I’ve been on Instagram now for almost five years, posting most days for the last four. If this is literally you, you may want to know when to post on instagram so you can maximise your engagement! I must confess that I am guilty of posting most of Holly’s cliché shots over the years. But in the past few months in particular, I’ve been looking for different things to do and new ways to post. Remember, I’m the one who likes to try new things! So here are some of the things I’ve been doing lately – five things you can try if you want to shake up your Instagram stream a bit. If you are wondering how you could take your Instagram game to the next level, it would be wise to visit https://bio.fm!

1. Video

We’ve been able to post 15 seconds of video on Instagram for the last couple of years and recently, we’ve been able to go live on Instagram too and interact with followers directly. You can see who’s watching a live video and even invite them to join it and some users buy Instagram live views just to give their profile a boost. When it comes to uploading a video, fifteen seconds doesn’t sound like a long time, but you can fit a surprising amount into that time. But it hasn’t really been taken up by the Instagram community at large, perhaps because it requires a different approach from shooting stills. But you can do video in ways that are not that different from still photography, where you hold the camera still. Shoot with either the native iPhone camera in slow-mo mode or with the slo-mo app to evoke a mood, for instance (above left), or try the Hyperlapse app to pack a lot into those 15 seconds (above right). I’ve also tried Cinemagraph, which produces still images where only some parts move (but for really good results you’ll need a tripod).

2. Different image formats
Instagram is all about squares; it’s one of the defining features of the platform. Or is it? Using the Squaready app (they also have one for video), you can turn a portrait or landscape image into a square by adding white bars. I’m currently alternating vertical and horizontal 3:2 images, which looks really neat on your profile page. But when I first made the change not all of my followers were impressed, so if you decide to try this, expect some pushback. If you’re looking to grow your Instagram, this might not be the best way to do it, well at least that’s what I experienced but your following may vary. Personally I like the challenge of shooting alternating vertical and horizontal images, but some people just post one or the other, and that looks great too. So if you’re thinking of trying it, it’s worth considering what will work best for you and what you want your stream to look like overall.

3. Mosaics
Have you taken a whole load of images and you want to share them in one post? Then mosaics are the way to go. The quick-and-dirty way to do it is to screengrab the grid of images in the Camera Roll, and post that. There’s also a separate Instagram app called Layout that provides more options and lets you adjust the crop and zoom of each image. Another option is the Diptic app. I love being able to post a mosaic of images from a restaurant, say, or a collection of details from a place or a situation where one image might not have been enough to tell the story.

4. Slideshows
Another way to post several images is to combine in time, rather than in space, by creating a slideshow video that switches from one image to another (and, if you’re feeling ambitious, includes videos). There are several ways to do this including iMovie, Flipagram and Flipjam. The last two are easier to use than iMovie, but they also add watermarks to the final result unless you pay more to have them removed, which you may find annoying. So if you are a purist, the extra fiddling involved with iMovie is worth the effort. Also, by adding music you can really evoke a mode to go with your images. And if you can get the clips to change on the beat, then that’s even better!
5. Steller
Yes, I know Steller isn’t Instagram, but if you’re feeling constrained by Instagram’s limitations and want to be able to tell stories by combining several images with text and even video into a kind of digital flip book, then you should check out Steller. The community over there is still quite small but it’s growing fast, and is very friendly and encouraging. In fact, it reminds me of the early days of Instagram.

Posting a story on Steller is more work than posting a picture on Instagram, but it gives you a lot more storytelling options. And a side-effect is that you may come to appreciate Instagram’s brilliant simplicity even more than you did before.

Respect the old, but pursue the new.

kirstin