I bloody love Instagram.
It's simple. It mostly involves scrolling through endless photographs.
I'm a visual human. Whether that's literally looking at photographs or physically seeing a list in front of my eyes. Instagram makes social media so simple for me and doesn't involve too much brain power to scroll through.
I'm not a Facebook fan -mostly because no one can spell correctly "has eny1 got pan I can burrow?" - Looking at mothers on Facebook. Also, hate the word 'LOL.'
I use Twitter, a lot, but I have to be in a particular mood for it.
Naturally, I'm a fan of Pinterest - but only on the desktop.
That leaves me with Instagram. Naturally, I enjoy taking photographs too - which I suppose helps.
Currently I run three Instagram pages: my personal account (@kayleighbickle), my dog's account [don't judge me - she's adorable and it keeps all my favourite pet accounts together] (@thecornishstaffy), and finally my photography account [which I'm genuinely useless at keeping up-to-date with] (@kayleighbicklephotography).
I got a little bit obsessed with gaining 'likes' though, and since giving up on hashtags and creating photographs to please people. I love Instagram again and get more engagement from people I'm interested in.
Here are my 'tips'/just how I use Instagram:
1) DON'T USE HASHTAGS. I know they can be useful. But I just used to get 'likes' from spam accounts, and it made the photo feel empty to me. Sometimes I don't even write a caption anymore.
2) VSCO CAM. I edit all of my images in the exact same way and treat my Instagram Page as a little photographic diary. Although I don't tend to post photographs of when I'm meeting up with friends/family, I keep it to just being homey and straightforward stuff that brings me joy. Mostly Keira. Or an outfit I quite like.
3) UPLOAD DAILY. Not to reach more people, or to gain more likes. But because I enjoy creating a photograph to upload every day. Admittedly, I don't upload every-single-day, but I try to almost every day - and I do not beat myself up for not uploading.
4) USE INSTAGRAM STORIES / REPLY TO PEOPLE'S STORIES. Some people get a little message from me every few days about something they've posted on stories. And that is where I get a lot of my joy from Instagram - directly interacting with others.
5) HAVE A FEW DAYS AWAY. 100% if you're feeling pressure from the world shown on Instagram, delete the app, forget about it, and come back when you're ready to - which may never happen - and remember to do what's right for you.
All of this being said, I'm pretty regular at uploading on my personal account and Keira's account. But truly appalling at uploading on my photography account. SO through all your tips for me for running a photography/business account. Because I have no idea.
- Kayleigh Bickle
P.S. If you fancy leave your Instagram account below and I'll give you a follow!
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