Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1 Creating Your Profile 5
Chapter 1 Installing Instagram 7
Moving Instagram to the Launch Pad 8
Installing on a Computer 9
Installing on a Windows PC (sort of) 9
Installing on a Mac (sort of) 11
Installing on Instagram's Native Platform 13
Installing on an iPhone 13
Installing on an iPad 14
Instagram Has Android Covered, Too 15
No App? No Problem: Instagram is on the Web 16
Starting to Gram Instantly 18
Starting Instagram on a computer 19
Starting Instagram on a mobile device 20
Chapter 2 Setting Up Your Profile 21
Professional Profile Practices 21
Choosing a name and username for your business 22
Choosing a profile photo that attracts customers 25
Writing a Bio That Draws in Followers 26
Deciding what information to include 26
Formatting your bio 28
Using a call to action to drive website traffic 29
Choosing a website link that encourages clicks 30
Taking Advantage of a Business Profile Upgrade 31
Connecting to a Facebook page 32
Navigating your business profile 33
Chapter 3 Hitting Your Target Audience 35
Organizing Your Marketing Goals and Roles 36
Assembling your Instagram team 36
Determining your brand voice 37
Envisioning your look 38
Gathering Post Ideas 41
Researching your competition 41
Determining post content 43
Creating a content calendar 44
Evaluating third-party scheduling and analytics platforms 46
Part 2 Creating Your Narrative 49
Chapter 4 Taking and Posting Great Photos 51
Taking Your Best Shot 52
Improving Your Best Shot 53
Applying a filter 53
Tweaking with the editing tools 55
Saving your changes (or not) 58
Enriching Your Photo 59
Describing your photo 59
It's good to have options 60
Posting Your Photos: Ta Da! 63
Uploading Photos from Your Camera Roll 63
Uploading Multiple Photos to One Post 65
Selecting multiple photos 65
Applying filters and adding photos 66
Editing photos individually 67
Adding information and sharing your photos 67
Chapter 5 Recording and Posting Great Videos 69
Recording Your Day 70
Filming with a smartphone or tablet 70
Recording multiple video clips 72
Deleting video clips 72
Checking out your video 73
Improving Your Video 73
Applying a filter 74
Changing the cover frame 74
Adding details 75
Posting Your Video 75
Uploading a Stored Video 76
Uploading Multiple Videos from an iPhone or iPad 77
Part 3 Planting Your Garden 79
Chapter 6 Commenting and Direct Messaging 81
Before You Share, Stop and Think 81
Sharing on Other Social Media Sites 82
Copying and pasting a link to another social network 83
Embedding your photo or video on a web page 83
Sending Photos and Videos Privately 86
Replying to a direct message by sending a photo 86
Starting a new conversation by sending a photo 87
Starting a new text conversation and adding a photo 88
Resuming a previous conversation 89
Garnering Comments 90
Including a caption 90
Mentioning your followers 90
Reviewing Your Comments 91
Deciding to respond or delete 92
Reporting Commenters When All Else Fails 94
Reporting a commenter 95
Blocking a commenter 96
Chapter 7 Finding People to Follow 97
Where Are My Peeps? 98
Finding your Facebook friends 98
Syncing your contact list 99
Finding New Friends 100
Exploring the Explore function 100
Searching the Search feature 101
Letting Instagram suggest users to you 102
Following Your Industry 103
Watching your competition 103
Getting noticed by big brands 104
Deciding Whom to Follow Back 106
Viewing and following your followers 106
Reciprocating a follow or not 107
Finding Your Insta-Tribe 108
Finding or creating a community you vibe with 108
Deciding whether Instagram pods are beneficial 110
Chapter 8 Wielding the Power of the Hashtag 113
Investigating Hashtags 113
Following Hashtag Best Practices 115
Placing hashtags so you don't annoy people 115
Knowing how many hashtags are best 116
Popular hashtags and when to use them 117
Storing hashtags for later 118
Tracking hashtag analytics 119
Researching the Right Hashtags 121
Checking out the competition 121
Picking up on related hashtags 123
Discovering what the cool kids are doing (influencer hashtags) 125
Creating a Branded Hashtag 126
Hashtagyour promotion or contest 126
Gathering user-generated content 128
Part 4 Making Your Garden Grow 129
Chapter 9 Sharing with Instagram Stories 131
Checking Out Instagram Stories 132
Getting Started 133
Creating an Instagram Story in the app 133
Uploading a photo or video from your camera roll 135
Saving Your Story 136
Using Direct Messages to Send a Story 137
Determining the Best Content to Share 139
Talking to your audience 139
Providing before-and-after and series shots 139
Peeking behind the scenes 141
Showing your travels 141
Advertising Your Story 142
Chapter 10 Making Your Story More Fun 143
Creating Graphics for Stories 143
Adding Text and Username Tags 146
Drawing on Your Story 148
Stickers and Tags 149
Addinga Link to Your Website 151
Using Boomerang to Keep Fans Coming Back 152
Making Funny Faces with Face Filters 153
Using Instagram LIVE 154
Getting started with LIVE 155
Developing a game plan 156
Alerting your fans 157
Acknowledging LIVE followers 158
Saving and repurposing LIVE broadcasts 158
Chapter 11 Planning a Winning Ad 159
Selecting the Right Ad Type 159
Photo ad 161
Video ad 162
Carousel ad 162
Stories ad 163
Using an Effective Ad Strategy 164
Design requirements 164
Selecting your target audience 165
Choosing ad images wisely 166
A caption can speak (less than) 1,000 words 169
Chapter 12 Creating an Effective Instagram Ad 171
Using the Instagram Mobile App to Create an Ad 172
Using Facebook to Create an Ad 173
Creating a photo, video, or carousel ad in Ads Manager 174
Running an Instagram Stories ad in Ads Manager 178
Running an ad in Power Editor 179
Monitoring your Instagram ad 183
A/B Testing 183
Measuring Your Ad Results 185
Viewing Insights via Instagram 185
Viewing Insights via Facebook Ads Manager 187
Chapter 13 Creating a Winning Contest 189
Exploring the Benefits of Hosting Instagram Contests 189
Following the Rules and Restrictions for Running Contests 190
Listing the official contest rules 191
Releasing Instagram of any involvement 192
Planning a Successful Contest 192
Stating your contest goals 193
Choosing a prize 193
Establishing entry requirements 194
Defining the rules or conditions 195
Determining the contest's length 195
Figuring out the promotion schedule 195
Choosing a hashtag 195
Designing contest images 196
Crafting post captions for the contest 197
Deciding how winners will be chosen and notified 198
Outlining who will respond to contest engagement 198
Executing a Winning Contest 199
Following Up 200
Chapter 14 Connecting Your Marketing Dots 203
Incorporating Instagram in Your Marketing Mix 203
Connecting Instagram to Other Social Networks 204
Including Instagram on Your Website 206
Linking your website to your Instagram page 207
Allowing others to share your content via Instagram 208
Embedding your Instagram feed on your website 209
Promoting Instagram on Printed Materials 210
Incorporating Instagram into an Event or Promotion 211
Monitoring Your Instagram Stats 214
Using Instagram's native analytics 215
Best third-party apps for Instagram analytics 216
Part 5 Why Isn't This Working? 221
Chapter 15 Insta-Diagnosing Instagram 223
Installation Issues 223
Dealing with compatibility issues 224
Checking your space 225
Unfreezing an installation on your iPhone or iPad 227
Finding a missing app on your iPhone or iPad 227
Resolving issues on an Android device 227
Log-In Difficulties 227
Checking your username 228
Fixing password issues 228
Dealing with a disabled account 231
Finding Relief for Common Problems 231
Instagram won't share 231
Getting Instagram to notify you 233
Nothing Is Working … Now What? 234
Reporting a problem on your iPhone or iPad 234
Reporting a problem on your Android smartphone or tablet 235
Getting Rid of Error Messages 235
Can't add a comment 236
Can't delete comments 236
Can't refresh feed 237
Can't follow anyone else 237
Chapter 16 Insta-Help Is on the Way 239
Taking Advantage of Instagram's Help 239
Accessing Help Center 240
Visiting Privacy and Safety Center 242
Viewing Instagram Business web pages 243
Tapping Social Media 244
Sending a message on Facebook 245
Tweeting and being tweeted 245
Reading the Instagram blog 246
Visiting the Instagram Business blog 248
Joining a Community 249
Joining other Instagrammers in an InstaMeet 249
Starting an InstaMeet 250
Visiting Reddit and Topix 251
Part 6 The Part of Tens 255
Chapter 17 Ten Brands Killing It on Instagram 257
GoPro 257
Yellowillow 258
Sugarandcloth 259
RPMItalian 259
EmilyJoyRosen 260
TheLoveBombCo 260
The.Book.Report 261
LaJollaMom 261
TSA 262
GeneralElectric 263
Chapter 18 Ten Places to Find Inspiration 265
Investigate the Explore Page 265
Review Hashtag Searches Related to Your Brand 266
Spy on Your Competitors 268
Get Inspiration from Local Businesses 268
Check Out Your Favorite Products 269
Look to Photographers 270
Get Inspired by Bloggers 271
Find Big Brands That Are Being Creative 272
Learn from Instagram and Marketing Experts 272
Follow the Instagram for Business Account 273
Index 275
