Instagram Tips and Tricks

[Former_Member]

This Thread is for any tips tricks and articles you can share concerning how to use Instagram to promote your Shop.

Have any? Share.

Need any? Read on.

Comment as you like.

[Former_Member]

I just found this nice article about using IG. It covers some tips like which filters are most used vs. most effective, best times to post, etc.

http://blog.bufferapp.com/instagram-stats-instagram-tips

[Former_Member]

Have you ever heard of Statigram?

This is a great site with lots of little tools to help with your IG account. It has statistics on your IG posts, it can generate a Facebook business page banner for you using your IG posts, and a whole lot more. Some of it is fee-based, but a lot of the good stuff is FREE.

If you use FB, take a look at my new business page header: https://www.facebook.com/funkyfindsofohio

(yes, I know, I only have ONE follower, but I really don't spend a lot of time with FB right now)

[Former_Member]

Sorry, forgot to provide a link for Statigram!

http://statigr.am

[Former_Member]

We all love to get acknowledged on IG, so why not do that for YOUR followers!

Sometimes you get someone who likes a huge # of your pics, and all at the same time. Recognize those people in a special way!

http://instagram.com/p/lG6ri1stxB/

If you take a look at the pic above, you'll see the special post I made just for a new follower. He liked about 12 of my pics, so I "liked" him back in a big way!

Give it a shot!

[DecadesOfVintage]

I signed up for instagram a while ago but never used it. Based on some of the posts by FunkyFindsofOhio both here and in the general forums I want to get started on instagram. When I go to sign into my account, which I never used before, it says that my account has been disabled for violating their terms. What?

So my question is...how important is it to have your shop name as your instagram name? Should I just slightly rework my shop name?

[Former_Member]

@DecadesOfVintage: Did IG tell you what you violated regarding the TOU?

Your IG name should just be your shop name (for you, your IG name would just be "DecadesOfVintage").

It's rather important but not necessary. There are a lot of Etsy sellers on IG who have an IG name completely different from the shop name. As long as you have your IG profile contain a link to your shop and you tell your viewers that you sell on Etsy, you should be relatively fine.

[DecadesOfVintage]

Thanks FFofO.....I can't find out what TOU I violated.

I think I will use DecadesofVintageBooks as the alternative. No time today to jump in but I will tomorrow.

Thanks for the inspiration and the help.

[DecadesOfVintage]

FFofO

I think I figured out the problem. I have a domain name as DecadesofVintage and apparently you may not use a domain name as a user name.

[Former_Member]

DecadesOfVintage: Good! I mean, good as in you may have figured out what was wrong.

Keep us up-to-date on how setting up your account went. And you may want to take a look at http://www.squidoo.com/using-instagram-to-promote-your-etsy-shop for some tips on how to set up your profile and post your pics.

[DecadesOfVintage]

I think I am getting it...thanks to you. I used a different email and made my IG name...DecadesofVintages....just adding the "s" on the end. I tried lots of different work-arounds and kept googling them to see where I came up the most. I am using some old pictures and will learn about the #. I did read in the comments section you trick about keeping the list of # separately and them cut and pasting.

I cant thank you enough for your help.

[Former_Member]

Sometimes we want to show multiple images of an item we're selling or working on, but IG only lets you post one at a time.

One way you can get around this is by using a picture joiner tool.

I recently posted an "after" pic of a shadowbox I was trying to bring back to life. Here's the pic I posted:

http://instagram.com/p/k5CgwiMt0q/

I used an iPad app called Pic Jointer. It lets you compose lots of different formats for your pics. Easy to use, too.

There are others out there for both iPads and Android tablets. Give them a look.

[Former_Member]

If you have 30 minutes, I can probably get you about 20-40 IG followers.

Here's what I did last weekend. And I went from under 100 followers to 135.

1. Find a few pics of some people you follow. Make sure the pics have a LOT of people who liked it or commented on it.
2. Cycle through all these people. Check out their pics and Like them (but only if you really do like them). Go ahead and follow them if you want to.

Do this for a full half hour. By the time you're done, you should have liked about 50 photos, and followed 10-20 people.

Those people will eventually see your activity on their account. They'll usually look at YOUR account and perhaps like a pic of two of yours. Some may even follow you (especially if the person they were following originally has something in common with you).

This WILL get you followers, and with not too much time invested.

And they will be more genuine followers, too.

[Former_Member]

I found yet another way to get a bunch of followers FAST!

About 4 days ago, I posted a few pics of some old, abandoned bridges here in Cleveland. Nothing to artsy...just snaps with my iPhone. I posted them to IG, with the hashtags #cleveland #clevelandohio #downtowncleveland #cuyahoga #cuyahogacounty.

Within about 5 minutes I had close to 20 people like those photos. And just about all of them were from the Cleveland area. So I checked them out on IG and followed a bunch of them, and I even liked a few of their photos and left a couple of comments.

Less than an hour later: 8 new followers. The next day, did the same thing. Bang! Another 6 new followers.

Now I plan on checking out all the other IG users who used the same hashtags as I mentioned above. Maybe I can find a few more to like/follow, and they'll do the same.

[Former_Member]

Heu Funky,

You helped me post my one pic. Now what??? How do you follow? What are some of the things I need to be doing?

Mary

PS You should consider having a discussion and question thread for inexperienced people like me where we cn go to ask questions about social media.

[Former_Member]

Mary: I'll be glad to have a discussion and question thread here. If you want, feel free to start one.

Regarding your pics. Are you using hashtags that are appropriate for your purses? Hashtags like #custommade, #custompurse and the like will help get you followers.

The best way to get followed is to follow first. Using IG's search, go ahead and just do a hashtag search on terms like "purse" or "custom-made" and cycle through some of the pics. Find some you like and "Like" them, maybe even leave a comment. Follow some of them, too, if you want.

If you can do some combination of like/comment/follow to a total of maybe 30-50, you will start getting followers pretty fast. At least, that's been my experience.

[Former_Member]

Thanks Funky; I will try that. How much time should i spend on IG each day when I'm just starting out?

[Former_Member]

@Mary: You should probably try to create a new post on IG every time you post a new item in your Etsy shop. On top of that, you may want to post 2-3 items per day of the items you already have in your shop but aren't on Instagram yet.

[Former_Member]

Can anyone help me in Re-posting on IG??
I see a lot of giveaways but don't know how to re-post!

I am also trying to get More followers... how to get followers from my Target market..

[Former_Member]

@Laura:

IG itself does not have any re-posting function at all. But there are a couple of things you can try:

1. Your smart device (phone or tablet) should have some function that lets you take a snapshot of your current screen. If, for example, you have an iPad or iPhone, you can hold the Home button down then quickly press the power switch to take a photo of your screen where it will be saved to your Camera Roll. You can then re-post the photo.

2. Look into Instagram-related apps. I'm using one called FollowMe for my iPad, which has a built-in re-post function. If you have an Android device, check out PhotoRepost.

That's unfortunately the problem with doing contests and giveaways that require a repost...a lot of people either don't know what that means or understand it but don't know how to do it. And that can really hurt the effectiveness of your contest/giveaway.

Hope this helps!

[Former_Member]

Hi guys, I am new here.
I want to use my instagram to promote my items. So far I've been using it as a photo editor and post to fb because it is easy. I've added my etsy shop url to my account.
My question is I have a LOT of personal weird photos on my current account, 80% of it is food pics and some are travelling and others are my stuff. Do you think I should start another account? I have 57 followers mainly friends and family from FB. Is it even possible to have another account?

[Former_Member]

@Yini: First of all, thanks for participating in this Team!

Personally, I would say it would be OK if you continued to use your existing IG account, rather than start a new one. It's perfect that your profile has your Etsy store link in it. But as long as you want to keep using this IG account, be sure you do the following:

1. Make sure your profile's description makes it clear that you are a seller on Etsy. If you mix a lot of personal pics with business pics, people might think you are just posting pics of stuff you like, rather than stuff you're selling.
2. Start posting more product pics and fewer personal ones. You can go ahead and mix them up...just make sure the majority of them are business-related.
3. Make sure you're using good hashtags with your product pics. #etsy, #etsyshop and #forsale are good generic ones to start with.
4. Also use #yourshopname and @yourshopname (replacing "yourshopname" with your IG name) so people can get to your pics and profile faster.

[Former_Member]

Hello! I'm new and just started a business Instagram (I've been using my personal for promotion, but it is private)

My Instagram is julemijewelry

[KaitsCraftingCorner]

Hi! I just set up an Instagram account (@KaitsCraftingCorner)…I see how to also post IG photos onto Facebook, but that will go to my personal FB account (which I don't want, and my personal IG account is linked already anyway). Is there a way to post the IG photos onto my business Facebook Page?

[Former_Member]

There are some really great tips here. I have had an instagram account for a while now but it has been mostly for personal use. With all the information that you have in this thread I think I will create a new account for my business. I love the IG fb banner idea too!

Thanks!