were ordinary two Stanford students back then, but they had a vision. Systrom was originally a marketer but he started learning engineer in his free time to learn how to code his own stuff. First, He had an idea called Burbn, which was similar to how Foursquare works, the prototype app allowed people to check-in their locations on their mobiles. When he met some brilliant minds at a party, he was very excited to discuss Burbn and he consequently quit his job. After two weeks of waiting, he had already increased $500,000 for the app’s funds. That is when Kevin and Mike met. They had a serious discussion on the prototype and ultimately arranged that the app was very familiar to the ones that were already on the market.
The Growth of Instagram
Consequently, they decided to strip off unnecessary features and they started to shift their resources to an app that is built on solely socializing through visuals. They named it Instagram as it is originally being for users to send instant telegrams. See the pun yourself. After they launched the game-changing app, it was a huge success. In just a week, they managed to obtain 100,000 users and in two months that number rose to 1 million users. Today, a whopping 1 billion users are signed up for Instagram after its purchase by Facebook for $1b in 2012.
Why Instagram became so popular?
n the beginning, it was photos. Yes, yes remember. The platform appeared back in 2010. You could only post photos, not videos, and there was no talk of stories. But the social network gained enormous popularity: in two months, more than a million accounts!
Now at times, my head is cracking from the abundance of news and notifications. And in those early days, there was a hunger for information. How great it was to start sharing photos with your friends. Watch the lives of celebrities, whenever you want. You didn’t have to look for material. It was enough to subscribe to your favorite star’s account. And most importantly, there was no language barrier. Pictures and images were always understood without words.
Later, Instagram began to develop, it was possible to post photos with higher resolution, there appeared filters, tilts. Why Photoshop when there is Instagram where everything is just intuitive? You just take a picture on the camera and apply the necessary filters. No wonder the platform was downloaded more than a billion times in its second year.
Instagram didn’t stand still, and every year it added new features and developments that users embraced and successfully used.
Creativity and blogging
One of the virtues of Instagram is that it opens up room for creativity. As I leafed through my newsfeed, I often stopped at stunning photos of landscapes or Kraft products.
Online broadcasts and stories
Many professionals not only shoot their videos for YouTube, but also live-stream on Instagram, shoot short videos, post posts with useful information, advertisements (about that below). You can instantly share with followers, an event happening in your life, show the process of making handmade. A musician will provide his new song. And the more entertaining the content, the more popular the blogger becomes, and with Instagram you can increase the number of followers of other social networks.
Instagram stories are now even more popular than posts on the account itself. Using this feature, you can conduct a poll, post a video of an important event, announce an event. Besides at courses on SMM, they say that it is now possible to do even gamification in stories. In fact, in stories can put any of your post, for example, with a photo. Thanks to which, you’ll increase the reach of your audience.
How do you see if there’s a new story? The avatar of the person of interest will be circled in red. It won’t disappear until you look at the story. In addition, you also have the opportunity to comment.
Instagram Tricks
hashtags;
filters;
notifications;
active links;
photo editing;
collages;
collage stickers;
These are not all the features of the platform. Although the social network is more adapted to the phone. You can also upload your post and photos from your computer. In many cases, it is very convenient. Beautifully design your profile description and add emoji. It will be more interesting and attractive and will raise your sales.
Review the posts of people you’ve liked but for whatever reason haven’t subscribed. Your account stores the last hundreds of photos you liked.
If you don’t like the comments, you can easily filter the posts. It’s also easy to hide hashtags. You can’t post more than 30 at a time on the platform, and when there are so many, it doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing visually. You simply publish a post with a “no hashtags” description, and in the first comment below the post you place all the necessary hashtags.
Do you know how to create a hashtag on Instagram and in general when you need it? This feature is very useful for business profiles on Instagram. It’s just a pinned story that extends the header of your account.
Use this tool to pin information that didn’t fit before, or is only relevant for a short time, or answers to frequently asked questions, photos, instructions, even your portfolio!
Cross posting is a great topic for those who maintain several social networks. You publish in one network, and the post is visible in other accounts. The efficiency of your advertising will definitely increase. To do this, you need to link your profiles to your Instagram account.
Another trick is available to those who have a business profile. Now you can safely view Instagram comments while on Facebook. To do this, go to your group, click on “posts”.
Another perk of a business profile is posting multiple active links.
Instagram ads and earnings
Monetization of Instagram began not so long ago in 2015, and since then it has become one of the most profitable platforms for online business. For many, the account in the social network has become the main source of income.
A famous blogger, media personality, confectioner or owner of an online store can not only promote their popularity and fame, but also make a significant profit. But it should not be forgotten that there are pitfalls for every beginner when working with Instagram.
Promoting a brand or yourself requires a lot of effort, money and knowledge in promotion. If you want to earn money on Instagram, you should pay attention to the articles about Internet marketing, read about contextual advertising, it will ease your way considerably. In addition, I recommend you to read courses on Instagram, they will significantly increase the speed of your promotion.
Devices That Work with Instagram
Instagram is available for free on iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad, as well as Android devices, like phones and tablets from Google, Samsung, and others.
Download the Instagram app for iOS, or get the Android Instagram app to get started with the social media platform. You can also access Instagram on the web at Instagram.com.
Personal brand
Instagram maintenance is now a popular and well-paying internet profession. You are a great fitness trainer, photographer, pastry chef, massage therapist or doctor and want to increase the flow of new clients. By advertising your services on Instagram, you get a lot of pluses and advantages over your competitors.
Visual content is what Instagram is focused on. Photos, videos, stories, live streams, likes, published reviews are all tools designed to promote the self-brand.
Knowing how to use them correctly will allow you to significantly increase your income and popularity in addition.
Selling goods and services
The situation in the world in the last two years has made the sales through the Internet insanely popular. Instagram has become the most popular place to promote your products. It’s a unique platform!
You can hold marathons, seminars, with the help of which you can easily promote your services. Sell clothes, accessories, cosmetics, food and handmade. Each category of product or service requires a different approach in advertising. Check out a list of books for target marketers.
In fact, promoting products is not as difficult as it seems. If you have an idea and a desire, then go ahead and conquer new peaks! Do not forget that this is a visual platform and the most important thing is the picture.
FAQ
What is a business Instagram account?
A business Instagram account is an Instagram account that, in addition to the usual features, such as posting photos and videos. It is possible to create buttons with your contacts (phone number, address and e-mail), as well as to monitor all the statistics of your account.
In addition, the business account has the ability to do official advertising:
ads in the feed and Stories, through Facebook
Ads in the feed through Instagram application (the “Promote” button appears under the posts in the application)
How to make a business account in Instagram?
To make a business account on Instagram, you need to go to your profile in the app and go to the main menu.
You will see the “Settings” menu, where you will need to click “Account” in the middle of the menu in order to find out the link of “Switch to Professional Account”
You will see the “Settings” menu, where you will need to click “Account” in the middle of the menu in order to find out the link of “Switch to Professional Account”
Click the link “Switch to Professional Account”
Next, you will see the following window with a picture of your profile. At the very bottom of the page is the “Continue” button, click it four times. That’s how many times the Instagram app will show you the main benefits of the account business.
This step shows that you should select the most suitable category for your business.
So, here if you want to fill contact information you can or you can just skip it by clicking “Next” and “Don’t use my contact info”
Next, you will need to link your Instagram account to your Facebook profile.
Latest News about Instagram!
Currently, when someone reacts to a Story on Instagram, the creator receives notification via direct messaging. The new feature allows users to like Stories without cluttering someone’s inbox.
When viewing a Story, you can now tap a heart icon, found at the bottom of the screen, between the message field and the paper airplane symbol. The author of the story can see likes, in the form of heart symbols, next to the user’s name on their Story views sheet.
“The idea here is to make sure people may express much more support for each other, but also to clean up Direct Messages a little bit,” says Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, in a recent post.
Moving forward, Instagram wants the Direct Message space to be more focused on conversations.
Instagram introduces the option to delete single photos from carousels
After much demand, Instagram has introduced the option to delete single photos from carousel posts.
Given that Instagram carousel post typically earn 1.4x more reach and 3.1x more engagement than regular posts, this is good news for social media managers who want to refine their strategy, or simply go back and delete an accidental upload.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained in a Reel that users can delete a specific post from a carousel of images or videos by tapping on the three dots above any post. They can then select “Edit”, navigate to the individual image they want to delete, and tap on the small trash icon in the top left.
Conclusion
One article to tell about Instagram will not be enough. It’s a whole world where everyone finds what they need. Someone observes the life of the celebrities, someone shares his thoughts and impressions, someone starts earning. I hope you found the information you need.