5 Instagram Tricks and Features to Up Your Game

Instagram has quite a few tricks and features your company can take advantage of to take your account to the next level. Some of these tricks are obvious, while others are not well-known! 

Create shortcuts for your most-used responses

This one’s for you, iPhone users! You can create auto-complete comments to respond to common questions your brand receives on the platform. 

How to:

1. On your profile, tap the hamburger menu in the top right (the three stacked lines) and then Settings.
2. Click on Creator and then Quick Replies.
3. Click on New Quick Reply. 
4. Choose a word or phrase to use as the Shortcut (e.g., Business Hours).
5. In the Message section, type the response you would like to create (e.g., “Hi! We’re open for business 7 days a week from 9am to 8pm!).
6. Hit the Save button.
7. Whenever you want to use that specific comment, type the name of your shortcut and your phone will automatically insert the full text. 

Bookmark posts you want to utilize later 

Your company can use “Collections” as your digital collection of great user-generated content and brand inspiration.

How to:

1. Find a post you want to save
2. Click on the bookmark icon underneath the post you want to save
3. The post will be added to a generic collection, but if you’d like to save it to a specific one…
4. Click Save Collection, and from there, you can select an existing collection or click the + icon to create a new one. 
5. To see all of your saved posts and collections, visit your profile and click the hamburger menu. Then click Saved.

Get your bio in more search results

By adding a simple keyword for your business into the name field of your bio, you’ll be more likely to appear in search results for that industry! 

How to: 

1. Click Edit Profile on the top right of your Instagram profile
2. In the Name section, edit it to  include your keyword
3. Click Done on the top right corner of your screen

Find the most relevant hashtags to use

To be discovered by accounts that don’t already follow you,  including hashtags in your post is crucial. To select the best possible hashtags, follow the below process: 

How to:

1. Click the magnifying glass icon to go to the Explore tab
2. Type in a keyword and click the Tags column
3. Select a hashtag from the list
4. By doing so, you will be taken to a page of posts including that hashtag
5. Above the “Top” and “Recent” sections of the page, there is a small bar titled “Related.” Next to this, you will see list of relevant hashtags that you can swipe through for inspiration

Change the cover of your story highlights

Have the image of your choice as the cover of your highlights! 

How to:

1. Click on your highlight, then click Edit Highlight
2. Click Edit Cover
3. Select your photo from your phone’s camera roll

Ready to take your Insta game to the next level? Call, DM, or email us at sbellem@bbrookstone.com to learn about all of the tricks and features out there. We would love to help your company rock the social media game!