Instagram is a great platform for entrepreneurs. There are a lot of possibilities, and you can easily get into contact with your potential customers. If you have been using Instagram for a while, you probably already know about the basic features. To help you make the most of the interesting options and possibilities of the online platform, I will share 15 features and options that you probably don’t know about yet, but which can be super interesting for you.
1. Use the extra link feature
On Instagram, there is only one place where you can put a real link: in your bio. In addition, you have the so-called ‘Swipe Up’ feature that is only available if you have a verified status or more than 10,000 followers. To get the ‘blue tick’ from the verified status, you should be a public figure or a well-known brand.
For some time now, it also has been possible to place a link in your stories. This is a great way to send your viewers directly to your giveaway, your product or service, or your latest blog or podcast episode.
To do this, go to the ‘Sticker’ feature in your Story and find the link sticker. Click on it and add the desired link. You can also customize the displayed text of the link. This feature is something you can easily use to increase the number of website visitors via Instagram.
2. Hide posts you’ve been tagged in
When other Instagram users tag you in photos or videos, those posts will be automatically added to your profile. Sometimes there are posts you have been tagged in that you’d rather not have on your profile. Fortunately, you can easily remove these tags yourself.
You can do this by clicking on the tagged post in question. Then select the option ‘Hide on my profile’. This will only remove the post from your own profile; the original will still be available on Instagram.
3. Repost posts from other users
Do you sometimes see a post that you would like to share with your followers? Think of, for example, a post with news from your field or inspiring information you don’t want to withhold from your followers?
There is an app that allows you to repost posts that were published by others and by yourself. You can do this with ‘Repost For Instagram’ in the Playstore (Android) or the Appstore (iOS).
This is how you use this useful app:
- Tap on the three dots right above the post you want to repost; this can either be one of your own posts or a post from someone else.
- Choose ‘Copy link’ and open the Repost app. The post is now ready in Repost. Click on the post that you want to repost. Below the post, you can choose where you want to put the name of the original account.
- Next, tap the blue ‘Repost’ button and then ‘Open Instagram’. Tap the arrow at the top right and click ‘Next’.
You can place the original caption of the post by pressing the ‘Write A Caption’ field for 2 seconds and then clicking ‘paste’. You can also add any comment of yourself in the caption.
4. Save interesting content
Did you see a post in your feed that you wanted like to save? Or do you not have a lot of time to look at something, so you want to save it for later? Think of inspiration for your own posts or interesting information that you want to use for something.
Saving posts is very simple on Instagram. Underneath each post, you will find an icon of a bookmark (the small icon that looks a bit like a flag). When you click on you can save the post to a collection. Click on the words that appear in blue and add the post to a desired or new collection.
You can easily manage the categories of your collections. To do this, go to ‘Settings’ via the three dashes at the top of your screen. Then go to ‘Saved’ to manage your posts.
5. Stand out with different fonts
Your bio on Instagram aims to introduce you and your business briefly. It is located directly under the profile picture; this means that it also contributes to the first impression people get of you. You can add emojis to stand out or for extra recognition.
It is even more professional if you use a different font. With different fonts, you can distinguish yourself visibly from others. Choose something that suits you and your company. One of the tools that you can use for this is LingoJam.
On the website, you can type your desired text in the text box on the left. It then appears on the right in a variety of fonts. Choose one and then copy and paste it into the desired location on Instagram.
6. Get more Instagram followers using Pinterest
Pinterest is a very useful platform for you as a business owner to create more brand awareness and get more website visitors. Did you know that you can also get more Instagram followers through Pinterest?
You can do this by regularly posting your Instagram posts on Pinterest. To do this, copy the link of the relevant Instagram post. Then go to your Pinterest account and create a new pin. Click on the ‘Save from site’ option and paste the link here. Select the desired image and finally click on ‘Add to Pin’.
You can now add the desired title and text, and place the pin. Also, you should create a separate ‘Instagram’ board where you post these types of pins. If you do this regularly, you will notice that you will gain visitors and followers from Pinterest.
7. Turn off certain Stories
Not all Stories are equally interesting: some Stories you are not interested in anymore, but others you would like to keep watching. It is not necessary to unfollow the account that posts less engaging Stories. You can easily filter the Stories by (temporarily) turning them off.
This is how you do it: click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the account whose Stories you don’t want to see anymore. Choose the option ‘Mute’.
There you also get the choice to only mute the Story or to mute both Stories and posts. The setting is active after you have clicked on it. You will now only see the Stories that are interesting to you at the moment.
8. Save time with a ‘custom feed’
Would you like to have an efficient feed that only shows posts from accounts you are really interested in? This will save you a lot of time, and time is money. Take a look at which accounts didn’t interest you in the past period.
The great thing is that Instagram provides insight into this, so you can adjust it immediately. To do this: go to the three dashes at the top right of your screen and go to ‘Settings’. Then choose ‘Privacy’ and scroll down to ‘Account you follow’.
There, click the option ‘Least interaction with’. When you have clicked on this option, you will see an overview of the accounts you have had the least interaction with in the past three months.
In this overview, you can easily unfollow accounts by clicking the ‘Follow’ button. You then have unfollowed that account immediately. By going through this once every three months, you can ensure that you have a relevant feed that matches your areas of interest and potential customers.
9. Watch a Story at your own pace
Do you agree that Stories move a bit too fast sometimes? Each clip lasts for only 3 (pictures) to 10 seconds (video). Especially if there is a lot of text, this is often too short to both watch and read everything.
Did you know that you can easily pause a Story yourself by pressing your finger on the screen? And if you want to go back to the previous Story, you can do so by clicking on the left side of the screen. This will take you to the Story before. You can also move forward by clicking on the right side of the screen.
Want to know more about how to successfully use Stories for your business? Then read this blog: https://www.anneraaymakers.nl/zo-maak-je-succesvolle-instagram-stories-15-tips/
10. Hide your likes
If you want, you can hide likes. You can set this by clicking on the three dots above the post you want to hide likes from. Click on ‘Hide like count’. You can enable this for a new post, as well as for previous posts.
You can still view the likes in your archive to keep track of them yourself. You can do this by clicking on the three bars at the top right of your screen and then by clicking on ‘Archive’.
11. Use guides in a targeted manner
With Guides in Instagram, you can place Instagram posts together in an organized way. Think of it as a kind of landing page on your Instagram account where you can place certain information together by theme, for example, and provide additional information.
As an entrepreneur, you can certainly benefit from this. With Guides, you can easily create subpages on your profile and place the posts under them.
The content of a Guide consists of your own content, but you can also ‘mix’ it with content from others. This way, you can bring together interesting information in an organized manner. Have you finished making a Guide? Then you can even share it as a Story.
12. Remove spam followers
When you post something on your account, only a certain portion of your followers see it. If a certain post gets high engagement with followers, Instagram shows your content to more of the same type of followers: that’s how the algorithm of Instagram works.
That’s why it’s important to have as few spam followers as possible. You know they are not your target audience, and they will also not respond to your followers. Be smart and remove those spam followers from your account. You will have fewer followers, but the followers you do have are your target audience, and they are the people you want to share your content with.
This is how you remove these types of spam accounts:
- Go to your profile and click on ‘Followers’.
- Look for ‘spammy’ names and check the account.
- Did you find a spam account? Tap the three dots behind the ‘Follow’ button and delete the account.
You should go through all of your followers this way. This targeted action helps to create a more valuable account with mainly your potential customers as followers.
13. Hide irrelevant sponsored posts
Instagram uses data about the people you follow, the posts you like, and third-party websites and apps you visit. Instagram uses this data to best tailor the ads you see to your interests.
If you see sponsored posts in your feed that are irrelevant to you, you can adjust this. You can do this by clicking on the three dots to the right of ‘Sponsored’. Then click on the option ‘Hide ad’. You can also indicate why you don’t want to see similar ads in the future.
This way, you can effectively minimize annoying or irrelevant sponsored messages.
14. Use Instagram effectively
You probably recognize this: you wanted to do something on Instagram and half an hour has past already… without you even noticing.
Instagram has built in a little trick to limit the time you spend in the app. It’s smart to set this up. To do this, navigate to the three dashes at the top right of your account, and then go to ‘Your activity’. When you get there choose the first option: ‘Time spent’. If you scroll down a bit, you will see the option: ‘Manage your time’.
There you can choose ‘Set reminder to take breaks’, and you can choose 10, 20, or 30-minute breaks. You can also set a daily limit. The options are 15, 30, 45 minutes, and 1 or 2 hours. Click on the desired time and then on the ‘Done’ button.
When the time has passed, you will get a push message form Instagram indicating that the time limit has passed. This way, you can also keep your Instagram usage in check.
15. Make use of more links in your Instagram bio
Since you can’t put clickable links in an Instagram post, the link in your bio is of great importance. You can link to it if you want people to go to your website or blog, but you can only put one clickable link.
You can also use a so-called link hub, for example, the app Linktree.
This is how you do it:
- Create a free account on linktr.ee
- Link your linktree account to Instagram
- Add the links to your linktree
- Add your personal linktree link to your Instagram bio
Take advantage of these useful features on Instagram to get more targeted visibility and work even more efficiently on this great online platform
Did you know you can use Canva to quickly and easily create designs for your Instagram Stories? If you are interested in Canva Pro, then you can test the tool for free for 30 days. You can sign up here: https://www.canva.com/nl_nl/pro/)
Do you want me to explain to you step by step how getting clients on Instagram works? What you can do, how to do it. Ideas, inspiration, tricks and tips. Shall we get started together? Sign up for 365 Days of Instagram Success: https://www.365daysofsuccess.com/365-days-instagram-success/
