There's one thing I've heard one thing loud and freaking clear, over and over. There's something that you HATE on Instagram: the Follow Unfollow strategy. Have you heard of it? It's the sleaziest, ickiest, grossest feeling growth strategy out there, but people use it. Let's be honest, though, whatever the platform is, there's always going to be people doing things a little bit then everybody agrees with. To tell you the truth, it's not just happening right now. It's been happening for years. Here's what you can do about it.

One great way to get people to watch (and rewatch) your Instagram stories is to use create intrigue. If a viewer taps your story and sees a feature they’ve never seen before, a little lightbulb goes off in their head telling them to keep coming back for more. It also designates you as a savvy Instagram user who stays ahead of trends and makes you stand out amongst the sea of stories so people come back again and again. I remember the first time I saw animated text on a video in an Instagram story – I watched it several times then spent probably an hour scouring my app, trying to find this cool feature. Today, I’m going to break down, step-by-step, how to add animated text to your photos and videos on Instagram.

Ever found yourself in phone-out zone-out mode? Mindlessly scrolling through your camera roll looking for something great post on Instagram? Or, even worse, scrolling through Instagram to try to find some inspiration for what post on Instagram? It feels like a dog chasing its own tail, once you start there’s really no end in sight. Luckily, you’re not alone. We’ve all been there – content creation overwhelm is no joke. It can start to feel like a monkey on your back, it’ll wear you down and exhaust you pretty quickly. Here are some no-fail ideas that will pick you back up when you’re feeling uninspired.

Instagram Stories are the place to be. Due to algorithmic changes and an oversaturation of posts in the news feed, posts simply aren’t seeing the play they used to. But have no fear, friend, engagement has not disappeared, it’s just moved from the feed to Stories. For this reason, interesting, engaging stories are more important than ever before. A really simple thing you can do to add visual interest and a whole lot of a personality to your Instagram Story is to add GIFs. The best part? It’s really really freaking easy. 

Over the past 24 hours, I’ve heard a number of people losing their damn minds about how “Instagram is going back to a chronological feed. They did, however, make an announcement yesterday about 2 changes that they’ll be rolling out in the near future in direct response to the overwhelming heavy sighs of the Internet in response to their more recent algorithm updates. I'm taking all the confusion and gossip and breaking it down for you.

Reading through Instagram’s Insights can be a really confusing place, even for the most well-seasoned Instagram pro. Although they include a “What does this mean?” section, a quick read through of their terminology descriptions will make you feel like you’re taking crazy pills. Insights are an incredibly powerful tool in shaping a smart Instagram strategy, however, so it’d be a damn shame to let them go to waste. 

Every time there’s an Instagram evolution, there are a million new articles published with every Tom, Joe, and Harry’s take on what you MUST do next. It can be stressful, it can lead to unnecessary panic, and some of it is just straight-up misinformation. To set the record straight, I’m busting the top 6 myths about hashtags on Instagram.

Each day, over 300 million users post to their Instagram stories. Duck lips bathroom selfies, boomerangs of dogs running, perfectly curated flat lays deskscapes of trendy coffee next to trendier macarons – we’re just as flooded in our stories as we are in our feeds. One great way to break through the noise and get noticed is to start playing with new features, like Text Mode. 

With over 800 million users on Instagram (500 million of which are active daily), there are over 300 million Instagrammers posting to their stories each day. We always knew the feed was crowded, but have you considered how many dang stories are on Instagram as well? Here are my top tricks for creating Instagram stories people love and can’t wait to watch.

I come bearing good news about Instagram. It's about time we had some good news in the social media world, right? Today, Instagram made a big announcement about a brand spankin' new feature they're unrolling that will make social media managers and small business owner's live so, so much easier. Instagram is unrolling a scheduling feature (eeee!). Before you get too excited and start deleting apps, let me give you the details...