I fully admit I’m terminally uncool. But as a marketer, I can’t let my lack of swag (rizz? drip?) be an excuse for being behind the times.
And with nearly 2 billion users, that means I’ve gotta get on Instagram.
Luckily, I’m surrounded by veteran marketers and social media experts who are teaching me how — and I’m going to pay it forward by sharing their insights with you.
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“Personally, I use it to share select updates about my life with friends and family, share memes, and find inspiration for everything from recipes to fashion to travel,” says Emily Kearns, HubSpot’s Senior Manager of Brand Social.
Emily’s part of the team that blew up HubSpot’s LinkedIn presence by 84% in just six months, so I trust her word.
“It’s also increasingly used as a place to get news, learn about current events, and follow along in real-time for things like red carpets,” she adds.
For brands and marketers, the purpose is to get in front of millions of highly engaged viewers.
“Instagram presences are used to build and communicate a brand narrative and to connect with lovers of the brand,” Kearns says. “It can be used for a lot of things from driving awareness of a new product to driving conversions with specific targeted placements.”
But don’t think of it as simply blasting ads to passive viewers. Smart brands are creating legions of loyal fans who spread that love.
“There has been a huge shift recently where brands are focusing more on building a community through relatable and entertaining content,” says Reece Callaway, an Associate Manager on that same social dream team.
You can sign up for Instagram via the app or going to Instagram.com. Either way, just click the ‘Sign Up’ button.
You can choose to sign up through Facebook or use your email or phone number. After you choose a username and password, you’re ready to build your profile.
I was surprised and delighted by how easy it was to get started. Since I already had a Facebook account, signing up for IG only took a few clicks.
When you're ready to sign up for Instagram, follow these steps below:
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Now, for the most important part of Instagram — how to upload and post an image. Before you jump in: If you’re already familiar with Facebook or Twitter, you need to know that Instagram has a very different type of behavior and etiquette. On Facebook, you might choose to post 100 photos on an album. On Instagram, you need to be choosier about which photos you post. There are a few reasons for this — first, you don't want to post more than once a day (typically). And second, you don't want to post too many similar photos. For instance, it would be odd for you to post fifty photos from the same beach vacation on IG. Instead, you might choose the best five or six, and place them all within the same post. (These are called carousel posts, and they allow you to share multiple photos in one post only. Carousel posts are awesome for posting similar pictures in one package while keeping your overall profile aesthetic diverse.) Curious about creating an aesthetic? To learn more about Instagram account themes and get inspiration, take a look at these Instagram themes. Additionally, if you want to embark on a deep-dive, you can take HubSpot's Instagram Marketing Course. Now that we've covered that, let's explore how to upload, edit, and post an image.
When you tap the “+” icon, you’ll be prompted to choose the type of post you want to share. Since we want to publish a post directly on our profile feed, tap “Post.”
Here, you have three options. You can look through your Photos library on your phone, you can take a new picture from right within Instagram, or you can take a new video. For our purposes, I looked through my Photos library and found a picture of Boston I wanted to use. Then, I clicked "Next" in the top right.
There are two categories you can use to edit your image — "Filter" and "Edit". Instagram automatically shows you filters first. You can scroll through the carousel and click any of the filters to apply it to your image. Additionally, if you want to use a filter but you want to tone it down, double tap the filter and move the cursor to the left to lessen the intensity of the filter.
Next, click "Edit". Here, you can adjust contrast, brightness, structure, warmth, and more. When you're happy with your edited image, or if you don't want to edit it at all, click "Next" in the top right.
Now, you can add a caption, tag people (you can only tag someone if they also have an Instagram account), and add a location. Additionally, click the button beside Facebook or another linked social media account to share your image on that platform, as well. When you're ready to publish, click "Share" in the top right. If you don’t want to use your app to post on Instagram, you can also do so from your computer. Learn how to post to Instagram from a Mac or PC here.
Instagram Stories is a feature that allows you to post videos or images that disappear after 24-hours. Why would you want that? It can encourage highly engaged fans to keep returning to your IG page. Its very similar to Snapchat in terms of content — users often post more casual and candid videos and images, offering glimpses into their every day lives. For instance, on your normal feed, you might post a heavily-edited picture of yourself and friends at a baseball game. But you might post a more candid video to your Story of the stadium singing "Sweet Caroline". To learn how to upload an image or video to your Stories, follow these steps:
Alternatively, swipe right on your feed or tap the “+” button in the top navigation bar.
Once you're within the Stories feature, you can take a picture or video right from within the app. Alternatively, if you have an image saved to your phone that you'd like to use, you can choose it from your media library.
On the left-hand side, you have a few different editing features. The “Create” button lets you add a location, hashtag, time, date, and other fun images or emojis to your picture. 
The “Boomerang” option allows you to create a looping video. And the "Aa" icon is your text button. Once you click "Aa", you have the option to change your font. If you click the smiley face icon, you'll see the following screen. Simply click on one of the icons to add them to your image. If you don't like it, drag it to the bottom, and a trash can will appear so you can delete it. 
For instance, I clicked the smiley face icon to add a poll to my image. You can also swipe to the left or right to add filters to your photo or video.
Once you're happy with your content, you can either click the white arrow icon in the bottom right, which allows you to share your Story with everyone who follows you, or select “Close Friends” first, so that only your close friends see it. Then you’re done! Your Story is immediately live.
