10 Instagram Hacks You Should Know

Ah, Instagram. The social media we all love and love to hate. I’ll be honest I’ve been hearing so many people complain about Instagram lately! Their algorithms are really starting to make everyone crazy. But, so is the world of social media.

Personally, I’m still a lover of Instagram. Sure the algorithms are frustrating, I struggle at times to grow my audience, but I’ve given up on trying to chase the algorithm and “fast growth” methods and just enjoy the platform for what it is…awesome pictures/videos.

Today I have some awesome Instagram hacks you should totally know if you like using this social media platform. Tips and tricks to make using it even better and more effective!

Instagram Hacks Everyone Should Know

1. See all the posts you’ve liked

Ever like a picture and then can’t find it later? I remember once thinking “I can see the pictures other people like, I want to see all the pictures I’ve like!” Well…you can.

1. Go to your profile page.
2. Tap the gear icon and go to “options”
3. Find the “pictures you’ve liked” option.

1. Get any color you want in Instagram Stories

Just like on Snapchat, there is a little trick to get any color you want to draw in Instagram Stories so you’re not stuck to the preset color options. Want white? Black? Navy? You can have it all.

1.When you click to draw you’ll get the preset color options.
2. Hold down the color and you’ll see a whole arrange of colors open. Choose any color you want!

3. Pin your post to Pinterest

Sharing to Pinterest is a great way to generate more eyeballs on your content. Plus, we all know the powerful search engine capabilities of Pinterest. Unfortunately, it isn’t one of the platform choices when you choose to “share” a picture from your Instagram and you can’t “pin” from a post. But don’t worry, sharing to Pinterest is a breeze.

1. Go to the post you’d like to Pin and tap the three dots icon so you can “Copy Share URL”
2. Open the Pinterest app on your mobile device and go to your profile.
3. Tap the plus sign at the top right to “add a new Pin,” and select “Copied link”
4. Pinterest will automatically open the link saved to your clipboard, otherwise, paste in the link.
5. Choose your image and pin away!

Note: You can do this same thing on Pinterest desktop as well.

4. Add line breaks in your bio

You’ve probably seen Instagram bios with line breaks. It makes the bio stand out and separate information. But, you can’t add line breaks inside the profile editor. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open up your notes app and write out your bio as you’d like it to appear with line breaks.
2. Select and copy all this text.
3. In your Instagram app, visit your profile and choose to “edit profile”
4. Paste the text and viola!

5. Arrange your filters

If you’re a user of the Instagram filters, you can reorder them to put the ones you use up front. That way you can tuck the ones you don’t use towards the back or hide them completely.

1. When posting a new photo, go to Filters
2. Scroll all the way to the end of the filters and you’ll see “Manage”
3. You’ll press and hold the three line icon next to each filter and drag them to rearrange.
4. You can also check or uncheck each filter to hide or unhide and filters

6. Bookmark other’s Instagrams (secretly!)

I’ll be honest I have a “screenshots” folder on my iphone that’s 85% screenshots from Instagram of things I want to remember, save, show a friend later, or use for inspiration.
Instagram now has bookmarks so you can save Instagram posts in one place and come back to see them later. The best part is it’s 100% secret, so you don’t have to feel like a creeper for bookmarking a post from 2 years ago.

1. When you’re on a post you want to bookmark, tap the “bookmark icon” underneath the post (it’s on the righthand side of the screen)
2. To see all your saved posts click the matching “bookmark icon” when you’re on your profile.

7. Hide photos you’ve been tagged in

Ever been tagged in a picture that has nothing to do with you? Or, been tagged improperly? Or you see it and you’re just like “…nah.” You can hide these tagged pictures from your Instagram profile.

1. Go to the “Photos of You” tab on your profile.
2. Tap the three dots icon in the upper right-hand corner to open up options, and then choose “Hide Photos”
3. Choose the photos that gotta go and choose “hide from profile”

8. Edit a photo using Instagram without sharing it

Instagram has some really great editing capabilities no-a-days. If you’ve edited a picture and you want the edited version but don’t want to share it on Instagram (or don’t want to share it yet), you can save this edited version without having to do the old-school “screenshot” method.

1. On your Instagram profile choose the “options” gear
2. Scroll down flip on “Save Original Photos”
3. Turn on airplane mode on your phone
4. Open Instagram and edit the picture until it’s how you’d like it.
5. When it’s how you like, simply tap Share (you can skip caption). When you go to share, the post will fail because you’re on airplane. So, just click the “X” next to the failed notification.
6. The photo will now be saved to your camera roll
7. Turn airplane mode back off to go back to regular use!

9. Save keyboard shortcuts for hashtags

Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags per post. If you’re trying to extend your exposure, you’re probably using most, if not all, of these. In the past, I’ve always had a running list on my “notes” app and would have to copy and paste back and forth the ones I want.

Not anymore! My new favorite trick is to create keyboard shortcuts. This way if I type, for example, #blog – the keyboard shortcut will replace that with all my blog related hashtags. This saves me a ton of time when hashtagging an image.

1. Go into “settings” on your phone and choose “general” (for iphone)
2. Choose “keyboard” and then “text replacement”
3. Add in the phrase (list of hashtags) and the shortcut you want to use to display these.

10. Share your Story to your profile

If you have an awesome picture on your Story and you wanna make sure “ERRRbody” sees it, you can easily share it to your main profile as a post so it will appear on the main feed.

1. Open your Story and click the three dots icon in the bottom right corner of the photo/video that you want to share.
2. You’ll choose “tap share as post,” and the “edit” options will open. Edit and caption as usual, then post away!

 

There you have it! I hope some of these were new Instagram hacks to you! Some are fairly new to me and I don’t know how I ever Insta-ed before them!

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I'm Kallie!

Nothing happens around here before coffee, so pour a cup and join me. Here you’ll find life hacks, budgeting, simple DIYs, and honest motherhood.
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Hey there, I’m

Nothing happens around here before coffee, so pour a cup and join me. Here you’ll find life hacks, budgeting, simple DIYs, and honest motherhood.
New here?