Instagram is a popular social network where the main content is photography and video.
Cafes, restaurants, boutiques, flower shops and all kinds of activities that can be “beautifully photographed” have long been making money from a single Instagram account.

This is not only an opportunity to share photos and videos with friends, but also a powerful tool to support brand loyalty, the ability to be closer to customers, know their interests and attitudes towards your product.

To create a business, sell goods or provide services, it is not necessary to rent an office, equip a store or have one. A systematic approach, a little creativity and you can earn money with just one page on Instagram.

Before you start promoting, you need to spend. Competent filling determines whether your buyer will find the product or service of interest on your page.

Let's start with the creation of a "skeleton" for an Instagram online store.

1. Creating an Instagram account: profile picture, title, biography

It is best if the nickname matches the names of the company and does not contain unnecessary words and commercial messages (official, the best, shop, etc.). It is also good if you have one nickname for all social networks. It will be easier for subscribers to remember or find you:

Avatar

Do not neglect the principle of "meet by clothes."
Avatar is the main attribute of your profile recognition. The person by which you will be met, remembered and fall in love. The picture should be clear and not contain unnecessary details:

In the example above, the manicure studio adheres to the principle of simplicity and minimalism: picture and text on a white background.

After editing, save the created logo.

Near an avatar that is pretty in every sense, there should be information that the subscriber needs. After all, it is by the description that a person will determine whether your activity is interesting to him.

How to fill in your Instagram profile information:

Add or change this information by clicking the "Edit Profile" button at the top of the page. You need to clearly understand what exactly is important for a person to see on the page he is interested in: and provide this information in the description (products or services of the company, address, slogan, etc.).

1. Profile picture;
2. Biography;
3. Phone number;
4. Email;
5. Geodata.

Instagram page descriptions

Research shows that we remember 20% of what we read and 80% of what we see. But as information develops, people stop perceiving everything superfluous. Even if you have placed important information between the lines, a person can simply scroll through it. You have 5 seconds to grab the attention of a potential customer who has landed on your page for the first time.

Make sure you fill in the required information in your profile:

• Company name;
• a brief description of what you are doing;
• contacts;
• coordinates;
• link.

If, even before creating a profile, you figure out how to correctly fill in the necessary information, then upon completion, you can safely forget about the need to update your biography or contacts. What certainly can not be said about. Here you need to always be in trend and be creative. Since photography is something that must be liked by potential customers of your business.

2. How to take good photos for Instagram using your smartphone

All the work previously done will be appreciated and effective with good content on your page. In order to create it, it is not necessary to be a photographer, have expensive photographic equipment or turn to professionals.

Here it is enough to know 3 basic rules of photo content:
1. Use a smart phone with a good camera;
2. Take pictures in daylight;
3. Always use the same photo editing filters to create a unified account style (we will also talk about mobile photo editing apps).

Decide what mood the profile conveys to your reader: calmness - pastel colors, minimalism (suitable for textile stores, children's clothing, etc.) or rich colors - energy, expression. To make the photos in the profiles harmonize with each other - place light, dark or photos with color accents in a checkerboard pattern:

Of course, this is not necessary and creating your own unique profile will be better than generally accepted templates. But if you are just starting out and have no ideas yet, you can use this one.

Remember that a new user always pays attention to the profile as a whole, and not to individual pictures. And your subscriber is in the photo in the feed. Make sure to keep both of you interested.

3. Best Photo Editing and Timed Posting Apps:

VSCO— a good set of ready-made filters. Choose the one that best suits your product. Experiment with multiple photos and filters. Do they harmonize with each other?

Lightroom. Helps create a unified white balance on your Instagram profile.

Of course, the program has much more potential, we advise you to study it to create your stylized account.

Snapseed. The program will help create an exposure or highlight the accents in the photo.

UNUM. Create profile photo layouts before they're posted:

Photos were taken and edited. But this is half the work on the post. The next step is a description or text.

Text in posts

Decide on the purpose of your presence on Instagram: this is the platform from which you want to sell, or a customer connection tool (suitable for existing stores. Instagram is not the main source of sales here, but in the future it can significantly increase them).

There is an option to hire a copywriter or SMM specialist. But the owner may well manage the business account. After all, no one knows your product, its properties and capabilities as well as you.

In fact, writing texts for product posts is not difficult. But still, always “try on” the text for yourself: what a person should think after reading and, most importantly, what to do.

In the text, give real benefits for a person, not characteristics that may not always be clear. For example: you sell portable batteries for phones. In the description you write 1000 mAh. But not always people know how much it is. And if you write: “1000 mAh - up to 5 phone recharges” - a potential client will evaluate whether the product suits him and save him from unnecessary thoughts. Here he sees the value of the battery and its application to his needs.

A post should always contain a call to action: order, buy, call.

Avoid template words and applications in the text: “best quality”, “low price”, “unique production”, “reliable service”.
Replace them with actual product properties:

• “best quality” for “80% of composition - steel”;
• “low price” - always write the real price, comparing yourself with competitors;
• “unique production” - we make orders based on your preferences;
• “reliable service” - 5 years warranty.

Without water, with real examples of the use of the product.
In posts, try to balance between product posts and useful content. So you will look like an expert in the eyes of the reader, become an authority, build a trusting relationship.

Hashtags

Hashtags for the page are necessary for easy search of the desired posts.

Create your own unique hashtags:

They work well for a range of products. For example, the tag #cupcake_Instabakery: the subscriber will be able to quickly find all the cupcakes you offer.

Geolocation

Decide where you want to sell your goods: if these are city limits and you have an offline store, geolocation is definitely needed.

But if you go to an audience outside your region, it’s better not to set the location. This can scare away potential consumers. They will think that it is far away and will not pay attention to the product. Even if he interested them.

Forget about manually creating posts every day!
All successful pages automatically post pre-prepared content.

As a beginner entrepreneur, automate your posting: spend 1-2 days on photos and texts. The scheduler will publish finished posts at the specified time and date. The Instagram page will be regularly updated with previously planned content.

Conclusion

Now you know what is important when creating an Instagram business page. We learned how to process photos, use text, the rules for maintaining our own headings and hashtags. Of course, skill comes with time. Don't be afraid to experiment and, most importantly, practice by taking examples and ideas from your favorite accounts. Try to combine photo content in several styles, change colors and accents. Over time, you will definitely create your individual account with unique beautiful photos to inspire others.

If you have questions - feel free to write comments. We are always happy to help.
Good luck and many sales!

How to make the very “live” frame for the avatar yourself, as if you had a story filmed (and when it is really filmed, there will even be two circles on the Instagram avatar)? A question that has already stirred more than one inquisitive mind of an instagrammer these days! Do you want me to tell you? Use it 😅 while I'm kind!

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a circle-frame on an Instagram profile photo

1. Download the PicsArt program, it's free, and everything we need in it is also free. It is important! Because many advisers indicate programs for the extended functionality of which you will have to pay. There isn't.

2. Download from the Internet (ok, Google, download for me) background for Instagram, that is, the background of Instagram, you see it in the photo as a frame. Save it to your phone album.

3. Go to PicsArt and choose the same rainbow background from the album as a photo there.

4. Next, click on the "Add photo" button at the bottom. Choose your photo for your avatar. Then again at the bottom you will see the “cut shape” button: press it and select the circle shape. So your circle will be dressed in an iris. Reduce the size of the inner frame to a minimum or remove its transparency in the next step, when your circle finally becomes a rainbow background. Save.

5. Open Instagram and edit your profile picture. Choose our saved masterpiece and insert evenly into the circle.

Looks neat. It's actually much easier than what I described. I tried to explain the whole algorithm on my fingers.

By the way, you can show off and make a frame of a different, bright, eye-catching color. To do this, go to the LiPix application and select a frame with a circle there. Insert your photo inside, and choose the background color (which will later become the bright shell of the photo) to whatever your heart desires with one touch on the scale. To put it exactly on the avatar, you can again use PicsArt and cut off the circle according to the well-known scheme. But those who do not have pens from well can handle it.

I don’t know why everyone needs this frame, but since such a wedding has gone, cut the last cucumber!

To whom it was useful, put money in the comments! 💸💸💸 And write your secrets for creating bright avatars. There should be many of us, selfless madmen!😂

You can download the app for iOS or Android. It is possible to view user photos directly from a computer with Internet access. The mobile app is used to upload, edit and share images as there is currently no way to do this from a computer.

If your business is a brand starting from scratch, there are plenty of creative ways to launch your Instagram account. One of the most interesting examples I've seen is the clothing store Kooples, which did a daily countdown before the account went live.

What are the exact image sizes used by Instagram?

• Square images reign supreme on Instagram.
• Avatars sized 110x110 pixels.
• The standard photo size on Instagram is 612x612 pixels.

Any image you take is up to 2048-pixel square and can be resized. For example, the mosaic that appears at the top of your profile is made up of seven popular recent uploaded photos. The largest image in the mosaic will be 409x409 pixels. If you're new to Instagram, your cover will be created as soon as you share seven images.

This is what the Socelin mosaic looks like today.

What are the most effective analytics tools for Instagram?

Just like Facebook and Twitter, there are third-party analytics apps for analyzing Instagram statistics. They allow you to learn more about how to get the most out of your publications. Here are two of the best analytics tools:

Iconosquare is a deep (! and free) Instagram account analysis toolkit. Iconosquare allows you to get the total number of likes on your profile, a list of the most popular photos from your account, the average number of likes and comments per photo, a graph of the growth of the number of followers, and more advanced analytics.

Totems is a luxury analytics designed specifically for brands. This tool covers all major stats for Instagram, including dashboard analytics, hashtag monitoring, and social CRM. The price starts from $149 per month.

What indicators should be measured?

If you want to set the course for success like some of the big brands on Instagram, then you need to aim for the same like and comment rates they get. Track Maven's Sabel Harris, who released a voluminous report last fall on Instagram's top 500 companies, notes that big brands get an average of 37 likes and comments per post for every 1,000 followers.

You can extrapolate from this data to calculate performance targets for your company. Multiply the number of your followers by 0.037.

If you have 1,000 followers, aim for 37 likes and comments per post. If you have 500 followers, aim for 19 likes and comments per 1 photo. If you have 5,000 followers, aim for 185 likes and comments, respectively.

Of course, you should expect an uneven ratio of likes and comments. Analysts of the Totems service found that the average distribution of activity per post is 100 likes for every 1 comment.

If you can’t achieve the desired indicators, then you can use the instagram cheat service by adding the desired number of subscribers and likes.

What is the best time of day to post on Instagram?

SumAll app analysts researched the best times to post on seven different social networks, including Instagram. Their findings for Instagram:

From 17:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and from 17:00 to 20:00 on Mondays.

Here is their fun infographic. You will find Instagram data in the middle:

The mobile nature of Instagram creates a different time frame for posting than the social networks Facebook or Twitter, which can be accessed throughout the day from a work computer (Instagram can also be accessed from a computer, but users tend to prefer logging in from mobile devices) . The “mobility” of Instagram makes the “best time to post” curve a bit flatter because the app is available at all times (we always carry our mobile devices in our pocket or purse).

SumAll also mentions the burrito principle, a concept coined by a stylish Stay blogger named Darian Rodriguez Heyman. The principle is based on the fact that you need to catch people during a pause or break when they are eating burritos, for example, and, accordingly, they have free time to check social media, including Instagram.

To "catch" users, your publications should be timed to coincide with the moments when they have free time.

It is also possible to post late at night when Instagram is quiet. During this period, your message becomes more visible.

An avatar is the first thing any visitor to your Instagram profile will encounter. This small picture should be given a lot of attention, especially if ava is the face of your brand, reflects the essence of your activity. In this publication, we will tell you how a good profile picture for Instagram should look like and give a few “guides” for working with this image.

What does good ava mean?

A high-quality main profile photo should attract attention, no matter how. It can be a well-chosen frame, background, well-chosen color. It is very good if the profile photo reflects the essence of your business, interests, topics. But at the same time, users trust real photos on the profile picture more. At times increases the number of transitions to your profile - a "live" frame for the avatar, as if you had a story filmed. Next, we will briefly describe how to do it from the phone.

To get started, you'll need a free program: PicsArt, which you can download from the app store for your platform. Next, download and save background for Instagram (Ista's rainbow background) to your phone's memory. This is done easily on request in the search bar of the browser or by setting a task to the voice assistant.

• open PicsArt and select the downloaded background;
• add a photo;
• click the "Cut shape" button (select the circle);
• remove the transparency of the inner frame and click "Save".

How to change your profile picture on Instagram?

In principle, there is nothing complicated in this process, and even the owner of “not quite straight hands” will be able to perform this procedure without outside help. So:

• open the Instagram app;
• go to the main page of your profile;
• go to the "edit profile" section;
• under ava, click the "Change" button;
• select the required photo from the collection or import from other social networks. Also, the service offers to take an instant photo. Select the desired item from the pop-up menu.

After choosing a photo, Instagram will automatically adjust it to the desired size and move you to the settings menu. To publish a new avatar, click on the "Finish" button.

How to open the avatar in full size?

In some cases, the user needs to enlarge the avatar, for example, in order to better see what was done in the photo. So, how to view the avatar on Instagram in its original quality, if the standard size of the ava does not exceed 150x150 pixels?

The easiest option is to take advantage of the Gramotool online service.

This operation does not require registration and any payment.

If you need to view the ava in an enlarged format on your smartphone, then the best application for this is Qeek - Enlarge Profile Picture.

How to open ava on Instagram without using third-party resources? The original image can be viewed in another way without using applications and various online services. From a PC, this is done as follows:

• enter the desired profile and right-click on the profile picture;
• select "Open in a new tab";
• in the address bar of the window that opens, remove, for example, vp/d12c10f06f22c22b48645a29133ze92e/5B11E58C/s150x150;
• press Enter.

After this procedure, the original image will open, if, of course, it initially had a resolution greater than 150x150 pixels. To find out the original resolution of the original image, (for example, using the search capabilities of Yandex), right-click on the ava and select "find this image in Yandex".

How to save a profile photo on Instagram?

• using mobile applications of third-party developers;
• via link.

For devices on the Android OS, the most popular utilities are Insta Profile Downloader; Profile Picture Download for Instagram. The principle of operation of these utilities is simple: enter the nickname of the user whose avu you want to download into the program and give the command to complete the procedure. A distinctive feature of the applications is that for downloading you do not need to enter registration data and even have your own profile on Instagram.

But there are no applications to save a profile photo to devices running IOS. Maybe because the App Store respects intellectual property, which is copyrighted content?

• click on the right mouse button;
• select from the list "Open image in a new tab";
• go to the tab;
• click on the photo with the right mouse button.

In a similar way, an avatar is downloaded in a mobile application. The algorithm is the following:

• enter your profile to download ava;
• click on the "ellipsis" icon;
• select "Copy profile link";
• paste the address into the browser;
• long-click to open the menu and select "open image in a new tab";
• copy the link to the photo;

• open in a new browser window;
• select the address and remove the photo size from it.

Now, if everything is done correctly, the profile photo will open in its original size.

What size can I upload photos to my Instagram profile?

The maximum size of an Instagram photo in pixels is 1080 x 1080 px. Previously, the resolution of the photos was 640 x 640 px. Anything larger than Insta automatically cuts to the specified size; anything less stretches to 320px.

The size of the photo for the avatar is 150x150 pixels. Previously, Insta allowed uploading photos on ava with a resolution of 110x110 px.

Conclusion

In this publication, we tried to consider in detail what an avatar for Instagram is, and what operations can be performed with the main profile photo. It should be understood that the quality of the photo on the avu is directly proportional to the popularity of the account on the social network. Unlike the rest of the content, the Instagram avatar will not gain likes and followers, but its importance cannot be underestimated.