The basics

Account type

Switch your profile to a business or creator profile, this allows you to connect your Instagram to your Facebook Page, use scheduling tools, access analytics/insights, sell directly through Instagram’s shop feature and run ads, among other things.

I recommend a business profile unless you are influencer, in which case a creator profile may be better.

Instagram have directly said the algorithm does not take into account account type; you will not be shown to fewer people because you have a business or creator account.

The big no-nos

Unless all you’re interested in is follower numbers, and even if that is all you’re interested in, never ever buy followers, join comment pods, use automated follows & unfollows, or other less than honest methods.

Why not?

1. Instagram is continually working to block the third party apps which offer this and ban accounts found to be using these methods.
2. Authenticity is king.
3. Bots and comment podders will not buy from you.
4. Reaching real potential customers who are genuinely interested in what you offer is what matters.

Instagram vocabulary

Some key words you need to know to understand this course. A downloadable PDF is available in the course materials section.

• Feed.
  The first thing that loads when you open Instagram where you can scroll through other people’s posts.
• Grid.
  Your feed posts as they appear in your profile.
• Stories.
  Posts which disappear after 24 hours (unless added to a Highlight) and appear at the very top of your feed.
• Highlights.
  Stories posts which remain visible on your profile. You can have multiple highlights, change the cover image and edit the contents,
• Hashtag.
  Any word or phrase preceded by a # symbol.
• Vanity metrics.
  The number of likes, comments, followers, etc which make you feel good but don’t make any difference to your bank balance.
• Insights.
  Statistics about your followers and posts (only available to business and creator accounts).
• Reels.
  Instagram’s version of TikTok; up to 15 second videos which can be shared to the feed, Stories or just the Reels feed.