Visiting the Instagram HQ: Here’s what I learned

The view from the Instagram/Facebook HQ

A few weeks back I had a very exciting meeting. Not only was it with Instagram, but it was with Instagram-legend Eva Chen (I’m a big fan, if your can’t tell). It was all about how to improve the appearance on Instagram, and about the trends and tendencies that are showing. I left so inspired, so I thought “Why not share all the tips and tricks?”. I took tons and tons of notes, so I boiled it down to the 5 most asked Q’s.

How to gain new followers

• Great original content
  • In the moment, mobile-first, focus on outtakes, and randomness — Photos that look like you took them yourself (with your phone) perform better than polished, professional photography
• Behind-the-scenes shots — content that is ?more real? and ?intimate?
• Followers tagging friends is ?a digital shoulder tap? and you should see it as a positive thing
• Engage with you followers as well as the people you follow
  • Comment on photos, like photos, follow people that inspire you
  • Reply to comments like you are best friends, and reply in a timely fashion

How to gain more likes

• Show and tell
• Behind the scenes/ pull back the curtain / everyday life
  • People love to see how other people live their lives and get inspired by it
• Show personality
• People open Instagram around 19-50 times a day (I’m guilty of 50+), so Eva actually said that posting 6-10 times a day is the ultimate number if you want to get seen by your followers (I post 3-4 times a day)

Hashtags

• Outside of fashion, hashtags are HUGE
  • Millions of users are looking up hashtags, so don’t think they are uncool to use
• Etiquette
  • 1-2 #’s for your caption; put the rest of your desired hashtags in a comment (up to 30)
  • When other people comment with hashtags, they will not show up in searches and use count

Content that gets great engagement

• Lifestyle, fashion & inspiration (check out Viktoria Dahlberg or Pernille Theisbæk as examples)
  • Curating a lifestyle
  • Think of the grid as show and tell
• Behind-the-scenes, pulling back the curtain
• Abundance (Beauty brands ex. organized objects — make up)
• Place settings

Context

• Give context about the photo
• Give followers something a little bit extra they can?t see anywhere else
• Choose how you want to tell YOUR story and keep it consistent

Video

• Boomerang — makes you stop and linger
  • Loopable video, no hard-stop, hypnotic
• Forget about likes for videos — it?s all about the view count
• Super-produced content does not perform as well on Instagram
• The first three seconds are the most important
  • Put the most compelling part at the beginning
• Mobile-first-produced video performs better (content that was made for the platform)
• Play with slow-mo and hyperlapse