33 – How to Use Instagram to Your Advantage as a Blogger

Let’s face it when it comes to getting our content out there it really is a case of trial and error and being consistent. We all know that unless you get extremely lucky, things won’t take off overnight and getting yourself known, recognised and seeing regular visitors takes time. Which is why it is so important to utilise and use all the tools we have available, and this includes one of the biggest tools we have. social media. Today I am specifically talking about how you can use Instagram to your advantage as a blogger and certain things we should all be doing on Instagram as bloggers.

Setting up your Instagram for success

One of the first things you will have probably been told when you set up your blog is to claim this handle on all the social media sites (and if you haven’t already done that, go do it now!). Even if you don’t intend on doing anything with them, it means nobody else can either, the same applies for Instagram. The likelihood is that if people find your blog and want to find you again, they may search for you on social media, having the same, or very similar username will make it easier for them to find you.

Which leads us onto the next bit of set up, your bio! This small snippet of 150 characters is your chance to pitch who you are. It should tell your readers exactly what you do, who you are and where to find you. Instagram allows you to add a link to your bio so ideally make this your blog or main channel link (if you want to include more than one link you can always use an app such as Linktree. Keep your bio short, snappy and precise this will allow readers to quickly and easily see who you are and what you are about.

Find your niche and show it off

If photography is your thing or you love taking photos Instagram is certainly the place for you to show this off. Your grid is your chance to not only show off your photography skills but also make yourself known for the niche/s you cover without even using any words. Family blogger? Fill your grid with images of your family, kids and family orientated content. Travel blogger? Use your grid to share your stunning holiday snaps and pictures from your travels. People will soon start recognising the topics you cover just from the look of your feed and in turn this can attract pr’s and brands to work with you too. Remember your grid represents your blog and brand so ensure your images reflect this.

Share your blog posts on your grid and stories

You may not be able to share links in the captions of your grid photos but remember if you have your blog link in your bio you can always direct people to click there when sharing an image for a new blog post. Give your followers an eye catching, intriguing image that makes people want to click through and find out more, don’t give it all away in the captions, direct them to that link to get them onto your blog page. 

Plus, don’t forget to utilise the Instagram stories feature too, especially now everyone can add links to their stories. This means you can share an image to your story and place a direct link onto that story for people to click through on, you can find this feature under the “stickers” section on stories. If you want to make your stories more permanent so they don’t disappear after 24 hours, you can always add them as a highlight directly to your profile for people to access too.

Use relevant hashtags

Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags on each post and you should see these hashtags as free advertising for your posts. Hashtags are often the way users will search for specific content, find businesses, products and brands so using the right ones can help get your content seen and searchable.

When it comes to hashtags doing a little bit or research first can be beneficial. Try not to use overly competitive hashtags as your content will most likely get lost in a sea of millions of images. Instead search yourself beforehand and see what hashtags others are using, what hashtags are trending, what hashtags are others using that are relevant to your content and niche. Try to use these over the more generic popular hashtags. Its also worth remembering that just because you can use 30 hashtags it doesn’t mean you should, only use relevant hashtags and don’t just add in random ones to use up the 30, it won’t help you reach the right people.

Connect with other bloggers in a similar niche

Following on from using relevant hashtags to share your content, hashtags are also a great way to find bloggers in similar niches too. Searching for hashtags within your niche such as #parenting or #travelbloggers will bring up a whole host of posts and users posting content under this hashtag. Take time to interact with these people and their content with likes, shares and comments. Not only can you strike up some great friendships, but they may also reciprocate by sharing and interacting with your content too as it will be of a similar interest to them.

In doing this you will likely see a boost in your own engagement stats too as more people interact with your content and will give Instagram the indication that it should be showing your content to more people who like this niche.