Instagram tips {20 Insta Tips with Inspired by Charm}

We have a very special guest today on C.R.A.F.T.! Not only is he the first ever man to be featured on C.R.A.F.T., he also owns the most adorbale bed and breakfast and guest shoppe in PA called old charm, he writes an awesome blog about his inn keeper/design adventures, and he is an instagram pro.  Today, we’re swapping blogs and sharing 20 tips about out new favorite thing, Instagram. Be sure and check out my 10 tips on Michael’s blog, Inspired by Charm.

If you are anything like me, Instagram is probably your new favorite thing. A few weeks ago, the lovely and obviously super talented Jamie emailed me and asked if I wanted to get together for some blogger awesomeness and share some of our favorite Instagram tips. Being both a huge fan of C.R.A.F.T. and Instagram, I was completely on board.

On my blog, Inspired by Charm, Jamie is sharing ten tips for all you novice Instagrammers. Though I hate to admit it, I actually learned a few things from her post – and I’ve been using this app for over a year.

To add to Jamie’s wonderful list, I’m sharing ten of my favorite tips. Here goes.

1.  Instagram isn’t just a great way to share pictures, it’s also a fun tool for interacting with people. As with other social media, using a “@” before someone’s name allows you to tag a fellow user. Whether you tag a person in your photo’s description or use a tag when commenting on another photo, you can interact with people and build your audience.

2.  #Hashtags can also be used to tag your photos. Just like Twitter, tapping on an Instagram hashtag allows users to see photos that share the same hashtag. As a blogger, I use hashtags to help organize my posts for my followers. Most recently, I’ve been using #makingofagiftshoppe. This easily allows my followers to find all the pictures regarding the creation of my fall gift shoppe. Too much fun, right!? Hashtags are an excellent way to gain new followers and increase “likes”.

4. Although my participation has dropped off a bit lately, I have really enjoyed the many photo-a-day challenges via Instagram. My favorite are the challenges put together by @FATMUMSLIM. If you want to participate in the September challenge, check out the image below for the details. Don’t forget to use your #FMSphotoday hashtag.

5. As with most photographs, natural light is the best! Try taking your photos during the day when you have ample sunlight. You photos will thank you for it. 

6.  Keep your photos interesting. Try to find unusual perspectives and focal points. You may look a little crazy, but lie on the floor or stand on a table to get a really unique shot. Also, there’s nothing wrong with getting up close and personal with your photos. I love a good close-up shot!

7.  We all have friends who haven’t embarked on the smartphone adventure yet. Thankfully, Instagram realizes this.  Configure your share settings in the application to post your photos to Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Flickr, and Foursquare. I love this feature!

8. Set up a free online account to manage and share your Instragram feed. This is one more option for sharing your pictures with non-smartphone users. It’s also a good way for bloggers to link up their Instagram photos. I personally like the site Followgram, but you could also try other options like Webstagram or Gramfeed.

9. And last but not least, I thought I’d share two of my favorite Instagram enhancing apps. The first is Masking Tape. This app allows you to add cute little strips of washi masking tape to your photos. You can even include text on the tape! I love washi tape!

10. Diptic is also a favorite app. Diptic allows you to create a collage of your photos. It’s a must-have in my book.

Now that you have twenty great new tips, feel free to watch them in action. Follow Jamie at ‘thecraftblog’ and me at ‘inspiredbycharm’. A huge thanks to Jamie for letting me post here today. You are a fabulous host.

If you are looking for more unique ideas, delicious treats, and lots of inspiration, be sure to stop by my little home on the Web, Inspired by Charm.

And let us know in the comments if you have any other fun tips or tricks we missed. We clearly need to continue to fuel our Instagram obsession! about his adventures