Getting Started with Instagram

On its website, Instagram describes itself as “a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures.” Created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Keiger, Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion.  As of December 2014, there were 300 million active users on Instagram.

How to Get Started With Instagram

If you do not already have an Instagram account, you can set one up in just three easy steps:

1. Download the App: First, you will need to download the Instagram app onto your phone (from the Apple App Store or Google Play store depending on which device you have). Currently the app is only available to iPhone and Android users.
2. Create Your Account: Select “Sign Up” and enter your email address. On the next page, create a username and password and then you will have the option to enter your full name and phone number if you want.
3. Connect with Friends: The next two pages will allow you to find friends from your Facebook account and/or the Contacts saved on your phone. I highly recommend that you connect with as many people as you can at this point since these are people who already know you, are already on Instagram and are most likely to follow you back and begin engaging with you.

Once you have completed these three steps, Instagram will make recommendations on people you may want to follow. Take a few minutes to poke around and see if there are any people or topics that interest you so you can begin following them. The Instagrammers you choose to follow may or may not follow you back, but as you begin posting photos on Instagram and engaging with other people’s photos, you will likely notice a return on your engagement.

To post your first photo, you can snap a photo from within the app or choose a photo from your photo library that you want to share. You can then edit/optimize the photo, add a caption, tag people, select your location and share your photo to any of the following: Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, Tumblr or Flickr.

Congratulations, you are now part of the artsy Instagram crowd!

Want to learn how to promote your book on Instagram?

Stay tuned. I’ll cover that later this week.  If you want to make sure you don’t miss it, subscribe to my blog and new posts will be delivered right to your inbox!