We will tell you how to create a blog on Instagram, how to run it correctly and monetize it.
How to create a blog on Instagram
First, you need to create a regular account on the social network through the official website or mobile application (if you wish, you can use your existing Facebook profile to create an account on Instagram). The procedure is straightforward, you just need to specify a phone number or e-mail and come up with a password.
After that, you can convert your account from personal to business profile. So it will gain a number of functions that are not available for standard accounts. But this is optional. You can develop and promote your personal blog just as well. And even make some money on it.
If this option suits you, then proceed to the next step without conversion.
Choosing a theme
The Instagram audience loves personal blogs. Observing someone else’s life arouses genuine interest in a huge part of the population, but this life should be interesting.
Therefore, the blogger should have a trick. Something that will attract people and make them subscribe. For example, you are a tattoo artist with a bunch of interesting ideas, who talks about your work in parallel with life stories. Or you work as a taxi driver and regularly find insane clients who are interesting to tell others about. Or, like Northern Friend, you travel around Russia and publish soulful photos of your homeland.
You can choose several topics. The main thing is not to be scattered on a dozen topics at once, but to concentrate on two or three ideas that can be developed and regularly supplemented with new posts.
How to properly blog on Instagram
We will assume that you have already decided on the topic and know that your profile will be devoted to conventional music or, for example, fashion. Now you should go directly to concept development and content creation.
We design the appearance of the profile
Everything on the main page should be verified, everything should be harmonious and pretty. Avatar, description, profile name, grid of pictures, the presence of a common style in every detail, etc.
Your account avatar is the first thing a person sees when they spot your profile in the comments or when searching. Let it be not very interesting and catchy, but at least not repulsive.
It was once fashionable to put on the main profile picture pictures that seem indecent and provocative from a distance, but now this only works for very low-grade humorous profiles.
Add a clear description without unnecessary information and husks in the form of hundreds of emojis. It’s not beautiful. Use apps to create a custom grid of images with useful information and high-quality photos. Add unique images to your saved Stories, just like the NeuralDSP brand does.
Use video screensavers and your own “branded” font for photos or graphic posts.
Processing pictures and clips
The visual component on Instagram plays a key role. It is no longer possible to do something ugly. No matter what you shoot, the quality should be at the level of professional shooting. Fortunately, even a smartphone can now provide this level. The main thing is to learn how to set up lighting.
This applies not only to bloggers creating specialized content (recording music covers, acting out sketches, etc.). Making breakfast and morning coffee can also look like a movie scene, and such content really attracts a large audience of aesthetes, of which Instagram is full.
Instead of explicit Instagram filters, use neat color grading in apps like Adobe Lightroom (for photos) and iMovie (for videos). It looks cinematic and more professional (like in the Street Vision profile aggregator, for example).
We select content for posts
It is not difficult for musicians, artists or actors to generate posts. There are always new works to publish. People talking about their personal lives have a much harder time. But this is on the one hand. On the other hand, there are no clear rules. You can talk about anything, including politics, high-profile failures of famous people and other sensitive topics.
It is important to always follow the agenda and speak up on almost any issue. Some of the stars disgraced themselves, and the whole Internet is discussing this? Insert your 5 cents. Artemy Lebedev has once again launched a product that nobody needs? And mention it. With this approach to creating materials, the content of the personnel is no longer so important.
There are bloggers who post their beautiful faces without context, but at the same time discuss difficult political issues, vaccinations, state propaganda and tragic events in their signatures and comments. This catches Karina Stremersha.
Coming up with ideas for stories
Stories will quickly become one of the main tools for communicating with subscribers. This is the format that does not require special attention to the design and thinking through every detail of the statement. The beauty of stories is the ability to create them quickly and instantly get feedback from the audience in various formats.
You can arrange polls, repost opinions of the audience, call for communication, and more often share personal ones. Also, do not hesitate to steal formats from well-known bloggers looking for methods of audience engagement.
Interacting with subscribers
Communication is the trump card of Instagram bloggers who gained popularity without any background (high-profile career or fame before appearing on Instagram). Simply communicating with subscribers in the comments already increases the chances of a more successful promotion.
Ask the audience for their opinion. Let everyone have a voice. Create the illusion of choice, or really focus on public voting. Make her feel important and see the impact on account content.
Don’t shy away from sweepstakes, giveaways and full-scale contests. An Instagram call is an effective way to attract new people, and also allows you to establish emotional contact with them.
Promote your blog
The competition on Instagram is insane, and you can’t count on growth solely through beautiful content. You have to do something completely incredible, or use outdated methods of promotion and advertising.
-
We crawl into recommendations using popular posts and hashtags (free targeting to an audience with specific interests).
-
Bulk subscribe to other users so that they subscribe in response. Collaboration with other bloggers for mutual likes on each other’s posts, etc.
-
We participate in popular marathons, flash mobs and other public events where you can show your profile. This also includes draws and giveaways for subscriptions.
-
We mutually talk about other bloggers in our stories.
-
We leave provocative comments under the posts of famous bloggers and try to discuss there with a large number of people.
-
We buy targeted advertising by means of Instagram so that the profile appears in the feed of interested users under the “Advertising” label.
There is no need to choose from this list. It is necessary to use everything at once equally and in different combinations.
We think over the tactics of earning
There are several ways to monetize your profile. The choice depends on your activity and profile popularity.
Big brands often come to so-called influencers (that is, opinion leaders) and offer to do native advertising in Stories. Tell about their product and recommend it to your audience for big money.
Smaller bloggers also charge for posts and promotions. For example, they talk about lesser-known photographers and musicians for a nominal fee and help them gain an audience.
Anyone who creates unique content can use Instagram as a platform to promote their profile on Patreon (well, or OnlyFans, who has what preferences), which already brings money. Someone generally sells methods of promoting their account in social networks, and for some reason people pay money for this. So there are enough niches.
And if you create something with your hands (decorative mugs, knitted scarves, stickers or pictures, as the enthusiast artist Marina Shulgina does), then you can promote and sell your goods directly through the social network. Consider it a free advertising platform.
Useful services for developing an Instagram account
-
TapLink. A service for quickly assembling a mini-landing page with links to pages useful for subscribers, your other social networks or the official website. The program allows you to combine all of them into one convenient list.
-
LiveDune. Analytics system for third-party Instagram profiles. Helps to make sure that a blogger is popular before buying ads from him or before starting any other mutual promotion campaign.
-
SpamGuard. Automated mechanism to protect against bots and spammers.
That’s all. You are ready to get started on your Instagram profile. Use all available promotion tools and always pay maximum attention to the quality of your content.