The Complete Guide to Instagram

7/29/2019 The Complete Guide to Instagram

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MainstreethostWrittenbyOliviaRoat|DesignedbyMichaelBiondo

TheCompleteGuideto



AbouttheAuthor

About the Author

The Complete Guide to Instagram

0

@OliviaCRoat +Olivia Roat

Olivia Roat is an inbound marketer atMaintreethost, a digital marketing agency inBuffalo, NY.

She writes for the Mainstreethost blog on topicssuch as social media marketing, contentmarketing, branding, advertising, and grammar.

Check out Olivia’s articles onMainstreethost’s Blog.

http://twitter.com/OliviaCRoat

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Contents

Chapter 1:Introduction ........................ 03

Chapter 2:What Is Instagram? ........... 04

Chapter 3:Instagram Timeline ............ 07

Chapter 4:How to Use Instagram ...... 10

Chapter 5:How to Take and SharePictures and Video ............. 20

Chapter 6:How to Interact with Other Instagram Users ................. 37

Chapter 7:Instagram on the Web ....... 43

Chapter 8:Contests on Instagram ...... 48

Chapter 9:The Instagram API .............. 53

Chapter 10:Brands on Instagram ......... 56

Chapter 11:Instagram Work-Arounds .... 63

Chapter 12:Instagram Analytics ........... 66

0

Contents







Introduction

With Instagram, the burgeoning photo-taking and photo-sharing application,people convey messages throughphotographs. Instagram, and McLuhan’s famous statement, speak to thepower of visual content.

~ Marshall McLuhan

“Themediumisthemessage.”

Maybe you’ve heard of Instagram but don’t really understand how it works

or what it does. Or maybe you want to know how Instagram can be used tomarket a business.

I’ll tackle both of those things in this ebook. Whether you want to learn aboutInstagram or see how Instagram fits into marketing efforts, this ebook is for you.

Let’s dive into the world of photos, filters, and beyond.

Introduction


03






TheCompleteGuideto

WhatIsInstagram?

Chapter2



WhatIsInstagram?

Instagram is a mobile application that lets you take and share pictures. It’savailable on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android phones. Users snapa picture, apply a filter, and share it with their followers.

Instagram debuted in November 2010. 130 million people now useInstagram on a monthly basis. Why did Instagram skyrocket to popularity?Part of it may be due to our interest in images:

Photographs offer up content that’s both easy to digest and easy to admire.They don’t have to war with attention spans and wage battle against our skim-inclined society quite like text does. Despite its popularity (or perhaps more

accurately, because of it), Instagram connotes certain stereotypes. On firstblush, it seems like an app that allows people to parade as faux photographers and share superfluous pictures of food and self-portraits. In reality, foodphotos abound on Instagram, but the app is much more than a culinary-capturing tool.

90% of information transmittedto the brain is visual, and visuals

are processed in the brain60,000x faster than text.

40% of people will respondbetter to visual information

than plain text.

What Is Instagram?


0






Instagram has more daily active users on mobile thanTwitter. On Thanksgiving, Instagram users posted 10

million photos mentioning Thanksgiving and other relatedterms; at peak time, users posted 226 photos persecond.

What Is Instagram?


In January 2013 Instagram revealed its monthly active user data for the first time.The numbers are pretty impressive:

06

130 MILLIONPEOPLE USE INSTAGRAMON A MONTHLY BASIS

NUMBERS INCREASED

BETWEEN DECEMBER 2012

AND JANUARY 2013

ARE LEFT EACH SECOND

PHOTOS ARE POSTED EACH DAY

1,000 COMMENTS 8,500 LIKESOCCUR PER SECOND

10,000 LIKESPER SECOND

DURING PEAK TIMES,

40 MILLION

BY 10%

THIS NUMBER INCREASES TO

MONTH ON MONTH






TheCompleteGuideto

InstagramTimeline

Chapter3



InstagramTimeline

Raises $50 million in Series B funding

2010March

Mike Krieger and Kevin Systromraise $500,000 in seed funding

November

December

2011January

February

June

August

September

September

2012April

April

April

September

Released inApple’s App

Store

Adds hashtags

Raises$7 millionin Series Afunding

Reaches one

million users

Reaches Five million users

150 million photos taken

Version 2.0 goes livein the App store

Reaches Ten million users

Android app released;

one million downloadswithin a day

Announces $1 billionacquisition by Facebook

Reaches 100 millionusers

Instagram Timeline


08






Now, before we dive into the features of Instagram, I want to mention theterms of service, which were changed in December 2012 and sparked some

outrage from users.

The point of contention was this sentence:

The idea that Instagram could sell its users’ photos didn’t go over well (and that’s probably an understatement). Articles appeared announcing a massexodus of users.

So what happened? In response to the brouhaha, Instagram reverted theadvertising section of its new terms to the original terms of service that hasbeen in effect since October 2010.

It also stated in a blog post that Instagram has no intention of selling userphotos and that each individual Instagram user owns the rights to his or herown photos. The updated terms of service went into effect on January 19, 2013.

OK, let’s get into the app itself.

Instagram Timeline


09

You agree that a business may pay Instagram to display your photos in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions without any compensation to you.






TheCompleteGuideto

HowtoUseInstagram

Chapter4



HowtoUseInstagram

Download the app from the Apple App Store (if you have an iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch)or the Google Play store (if you have anAndroid phone). Instagram is a free app.

How to Use Instagram


I.

Open the app and press Register.II.

1

Register

Sign In








Business Tip: If you can, make your username the sameas your Twitter handle. This keeps yourbranding consistent across different socia

media platforms.

Create a username and password.III.

@neimanmarcus @neimanmarcus

12

Use Your Facebook Info

Welcome Done

Username

ACCOUNT

Email

REGISTER

PHOTO Password

PROFILE

Name

Phone (optional)

By clicking Done you are indicating that you

have read and agree to the Privacy Policy

and Terms of Service.

You’ll see on the Register screen an option to use your Facebook info. If you press this, Instagram will pull your profile picture, your name, and your email from Facebook.






Import from Twitter

Take Photo

Choose from Library

Import from Facebook

Cancel

Change Profile Picture

Set your profile picture. You have four different options for choosing a profile picture: importing a picture from Facebook, importing from Twitter, taking aphoto using Instagram, and choosing from your library.

IV.



Import from Facebook:Instagram will pull your Facebookprofile picture

Import from Twitter:Instagram will pull your Twitter pro-file picture

Take a photo: Use the Instagram camera to take abrand new photo

Choose from library:Choose any picture you already haveon your iPhone’s camera roll

Fill in your name and email, and you’re all set! V.

13






13m

28 likes

matchbookmag

EXPLORE

Search users and hashtags

When you open up the Instagram app,you’ll by default land on the Home tab.This shows a feed of the photos postedby the users you follow.

The feed displays these photos inchronological order (like the Twitter

timeline). You can like and comment onphotos right from the Home tab.

HomeTab

CameraTabThe center button is the Camera tab. Itlets you take, edit, and share pictures. (I’llcover in detail how to take and sharepictures in the next chapter. ( Jump tothe Next Chapter )

ExploreTabThe compass-like icon opens the Exploretab, which showcases top photosand allows you to search users andhashtags.



14

Instagram has five tabs: Home, Explore, Camera, News Feed, and Profile.






The heart-like icon opens the News Feedtab, which has a Following tab and aNews tab. The Following tab showsactivity by people you follow: photosthey’ve liked and users they’ve startedfollowing, etc.

It also shows comments among usersyou follow, i.e. if one user whom youfollow leaves a comment on the photoof another user whom you follow.

Instagram’s theory behind showing onlythese types of relevant, pertinentcomments is that it makes it easier forpeople to follow discussion among their

family, friends, and peers.

NewsFeedTab



clubmonaco liked 2 photos.

15 minutes ago

starbucks liked dallasclayton’s

photo. 16 minutes ago

millybymichelle liked 2 photos.16 minutes ago

neimanmarcus liked

bonnietsang ’s photo.

Following News

NB: The Following tab doesn’t work for people who follow more than 1,000 users.

1

The News tab tracks every time someone interacts with you. This tab will tellyou when people like your photos, when people comment on your photos,and when people follow you.






3377photos

234following

Photo Map

FREEPEOPLE

610kfollowers

The official Free People Instagram. The Free

People woman lives free through fashion, art,

music, travel, and everything in between.

www.freepeople.com

Feed

Following

The tab on the far right opens up your Instagram profile. Here’s where you can:

ProfileTab

Business Tip: Put the link to your website in your bio. URLs inprofile bios are the only clickable links on Instagram.

A website URL in a profile looks like this:



16

OLIVIAROAT

Edit Your Profile

19photos

24followers

64following

EditYourProfile:You can change your username / bio / email here. Youcan also add the URL foryour website here.

Viewyourphotosinagridlayout:Grid Layout is the defaultsetting on Instagram. Anytime you look at yourprofile or another Insta-gram user’s profile,photos will display in a grid.

Viewyourphotosinalistlayout:List layout displaysphotos just like how theylook on your Home tab.

Viewphotosofyou:Instagram lets you tag otherInstagram users in photos.If someone tags you in aphoto, that photo will appearon the Photos of You tabon your profile.

AccessyourPhotoMap:

The Photo Map is exploredfurther in Chapter 5. ( Jump to the Photo Map sectionin Chapter 5)






PHOTOPhotos

biondoart 5d

biondoart



17

When other people tag you in Instagram photos, you can choose whetheryou want these photos added to your profile automatically or manually.

If you don’t necessarily want to removeyourself from a photo but would rather

just hide it from your profile, you cando that too.

You can also remove yourself from a photo that someone added of you.

Then tap the gearicon in the top right

Tap the Photosof You tab

Add Automatically

Add Manually

Choose Add Automaticallyor Add Manually

Tap on the photo

Tap your name

Photo of You

Show on My Profile

Hide from My Profile

More Options

Done

Learn more about Photos of You

Remove Me from Photo

Report Inappropriate






To change your profile picture, tap your current picture. (You’ll see the sameoptions as you did during the sign-upprocess.)

In your account settings, you can seethe photos you’ve liked, log out of youraccount, turn your push notificationson/off, and make photos private.

If your Instagram account is associatedwith a business, you do not want yourphotos to be private. You want to have

a public account, so make sure thePhotos Are Private option is off.

Remove Current Photo

Import from Facebook

Import from Twitter

Take Photo

Choose from Library

Cancel

Set a profile picture

In the upper-right-hand

corner of your profile page, you’ll see a gear icon. Thisis where you can manageyour account settings.

Log Out

Clear Search History

Photos Are Private

OPTIONS

ACCOUNT

Find & Invite Friends

Photos You’ve Liked

Share Settings

Push Notification Settings

OFF

Profile Support

18



ManagingYourProfile






PushNotificationsYou can control whether or not youreceive notifications when people like or comment on your photos. Just pressPush Notification Settings in your account settings.

If you turn push notifications off, you’llsee notifications only when you open theInstagram app. Regardless of whetheryou have push notifications turned on or off, if someone does interact with you by liking/commenting on your photos or by following you, you’ll see an orangenotification box at the bottom of thescreen when you open the app.

Like Notifications

Off

From People I Follow

From Everyone

Comment Notifications

Off

From People I Follow

From Everyone

Contact Notifications

NOTIFICATIONSBack

19



Push Notification Settings

1 00

freepeople 17m

3654 likes

1 00 1 00






TheCompleteGuideto

HowtoTakeandSharePictures

Chapter5



HowtoTake&SharePictures

To take a picture, press the Camera tab. You’ll see these buttons aroundwhatever your camera lens is focusing on:

TakingPictures:

Cancel

Cancel:Takes you back to what-ever tab you previouslyhad open

PhotoGrid:Places a grid over the view

screen for alignment purposes

Flash:Allows you to choose between noflash, the flash settings on your

iPhone, and auto flash.

RotatetheCamera:

Switches between thefront-facing cameraand the back-facing

camera

Shutter:Snaps a picture CameraRoll:

Takes you to where all of your photos arestored, both the photos you’ve taken withthe Instagram camera and the photos

you’ve taken with your iPhone camera

How to Take & Share Pictures


2






After you snap the picture, another screen will pop up.

This is where you edit your photo.

Camera:Takes you back to thecamera

Next:Skips the editing processand takes you to the nextstep; press this if you

don’t want to edit yourphoto or apply a filter

RotatethePhoto:Rotates the photo 90counterclockwise

ToggleBorders:Filters can place bordersaround the photo; youcan add/remove borders with this button

Blur/tilt-shifteffect: Lets you focus on or emphasizeone area of the photo; youcan choose which part of thephoto to focus on by pinching/

re-sizing

Lux:Enhances the lighting

effect in your photo

Filters:Give your original photo aunique look; there are 20

different Instagram filters

Camera NextEDIT



22






Add to Photo Map

Edit Share

Add a caption...

SHARE

ON

Name This Location

Tumblr

Twitter Facebook

Email

Flickr foursquare

Add People

SHARE

Who’s this?

CancelSearch for a person

SharingPictures:

After you’ve edited your photo, a screen titled “Share Photo” will pop up.

This is where you can:

If you want to mention another Instagramuser in your caption, press the “@” key andstart typing. Instagram will suggest people whom you follow and people who followyou.

Instagram lets you tag other people in yourphotos in a way that’s very similar to Face-book. Just tap Add People and then starttyping their name in the search bar. Insta-gram will suggest people whom you followand people who follow you. You can tagpeople anywhere in your photo.



23

2. Tag other Instagram users in your photo

1. Add a caption to your photo

All of your photos will automatically beshared on Instagram, but you can alsoshare your photos on Facebook, Twitter,Tumblr, Flickr, and Foursquare. (You can email photos too). Tap the site on which

you want to share the photo. If you’re notalready logged in to the network you wantto share on, Instagram will prompt you foryour login information.

3. Share to other social networks






Both my Facebook and Twitter account are linked to Instagram. This doesn’t mean that any photo I upload to Instagram will automatically be shared onFacebook and Twitter.I still have to prompt Instagram to share to Facebookand Twitter, but I won’t have to log in to these networks because they’realready linked.

Twitter

Twitter The icon for a social network will be blueif you’re logged in to the social network.



24

If you want to make sharing your Instagram photos to other networksincredibly easy, then link your Instagram account to your other social profiles.

Let’s say I always share my Instagram photos to my personal Facebook profile. I can link my Instagram account to this Facebook profile. When I want to sharea photo to Facebook, I simply tap the Facebook button on the Share screenand Instagram knows which Facebook account to share my photo to. I won’t have to log in either.

go to AccountSettings

Share Settings

go to ShareSettings

Then log in to your social networks

Facebook

Tumblr

Twitter

Email

Flickr

foursquare

To link your Instagram account to anothersocial profile:






oliviaroat 17s

ANTARCTICA

AFRICA

EUROPE

SOUTH AMERICA

Editoliviaroat



2

You’ll see that right below the Add to yourPhoto Map button is an option called Namethis location. If you turn your Photo Map onbut don’t chose the Name this location option, Instagram will geotag your photo, and thephoto will be plotted on a map.

I.

However when my followers see the picture, itwon’t tell them exactly where it was taken.

After you turn this feature on, you have two options.

4. Add photos to your Photo Map

Add to your Photo Map

Name this location optional

ONInstagram lets you share where your photosare taken. It geotags your photos and then plots them on a interactive map called thePhoto Map. If you want to let your followers

know where you were when you snapped a photo, turn the Add to your PhotoMap option on.






Find or create a location

LOCATIONSPhoto

Alessi Personal Fitness6215 Transit Rd.

Barnes & Noble

Grover’s Bar & Grill9160 Transit Rd.

Ruzzine’s Rock Bottom Eatery6261 Transit Rd.

Meadowlakes

Exclusively Hair

Better Smiles of Western New York6261 Transit Rd.

oliviaroat

Barnes & Noble

17s

If you turn the Photo Map on and chosethe Name this location option , Instagram

will give you a list of specific places basedon your current location (these places are powered by Foursquare). If your location doesn’t appear in the list, you can searchfor it and add it. Naming a location letsyou tie your picture to a specific place. If I was at my local Barnes and Noble whenI took this picture, I can choose Barnes andNoble for the location. My photo will still

show up on the Photo Map like in theexample above, and when my followers seethis picture, they’ll know exactly where itwas taken.

Business Tip:Take a picture at your business and chooseName this location. Then either choose your business from the list of places that appearor search for your business and add it. Thename of your business will appear aboveyour photo. Tap the name of your businessand all of the photos tagged there will show

up. This lets you see which Instagram usershave frequented your business, what photosthey’ve taken there, and what they’ve saidabout your business in the caption of theirphotos.



2

II.








2

SharingtoFacebook:When you share photos on Facebook, they appear on your timeline by default. They’re visible only to your friends. Any Instagram photos you share toFacebook are automatically added to an album called Instagram Photos. If you want to move any of your Instagram photos to another album, you cando that on Facebook after the photo is already uploaded.

If you use Facebook, you may have noticed that stories pop up in your newsfeed when people like photos on Instagram. If you want your Facebook friends to know when you like photos on Instagram:

Log in to Facebookfrom your computer

Go to the InstagramPhotos album

Click Edit Hover over the photo youwant to move and clickMove to Other Album

Move To Other Album

Make Album Cover

Delete This Photo


Share Settings

go to ShareSettings

Press Facebook

OFF

ON

You’ll have the optionto turn likes on or off








28


Share Settings

go to ShareSettings

Press Facebook

I.

II.

Share Photos to Wall (Default)

Press the ”Share Photos to” button

III.

CHOOSE A PAGE

Page One

Mainstreethost - Inbound Marketing

You’ll then see a list of any pages that you’re an admin for.Choose your page, and your photo will post to that page.

When it comes to sharing to a Facebook business page, only page adminscan share Instagram photos to the page. Facebook will by default share aphoto to your personal timeline, so if you want to share it to a page instead:








2

SharingtoTwitter:When you tweet a picture using Twitpic, your followers can see the pictureright on Twitter. When you tweet an Instagram photo, people will see only alink to the photo, and they’ll have to click on this link to view it.

Business Tip: Occasionally sharing Instagram photos on your other social media channels is OK,

but you don’t want to share every single Instagram photo you take on Facebookand Twitter. People follow you on Facebook because they want content unique to Facebook; people you follow on Twitter because they want to see your tweets, sodeluging your other social channels with photos from Instagram is not the best idea.

SharingPhotosYou’veAlreadyTaken:Let’s say you’ve already taken and uploaded a photo to Instagram and shared it to Twitter. A few days later, you want to share it to Facebook. Can you share an old photo? You can! Go to your profile and tap whichever photo you wantto share.

You’ll see three buttons below the photo:

LikeLike CommentCommentthe Like button the Comment button a button with

three dots.








30

PHOTOProfile

Like Comment

oliviaroat Just finished #booksofinstagram

Press the button with three dots, andyou’ll have the option to share the

photo.

SHARE PHOTOPhoto Share

Facebook

Email

Flickr

Twitter

Tumblr

foursquare

Just finished

#booksofinstagram

It takes you right back to the SharePhoto screen.

Delete

Copy Share URL

Share Photo

Cancel

Photo Options

Email Photo






Hashtags:

The clothing company Free People posteda photo highlighting the style of someoneattending New York Fashion Week in NewYork City. Free People tagged the photo#NYFW (an abbreviation for New York

You can include hashtags in the caption of your photo. Hashtags are a way of describing and/or categorizing photos. They’re also searchable, so when someone searches for a specifichashtag, all of the photos featuring that hashtag appear. Hashtagsrun the gamut from those that are widely used to those that aremade up by and unique to individual users.



3

New York Fashion Week#NYFW

Fashion Week). Using the hashtag widens the reach of the photo. The photowon’t be seen only by people who follow Free People; it will also be seen byanyone who searches the #NYFW hashtag.

Some brands even encourage Instagram users to upload photos with a specific hashtag. Chobani Greek Yogurt tells people to tag photos they take of Cho-bani with the hashtag #tastereal.

Each hashtag has an RSS Feed with which it’s associated. You can see thefeed for a specific hashtag by going here:

If you subscribe to the feed, you’ll see all of the different photos tagged with#NYFW as they’re added.

http://instagr.am/tags/ [hashtag name] /feed/recent.rss

So, for the #NYFW hashtag,the feed would be:

http://instagr.am/tags/nyfw/feed/recent.rss






Cancel

UploadingPhotosfromYourCameraRoll

toInstagramWhen it comes to taking and sharingpictures on Instagram, you have twooptions. You can either take a photo with the camera that’s in the Instagram app oryou can take a photo with your iPhonecamera and then upload it to Instagram. Some advantages to using your iPhone

camera as opposed to the Instagramcamera: you can pinch and zoom; you canquickly snap a photo and upload it later.

If you have old photos on your iPhone,you can upload those photos too.



3

If you snap a photo with your iPhonecamera, how do you get it on Instagram?

Open up Instagram and press the Camerabutton. You’ll see the Camera Roll button in the bottom right.

Press it and choose your photo. You’ll be able to scale and crop your photo. You canscale and crop photos only if you pull upa photo from your camera roll. If you use the camera in Instagram, you can’t scaleand crop the photo.

CropSCALE & CROPCamera Roll






VideosonInstagram

On June 20th Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom announced video on Instagram. The new feature lets users include on Instagram moments that “need morethan a static image to come to life.”

Videos can be a minimum of three seconds and a maximum of fifteen seconds, and you can add filters to them just like you can to photos. They’re another outlet through which Instagram users can quickly and easily share contentwith their followers.

3

How to Take and Share Pictures and Videos


According to the Instagram blog, within thefirst eight hours after video on Instagramlaunched, the community shared over ayear’s worth of footage. (At peak time, users uploaded 40 hours of video per minute.)

Videos appear in the same feed that yourphotos do. They’re marked with a little iconin the top-right-hand corner.

If you’re scrolling through your Home taband pause over a video, it will start to playautomatically. (If you don’t want videos toplay automatically, go to your accountsettings and turn the Auto-Play Videosoption off.)

Also, this may sound obvious, but if

you want to hear the sound on videosmake sure the sound on your phoneis turned on. When your phone is setto vibrate, you won’t be able to hearthe sound on videos.

VIDEOmtv

mtv 1w


You’ll have the option to turnAuto-Play Videos on or off

ON Auto-Play Videos






HowtoRecordVideos:1. Tap the camera tab, and you’ll see a video option.

34



Cancel

Cancel Next

2. Press it, and you’ll be taken to anotherscreen where you can start recording.

3. Hold down the red button to record. If you want to stop recording, just lift yourfinger off the button.





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You can record a series of short clips to make up one video. As you record, you’ll see a blue bar fill up along the bottom of the screen. If you record a series of short clips, you’ll seebreaks in the bar, which represent the durationof the clips.

Cancel Next

You can even delete your previous clip bypressing the button with the “x.”

Camera NextFILTER

Choose a Filter

4. After you’ve finished recording your video,press Next, and you’ll be taken to a screenwhere you can choose a filter for your video. Instagram debuted 13 brand new filters forvideo. You’ll be able to watch your finishedproduct right from this Filter screen and seewhat your video looks like with each filter.






5.After you choose a filter, press Next, and you’ll be able to choose a cover frame for your video.

6.Finally, share your photo! The sharing process for a video is virtually identical to the sharing process for a photo.

3



(You can watch the finished video from theShare screen too; just press the play button on the thumbnail.) One thing you cannot do with an Instagram video is tag another user. You’ll have to mention users in the caption instead.

Instagram has a feature called Cinema thatstabilizes shaky video recordings. Stabilization

is on by default, and you’ll see a little cameraicon that represents the Cinema feature pop up when you’re adding filters. If you want toturn the feature off, press the icon.

Add to Photo Map

Cover SHARE Share

Add a caption

Name This Location

SHARE

Facebook

Email

Twitter

Tumblr

foursquare

ONON

Filter COVER Next

Choose a Cover Frame






TheCompleteGuideto

HowtoInteractwithOtherInstagramUsers

Chapter6



Facebook Friends

Options FIND FRIENDS

From My Contact List

Invite Friends

Suggested Users

Search for users in the Explore tab.

How to Interact with Other Instagram Users


38

HowtoInteractwith

OtherInstagramUsersFindingPeopletoFollowonInstagram

When you first start out on Instagram, how do you find people to follow?There are a few different ways to connect with other users:

The Find & Invite Friends buttonI.The Find and Invite Friends button is a

great resource. You can find it in youraccount settings. This generates a listof your Facebook friends who haveInstagram. You can see their Insta-gram usernames and follow peopleright from this list. (You need to haveyour Facebook account linked to yourInstagram to use this feature.)

The Find & Invite Friends option alsoshows you which of the people savedin your Contact List have Instagram.It lets you invite people from yourContact List to join Instagram.

And finally, Find & Invite Friends iswhere you’ll find Instagram’s Suggest-ed Users. Instagram uses suggested

users to highlight the app’s top pho-tographers. These people are select-ed by Instagram because of theunique, original content they create.(The list is continually being reviewedand updated.)






OLIVIAROAT

Edit Your Profile

19photos

24followers

64following



Search users and hashtags

The Explore Tab

You can also find people through the Explore tab, where you cansearch for users and hashtags.

II.

39

Other Users’ Followers

You can also look at other people‘s followers and following lists. If I’m interestedin fashion, I’d follow a handful of fashion brands. I’d then check out thepeople whom those brands follow. I’d also look at the people who arefollowing those brands. When one of these brands posts a photo, I’d scopeout who likes the photo and who comments on the photo.

III.






LikeLike Comment

siwanita73, alexroat, kimi686, b_koch71,

aishaalloughani

oliviaroat Winnifer cuddle dog

alexroat Awww lil wins!!!

Profile PHOTO

Liking&Commenting:To like a photo, either tap it twice or press the Like button beneath the photo.



Like

LikedLiked

LikeLike

40

To comment on photos, just press the Comment button. When you comment on photos, you can reply back to people who have also commented. Mysister commented on the above photo. If I want to reply back to her comment, I can either type her username (@alexroat) in the comment field, or I can go to her comment and hold my finger over her profile picture. I swipe myfinger to the right, and then I’ll see two symbols: an exclamation point (this is for reporting a comment for spam) and an arrow (this is for replying back toindividual users.)






I press the arrow and @alexroat appears in the comment field.



4

Business Tip:If people comment on your photos with questions, use this shortcut to reply backdirectly to individual users. If someone asks a question and you answer it without

mentioning that specific user, there’s a good chance that he/she won’t see yourreply. (He/she would have to continually revisit that photo and check the comments to see if you replied, and most people won’t do that.) When you mention a user ina comment, he/she will receive a notification letting them know that you mentionedthem.

COMMENTSPhoto

oliviaroat

Winnifer cuddle dog

alexroat

Awww lil wins!!!

13w

Add a comment...

COMMENTSPhoto

oliviaroat

Winnifer cuddle dog

alexroat

Awww lil wins!!!

13w

@alexroat

17h






TweetingAnotherInstagramUser’sPhoto:Below every Instagram photo you’ll see the Like button,the Comment button, and a button made up of three dots.



42

This button allows you to report a photo

as inappropriate and tweet a photo. If you want to tweet someone else’s photo,you need to be signed into your Twitteraccount. When you press the button and select “Tweet,” a default tweet that lookslike this will appear:

You can edit the text, add a location, and mention any of the people whom youfollow on Twitter. To mention someone, type “@” and then the first letter of the

Twitter user’s name. An autosuggest list of the people whom you follow will appear,and you can select the person from this list.

jmclaughlinny

Madison Square Park

14h

LikeLike Comment

61 likes

jmclaughlinny

Cancel SendTweet

jmclaughlinny’s photo

http://instagram.com/p/Yqn8HwJGN_/

Add Location 96






TheCompleteGuideto

InstagramontheWeb

Chapter7



InstagramontheWeb

InstagramWebProfiles:Instagram is a mobile-only platform. You need either an iPhone or an Android phone to upload photos. You can’t upload photos to Instagram from a laptop or a desktop. However, Instagram has recently taken steps to offer people amore website-friendly experience.

In November 2012, Instagram released online profiles. Every Instagram userhas a profile that’s accessible through the Web.

Instagram on the Web


44

Your Instagram profile is accessible at:

For example, Adidas’ Instagram profile is accessible at:

instagram.com/[username]

instagram.com/adidas






Web profiles look like this:



4

They consist of a profile picture and an animated cover image that swapsdifferent photos in and out. (You can’t control which photos appear in yourcover image.) They include your profile picture and all of your photos.

You can also view your Instagram feed online. To do so, just go to instagram.com and log in.

adidas

oliviar

To connect with adidas follow us on Facebook http://www.adidas.com206

photos

216,249followers

623following

April 2013

FollowFollow






Even people who don’t have an Instagram account can view on the Web anInstagram user’s profile.



View photos (your own andother Instagram users’)

Like and comment onphotos

Follow Instagram users

Edit your profile

Change your password

WhatYouCanDoonInstagramfromtheWeb:

Upload photos

Search hashtags or users

See an Instagram user’sfollowers / following lists

See Photo Maps

Access the Explore tab

WhatYouCan’tDoonInstagramfromtheWeb:

46

Follow

Edit Profile

Change Password

Followers

Following






elizabeth_mckay

52 minutes ago

View Profil e

Edit Profile

Badges

Log Out

oliviaro

InstagramBadges:

Instagram Badges are a way to promote your Instagram profile. Each badge comes with an HTML code that you copy and paste on your website/blog. Thebadge links directly to your Instagram web profile.

To get the code for your Instagram badge, go to instagram.com and log in.

You’ll see in the top right-hand corner your username and profile picture.Click on it, and then click “Badges.”



View on Instagram

4






TheCompleteGuideto

ContestsonInstagram

Chapter8



ContestsonInstagram

Instagram isn’t just for uploading photos. Brands also run contests on Instagram, usually by encouraging people to upload photos with a specific hashtag.Ben & Jerry’s ran a contest to honor and celebrate the Instagram community. It invited Instagram users to upload photos that capture the feeling of euphoriaand tag them with the hashtag #CaptureEuphoria.

Contests on Instagram


Throughout the contest, people submitted over 17,000 photos. Ben & Jerry’s chose 20 of the best photos and featured them in print, billboard, and outdoor venue advertisements in the areas where the individual photographers live.It created a gallery on its website of all the #CaptureEuphoria photos. It’sfilled with photos of Ben & Jerry’s pints, pets, little kids, couples, people frolicking in the snow, people relishing warm weather at a beach, and more.

49








General Electric ran an Instagram contest that offered the winner the chance to fly to London to see a GE jet-engine facility. GE asked people to shootphotos inspired by the four ways GE works in the world (moving, curing,powering, and building). People tagged their photos with #GEInspiresMe.GE then displayed the photos in a gallery on Facebook, where fans voted forthe winning shot.

50






TakeawaysfromtheseInstagramcontests:

Promote Your Contest on Other Channels

Both Ben & Jerry’s and GE promoted their contests on other channels.



5

I.

Use a Specific, Custom-Created Branded HashtagII.

#CaptureEuphoria #GEInspiresMe

Create a Gallery for Photos

that lets you aggregate Instagram photos tagged with a certain hashtag anddisplay them on Facebook, a mobile site, or a page on your domain. Olapicalso does this, as do Chute and Nitrogram. (Check out the links at the endof the ebook if you’re interested in any of those platforms.)

III.

Ben & Jerry’s promoted on Facebook, Twitter,and YouTube, and GE on Facebook and You- Tube. There might be some customers who aren’t yet on Instagram, so publicizing the

contest on other networks lets these peopleknow about it and drives them to Instagram.

Both brands also offered prizes exclusively for Instagram users, therebyrewarding their f ollowers and giving them incentive to use the platform.

Ben & Jerry’s pulled onto a separate website Instagram photosfeaturing the branded hashtag. GE created a gallery on Face-book. Galleries let you showcase all of the user-generatedcontent your contest creates. FanBase is one platform that lets








52

Incorporate Your Brand’s Mission

These two brands seamlessly integrated their missions intotheir Instagram contests. According to Ben & Jerry’s, its ice cream not only creates euphoria but also celebrates it. So what better way for the quirky, fun, and feel-good ice creambrand to let pictures do the talking and in doing so, promote

bliss? And what better way for GE to express its commitmentto innovation and development for the entire world thanallowing people to capture GE at work in their own personalworlds?

IV.

Let Fans Get Creative

Ben & Jerry’s and GE turned the power over to their fans in

these Instagram contests. Fans didn’t have to submit photosof ice cream (though many did) or of GE products. Rather, these two brands gave fans carte blanche to express them-selves and get creative. And even though the Ben & Jerry’s contest ended, the custom-created hashtag used inconjunction with it has proven to be evergreen. Peoplecontinue to tag photos of Ben & Jerry’s pints with#CaptureEuphoria.

V.






TheCompleteGuideto

TheInstagramAPI

Chapter9



TheInstagramAPI

The Instagram API lets you take photos from Instagram and put them on awebsite or app for other people to see. You can organize photos according to time, place, or hashtag. Bergdorf Goodman used the Instagram API to create its “Shoes About Town” campaign. It asked people in and around New YorkCity to take pictures of their shoes and then used geotags to display thesepictures on an interactive, shoe-filled map.

The Instagram of API


54






The Instagram of API


5

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During the 2012 election, NBC used Electiongrams, a site that displayedelection-themed images that people uploaded to Instagram. When individualsuploaded a photo with hashtags like #nbcpolitics, #obama, #romney, and#vote2012, NBC posted the photo on the site. It used geotags to categorize the photos and display them on a state-by-state basis.

Instagram gives you step-by-step instructions on its API, and there’s a forum devoted to Instagram’s API .

http://instagram.com/developer


https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/instagram-api-developers












TheCompleteGuideto

BrandsonInstagram

Chapter10



BrandsonInstagram

In May 2013 Simply Measured published a study that looked at Instagramadoption by Interbrand’s top 100 brands. Simply Measured found that 67%of the top brands have Instagram accounts, and 34% have over 10,000 followers.

Here are some brands doing amazing things on Instagram: what they dothat works, how they leverage the platform’s power, and exactly how youcan incorporate these practices into your Instagram efforts.

Brand: Kate Spade

Strategy: Offer a behind-the-sceneslook into one of fashion’s biggest brands.

Execution: The biography for Kate Spade’s

Instagram account says, “Follow us for aglimpse into the world of Kate Spade New York.” This is exactly what the fashion andaccessories brand does on Instagram:provide its followers an exclusive look intoits inner workings. Kate Spade shared awealth of pictures from its New York FashionWeek show: models prepping for the show,photos from backstage, previews of its fall2013 collection, a peek at its 20th anniversary celebration party.

Kate Spade’s Instagram is a visual gatewayinto its world, and that world includes itsproducts, its designers, its special events,and famous New York City landmarks.

Fashion:

Brands on Instagram


5

1746

photos

341

following

Photo Map

KATESPADENY

310k

followers

quick and curious and playful and strong.

follow us for a glimpse into the world of kate

spade new york.

www.katespade.com

Following

Following






Takeaway: Use Instagram to offer followers a behind-the-scenes look into your business. Whether they’re photos of employees at work, holiday parties, sneak peeks into new products or services, or upcoming launches, Instagramnot only captivates followers by letting them behind the velvet rope so to speakbut also shows that a business is made up of more than its products. It consists

of company culture, collaborations, and real people hard at work on the nextnew thing. Give people an inside look at your business. And if you travel toevents around the state or country (a photographer who displays his or her work at different art festivals and venues throughout the country for instance), use the Photo Map and let people know exactly where to find you.

Kate Spade also makes use of the Photo Map, so users can see the brand’sphotos categorized by location:

Brands on Instagram


58

ANTARCTICA

katespadeny






Brand: Sharpie

Strategy: Show all of the creativeness andcolorfulness that stems from the tip of aSharpie.

Execution: Sharpie’s Instagram accountisn’t about displaying or pushing Sharpie

products; rather, it’s about displaying thebrilliant art Sharpie products help peoplemake. It’s also about encouraging andinspiring people to create. It’s filled with awealth of colorful, captivating drawings allpenned with Sharpie markers: food, quotes,musicians, a football posted on Super BowlSunday, seasonal themes, etc. Just glancing at Sharpie’s Instagram would inspire anyartistically inclined individual to grab amarker and sketch away. (And Sharpie’sInstagram biography encourages that veryaction through a pithy call-to-action).

Takeaway: You don’t have to sell stunning products to use Instagram.Sharpie doesn’t just post pictures of markers (that most likely wouldn’t be too interesting). Instead, Sharpie shows what those markers allow people to create.Sharpie shows the end product.

Sharpie’s strategy can be used by any business: show products or servicesin action, being used by real people. It’s not always about the products them-selves but rather what those products let people do.

Art:

Brands on Instagram


59

SHARPIE

274photos

149following

56kfollowers

Grab a Sharpie & Start Something.

www.sharpie.com

Photo Map

Explore

Follow






Electronics:Brand: Sony

Strategy: Showcase photos taken by Sonyconsumers and spotlight individual Instagramusers.

Execution: Sony’s Instagram is filled with user-generated content. It features gorgeous

photos of scenery and adorable photos of petstaken by people with Sony cameras. It displays photos people take of Sony products likea vintage Walkman or a PlayStation controller.

Sony’s user-generated content accomplishesa couple things: one, it’s great for socialproof because it shows real people usingSony products in their everyday lives, andtwo, it spotlights fans and gives them shoutouts by featuring their photos.

Takeaway: Instagram is a great tool for tapping into the power of user-generated content. Brands can encourage people to upload photos with aspecific hashtag, spotlight these photos, and even tie them into a contest:a fan of the week is selected for uploading a particularly creative photo, hashis or her photo featured, and wins a gift card or a prize.

Brands on Instagram


60

SONY

159photos

1528following

14kfollowers

Sony Electronics

Photo Map

Explore

Follow






Business: Black Rock Kitchen and Bar

Strategy: Share the delicious and congenial vibe of a local restaurant through alluring photos.

Execution: Black Rock Kitchen and Bar proves that you don’t have to be a major

brand to use Instagram. It’s a small restaurant

located in Buffalo, NY (my hometown bias is at work here) that routinely shares photosof its delectable-looking nightly specials. Italso shares photos of the restaurant’s interior and its employees.

Takeaway: A restaurant is the type of business that fits perfectly with Instagram.It shows people what the business is about and what kind of food it creates rather than simply telling them. Seeing a picture of adinner entrée can have a far greater impact than merely reading the description of it on the menu. A restaurant can even gain its

Restaurant:

own user-generated content by encouraging patrons to upload their ownphotos of the food they order and use a specific hashtag. This exposes therestaurant to all of those patrons’ Instagram followers, thereby tapping intothe power of word-of-mouth marketing. And anyone who searches or taps

on that hashtag will see pictures of the restaurant’s food. Encouragingpatrons to upload food photos could even be tied into a contest: anyone who uploads a photo and uses the hashtag gets entered into a contest to win agift certificate.

Brands on Instagram


6

BRKITCHEN

71photos

45following

106followers

Black Rock Kitchen & Bar

Photo Map

Explore

Follow

Voted Best New Restaurant of 2012 by

Buffalo Spree! We know that by feeding you,

the people, we will help to feed the

neighborhood. 551.0261 #BRKBmenu

www.blackrockkitchenandbar.com






Nonprofit Organization: To Write Love on Her Arms

Strategy: Post a variety of photos, all of whichseamlessly relate to the organization’s mission.

Execution: To Write Love on Her Arms(TWLOHA) is a nonprofit dedicated to providing

hope and finding help for people struggling with depression and addiction. TWLOHAorganized a tour across the U.S. that itdescribed as “an evening of songs, con-versation, and hope.” It posted photos of the performers on stage and of the crowds atvarious venues. TWLOHA also posts photos of its staff and spotlights the members from TWLOHA chapters at universities across the country. It highlights its #FearsvsDreams campaign, in which people pose with awhiteboard that discloses their biggest fearsand dreams.

And while TWLOHA’s Instagram photosspan different topics, they all relate backto the organization’s goal: to provide inspiration and promote hope.

Takeaway: A brand can use Instagram to

Nonprofit:

Brands on Instagram


let people know about events it’s sponsoring or partaking in. That can include everything from concerts to community events to volunteer efforts. And ideally every photo a business posts should fit organically and naturally into its mission and appeal to its target audience.

62

TWLOHA

355photos

61following

25kfollowers

Photo Map

Explore

Follow

To Write Love on Her Arms.

TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated

to presenting hope & finding help for people

struggling with depression, addiction, self-

injury, & suicide.twloha.com






TheCompleteGuideto

InstagramWork-Arounds

Chapter11



I said in Chapter 7 that you can’t search hashtags or users or see an Instagramuser’s followers/following list from the Web. A few websites let you get around this and let you manage your Instagram account from the Web (though again, you need the app to upload photos). Using an Instagram webviewer can be really helpful for anyone using Instagram for business because you don’t needto be on a smartphone to get things done. Some of the best Instagram web- viewers:

Statigram lets you comment on and like photos, search usernames andhashtags, and see other Instagram users’ following/followers list. It also lets

you segment the people whom you follow into groups. You can create groups for family, friends, customers, etc. and assign people to those groups.

Business Tip:Statigram lets you add to your Facebook business page a tab just for Instagramphotos. This tab displays your Instagram feed right on Facebook.

InstagramWork-Arounds

Instagram Work-Arounds


64






Instagram Work-Arounds


6

Webstagram is similar in that you can view photos, like and comment on photos,follow and unfollow people, browse hashtags, etc. You can find users bykeyword and see the most popular filters and the most popular hashtags.Webstagram also lets you create a gallery of your Instagram photos on yourwebsite/blog.

GRAMATICA

Instagram doesn’t allow for multiple accounts, so if you have a personalInstagram account and a business account, you have to log out of oneand into the other if you want to switch between the two. Gramatica is an app that helps you get around this (it’s $0.99 in the App Store). It lets you

quickly and easily manage multiple accounts. It also lets you pinchand zoom in on photos.

A number of WordPress plugins let you display your Instagram

photos on your blog through widgets: Simply Instagram, Instagramfor WordPress, and WP Instagram Digest. (Check out the links atthe end of the ebook if you’re interested in any of these plugins.)

InstagramPluginsfor






TheCompleteGuideto

InstagramAnalytics

Chapter12



InstagramAnalytics

A major part of marketing is tracking the effectiveness of different campaigns.These six tools help you track engagement, discover influential followers, andrun contests and promotions.

Cost: Free Instagram report and free 14-day trial for other services

It tracks your Instagram engagement and determines your most engagingphoto/filter/location. It also gives you stats on your engagement outside of Instagram (i.e., if you’ve shared photos on Facebook or Twitter). You candownload all of this data in Excel or export it to PowerPoint. Simply Measured also allows you to compare traffic across all of your different social channels.

Instagram Analytics


6

Simply Measured offers a free Instagram report. In exchange for thefree report, Simply Measured asksyou to post a tweet telling peopleyou’re using its services.

I’m using @simplymeasured to analyze my Instagram

profile in Excel - http://bit.ly/KQwnwB






Cost: Free

I talked about Statigram earlier, and mentioned that it’s a webviewer. Statigramalso gives you statistics on your account: your follower growth, most engagedfollowers, post history, filter usage, hashtag usage, average like and comment

per photo, your most liked photos, etc.

Cost: Free version available for accounts with 1,000 or fewer followers; more

comprehensive plans are $37/month, $116/month, and $325/month.

Nitrogram lets you aggregate and embed photos taken by Instagram userson your website, blog, or Facebook page. It gives you analytics for hashtagsand accounts. It tracks your likes, comments, and photos over time andgives stats on your posting habits.

Instagram Analytics


Nitrogram

68






Cost: Free

SumAll is in beta. It lets you analyze in real time your Instagram marketing efforts. You can also connect your Instagram account with your Twitter,Facebook, and Google Analytics account to get a comprehensive view of yourmarketing efforts. You can view everything in one interactive dashboard

through a phone, tablet, or browser.

Cost: $1.99 iPhone app

GramPro is an iPhone app that generates a profile for all of your followers

and all of the people whom you follow. It shows each user’s fame score (equivalent to a popularity score), the number of photos he/she posts perweek, and the number of likes his/her photos average. GramPro allows you to identify influential Instagram users. It also lets you see which of yourfollowers engage with you the most.

Instagram Analytics


Links to Other Tools:

Platforms for displaying

Instagram photos:

+ FanBase+ Olapic + Chute

WordPress plugins:

+ Simply Instagram+ Instagram for WordPress+ WP Instagram Digest

69

http://www.getfanba.se/

https://www.olapic.com/

http://www.getchute.com/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simply-instagram/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/instagram-for-wordpress/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-instagram-digest/




http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-instagram-digest/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/instagram-for-wordpress/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simply-instagram/

http://www.getchute.com/

https://www.olapic.com/

http://www.getfanba.se/



Sources


Sources

TM

THE WO RDPRESS EXPERTS

d

e

v

INSTAGRAM FOR BUSINESS

http://wplift.com/9-free-wordpress-instagram-plugins

http://wpmu.org/10-instagram-plugins-for-wordpress/




http://business.instagram.com/blog/

http://moz.com/webinars/using-instagram-to-promote-your-brand-and-increase-site-traffic


http://wplift.com/9-free-wordpress-instagram-plugins

http://blog.bergdorfgoodman.com/bg-shoes

http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/20/3790560/instagram-new-terms-of-service-from-overreaction-to-retraction

http://business.instagram.com/blog/

http://electiongrams.com/

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/09/politics/dnc.snapshots/index.html

http://instagram-engineering.tumblr.com/post/40781627982/handling-growth-with-postgres-5-tips-from-instagram

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004921/instagram-reveals-monthly-active-user-data-first-time

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx

Documents

The Complete Guide to Instagram