It’s no secret that Instagram is a giant among social media sites today. It’s among the top social media sites with the most users and the most traffic, with Statista registering about one billion users worldwide. As Instagram develops more into a multi-purpose social media platform, that number could only climb.
If you’re planning on putting up an Instagram page for your personal use or for your small business, you need to know about all the site’s best features. Below, we’ve listed out a few of the many features of Instagram that you may want to start using.
Edit Your Photos
Instagram is first and foremost known as the image-sharing app. If you want your account to stand out from the rest, you need to make sure it looks good.
While there’s a range of different photo editing apps available for both iOS and Android, the native editing features on Instagram itself are also great quality.
Post with Multiple Accounts
The great thing about Instagram is that you can manage several accounts on one app. This is very convenient if you’re juggling a personal and business account. The Verge explains that it’s also a bonus if you want to do some quick self-promotion. Instagram allows you to publish a post to multiple accounts at once, saving on time and effort.
Link with Other Apps
Want your posts to look more exciting? Not sure the regular video or photo options are interesting enough? Try linking your Instagram to Boomerang, an app that creates short video loops. These video loops are fun to make, and can add a little bit of spice to your regular Instagram posts and stories. Be sure to give Boomerang a try, and see just how far you can stretch your creativity.
Video Chat with Your Friends
Instagram is usually known for having photos and videos that you can like and add to your story, but did you know there are other ways to link up with friends and followers? Previously on The Encrypt, we wrote about Instagram’s video chat feature.
Video chat allows you to chat with your friends and followers in your direct messages. This makes communicating much easier and fun, and adds another layer to Instagram interactions.
Widen Your Network
An article on increasing your Instagram followers by AskMoney, suggests various ways in which you can increase your reach. One of the best ways you can do that is through using hashtags.
Hashtags are crucial for Instagram’s search function, and using hashtags appropriately can lead to more people finding your posts and engaging with your account. Use between three and seven hashtags, and think of creative ways to “hide” these hashtags so your post shows up organically and doesn’t look too cluttered.
Filter Comments
If you’re getting tired of sifting through too many comments on your Instagram page, never fear. Filtering out comments on your Instagram, including spam or offensive ones is relatively easy.
This keeps your Instagram account family-friendly, and leaves your notification center free of clutter. You can even set up a manual filter to filter out specific words and keep your Instagram a fun and safe space.
Archive Instagram Posts
Sometimes a post just doesn’t look too good on your Instagram feed, but you also don’t want to lose it forever. Instagram’s archive option is great, as it has responded to users’ needs.
Instagram opened archiving as another option for people who want to clean out their posts but don’t want to commit to deletion. This allows people to highlight the best moments of their life, without losing certain memories forever.
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Got any other favorite Instagram features? Let us know in the comments below.
