3 Great Tips for Using Instagram Like a Pro
Running a good Instagram account takes serious effort, we know. It’s much more than just posting pretty pictures. You have to worry about how to get the best reach and at the same time engage as many of your followers as possible. Whether you’re an influencer, online business or run an interest account, staying on top of others requires some kick-ass planning and insight.

The Instagram algorithm changes all the time. There are simply too many internet myths on what is the optimal number of hashtags to use. No one knows how Instagram decides whether to show your posts or not. But what we do know is our past data specific to our accounts. And that data doesn’t lie.
Fret not! It really isn’t as scary as it sounds. Your buddies at DCS Amplify understand it might seem like you don’t know where to even start so we came up with 3 tips to help you. Everything mentioned here is made possible by your Instagram analytics dashboard.
Are you ready to find out how you can win at the gram?
1.Top Performing Posts
Number 1 on our list: your top performing posts. Listen up folks. These are your top posts for a reason. Your followers like them. They engage with these posts. They are of interest to them. And since they are best performing in terms of engagement, they probably have excellent reach as well.
On your DCS Amplify dashboard, you can view your top performing posts. Start by looking at the images.Think to yourself; what do they have in common?
For fashion accounts, do these images all have models? Do certain looks work better? What about tones, palettes and colours?
You also have to consider post type. Perhaps videos work great for food and travel accounts, but not so much for photographers. If your top posts are all single photos. Stick to that. It works. But only do this if you haven’t tried other forms. It’s always good to experiment til’ you find your niche.
2. Hashtags #
So its been awhile since people have stopped adding the word “hashtag” in front of everything. #hashtagomg, #hashtagcheesy (That was so 2016, c’mon guys!). But they are still SO relevant today!
With the recent addition of the “follow hashtag” feature on Instagram, it’s clear they are here to stay. So, why are hashtags important? They are how people find you. They are how people find your posts. We spoke to fashionistas and food bloggers about what they think about hashtags.
Jess, 26, a social media marketer for a travel company says “hashtags are very important. We create our own hashtags and use them in every post. When we have competitions and invite people to participate, they use the unique hashtag, share their posts with their friends and it becomes a sort of brand awareness tactic.”
Barry, 30, a food blogger agrees “I definitely use hashtags in every post so people can find me and get to know my work. It’s honestly one of the top ways I have gotten to where I am today follower-wise”.
If you’re wondering which hashtags you should use, your dashboard has a hashtag analysis tab that is SO useful. The analysis is split up into 3 parts: firstly best hashtags based on engagement, secondly best hashtags based on reach and finally suggested hashtags for your next post.
3. Engagement Rate
Your engagement rate is measured by how many of your followers liked or commented on your post as a percentage of your whole reach.
In other words it looks at how people reacted to your post.
A low engagement rate could mean a few things. The biggest being that your content is not interesting your followers.
Oh no!
Don’t worry. We have some tips for you. First up try posting different images. Say all along you’ve been posting flatlays, mix things up a little bit. Post images with quotes (who doesn’t love that pick-me-up feel good vibe? That’s an instant double-tap!), or perhaps you could post some outdoor shots of a cute street or lovely park. It might even be that all you need to do is to style the items better and this is what could make a huge difference! Look at magazines, posters and social media for inspiration.
Of course, all this really depends on your account type but the lesson here is the same. Add some sparkle to your repertoire.
You can also try posting different image styles. Have you tried Instagram boomerangs or collages? They might work better! What about asking questions in the caption to get your followers to comment. A good one is to end your caption with “Comment below and let me know what you think!”.
Go forth and get engaged! (whooops, we aren’t talking about a proposal).