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How to Start a Blog on Instagram: 7 Tips for Beginners
Blogging is a popular way for people to share their lives and discuss topics they’re interested in. Besides website builders like WordPress and Squarespace, you should also consider how to use social media to build your online presence.
Instagram has evolved from being purely a space to share photos into a multimedia platform that lets you reach a potentially huge audience. Regardless of your interests, you can probably find like-minded people with the right approach.
Starting a blog on Instagram requires playing the long-term game, and these tips will help you begin your journey.
1. Use a Creator or Business Account
Once you’ve decided you’re going to run a blog on Instagram, the first step—after creating an account—is to use a creator or business account. When you change your account to this, you’ll gain access to several useful analytics tools. For example, you can see how many people viewed your profile in the last seven days.
Other analytics you’ll gain access to include:
- The days on which you get the most engagement.
- The number of accounts you’ve reached within a certain time period.
- How your follower count has changed over a certain period.
To set up a business or creator account on Instagram, follow these steps.
- In the Instagram app, go to your profile. Then, select the icon with three horizontal lines in the top right-hand corner.
- Tap Settings and privacy.
- Scroll down to the For professionals section and select Account type and tools.
- Tap Switch to professional account.
- Choose the category for which you want to change your account to. If you want this to feature on your profile, toggle Display on profile on.
- Hit Done when you’re finished.
Once you’ve set up your blog, you can invite your friends to follow you on Instagram and support your work.
2. Choose a Niche
You’re competing for attention with billions of other Instagram accounts, so you need to give users a reason to follow your profile. One way you can do that is by making it very clear what you talk about.
You don’t need the perfect niche as a beginner blogger, but you should choose a topic you’re interested in. As you post more frequently, you’ll better understand what your audience likes and dislikes—along with what you do and don’t like. Once you have that information, you can finetune your content accordingly.
If you’re unsure about which niche to start with, here are some that you can explore:
- Travel
- Self-improvement
- Photography
If you choose travel, you might want to consider checking out our top travel photography tips. That way, you can create more enticing posts for users to engage with.
When creating your Instagram blog account, it’s also worth stating what you do in your bio.
3. Tell Your Stories With Carousels
Carousels are a superb way to tell a story with still images or graphics. You can add up to 10 with each post, which should be more than enough to explain a point you’re trying to make. Try to limit yourself to one paragraph on each carousel; doing so will make your content more digestible.
You can use carousels to provide useful tips, and they’re also handy for setting the context around a situation that you’ve experienced. Another way that you can use carousels is to summarize a recent trip, and you might also want to think about sharing some interesting statistics that you’ve found.
We’ve got a guide on creating Instagram carousel posts with Adobe InDesign for those of you that want to take your designs to the next level.
4. Don’t Ignore Video Content
Video content was a huge focus on Instagram in 2021 and 2022, and the future of the platform is probably going to include a mixture of both photos and video. With that in mind, you shouldn’t ignore Instagram Reels entirely.
You can create all kinds of Instagram Reels for your blog. For example, you can share quick tips—along with behind-the-scenes content. It’s also worth thinking about using Instagram Reels for sharing before and after images.
When making Reels, you might need to experiment and see what works best for you. The most important thing is that every piece of content you publish is intentional. We’ve got a suite of Reels ideas to try if you want to stand out.
5. Write Engaging Captions
When running a blog on Instagram, creating your visual content is only one piece of the puzzle. Your captions should also be engaging and explain what is going on in each of your posts.
Instagram captions should be easy to read, and it’s worth using shorter sentences and smaller bodies of text. For more complex explanations, consider breaking your text up into bullet points or numbered sections.
Consider writing your captions on a computer or tablet instead of your smartphone. That way, you’ll find it easier to get an overview of everything. It’s also worth running your captions through a spell-checker to ensure that they’re error-free.
6. Try Not to Rely Solely on Instagram
Instagram provides a strong base for you to grow your audience, especially if you’re a beginner to blogging. However, you should try not to rely solely on Instagram.
When you post on the platform, you don’t own any of the content you publish. You’re also at the mercy of algorithmic changes, and Instagram could suspend your account without prior warning in some cases.
Diversifying where your audience can find you is a good idea. Consider adding a link to your newsletter in your bio, for example. You can also create a website to host longer-form content, and you have numerous options. These include:
7. Choose a Consistent Color Scheme
Although a consistent theme isn’t as essential as it was in and before 2019, having an easily-identifiable aesthetic will make it easier for followers to remember your brand. On top of that, you’ll also have a clearer set of guidelines that you can follow when producing new posts.
When choosing a color scheme on Instagram, sticking with two or three similar colors is a good idea. You might also find that choosing a particular photo style is beneficial, and you can read all about using photography to create your own Instagram aesthetic.
If you post Reels, you can design covers for these to ensure that they fit in with the rest of your feed.
Get Your Blog Up and Running on Instagram With These Tips
Running a blog on Instagram can be challenging, but it’s also a huge opportunity to have some fun and talk about topics you’re passionate about. You can give yourself a head start by determining what you’ll discuss on your feed, along with not pigeonholing yourself into only one form of media.
In addition to Instagram, you should consider picking one or two other platforms to grow and nurture your audience. That way, you’ll have a better chance of future-proofing your blog and enjoying long-term success.
