13 essential Instagram tools for social media marketing

 Instagram is more than just a hobby - it's a powerful marketing platform for business owners around the world.

With more than half a billion active users per month, Instagram has opened up great opportunities for brands to find new customers and their products to be seen. Tactics like posting ads on Instagram and reaching influencers are effective . But without the right tools , it can be difficult to achieve the desired results.

To help you optimize your Instagram account, we have put together a set of Instagram tools that will help you gain a competitive advantage and attract more customers to your online store.

Tools to take amazing photos

One of the most important parts of having an effective presence on Instagram is loading your profile with visual impressions that clearly communicate the brand identity and value of your products. But if you don't have a great camera or professional training, taking great photos may seem out of your league.

Even if you are not a professional photographer, you can create amazing content on Instagram using your smartphone and a few key apps:

While Instagram's default filters were once the spearhead for mobile photo editing, VSCO has become the champion of on-the-go photo creationHalf photo editing platform and half social network, VSCO should be part of every Instagram strategy.

VSCO has an editing section and a series of high-quality default filters that can transform your phone photos to a whole new level. Also, there is a huge library of filters to buy, giving unlimited potential to personalize photos and distinguish yourself from the rest.

VSCO is available for iOS and Android.

Snapseed

Cost: free

The Next Web

Image: The Next Web

Snapseed is another photo editing application that provides the option to enhance your photos. While Instagram's default filters edit the entire image, Snapseed lets you apply its effects with a brush to refine details of each photo.

Snapseed stacks are another great feature that allows you to save filter groups as a template. These Stacks can be applied to future photos, giving your posts a consistent look and helping you save time.

Snapseed is available for iOS and Android.

Afterlight

Cost: $ 0.99 - $ 1.39

Afterlight


Afterlight is a photo editing application that has a default set of 74 filters, 78 textures, and 128 frames, providing a ton of different options for editing your photos. The app also includes 15 different tools to adjust and edit your photos to make it perfect.

With its elegant and simple design, Afterlight is easy to use, this is an indispensable tool to take good photos for Instagram.

Available for iOS, Android and Windows.

Boomerang

Cost: free

Developed by Instagram, Boomerang is an app for fun creations, videos with a duration of one second without audio. They're basically gifs with that front-to-back effect. While it sounds a bit silly at first, the results are fun and eye-catching for scrolling.

The best part is that it doesn't take much to create something that looks good, all you need to do is capture a moment and share it.

Tools to prepare your Instagram for the purchase

It has probably happened to you, you are browsing Instagram , a photo of someone's outfit catches your attention and you would like to be able to buy what they are wearing.

This may sound impossible, but it is actually entirely possible. With the right tools , you can transform your Instagram feed into a shopping experience , let your customers buy everything they see and help them get a better idea of ​​how your products look and feel.

If you have a Shopify store (and an Instagram profile full of amazing product photos), you can use some tools from the Shopify App Store to get more customers:

Shoppable Instagram by Foursixty

Cost: $ 50 - $ 100 a month

With Foursixty, you can make all your Instagram photos sell, with links that link each product shown to their product page and the ability to integrate your profile to your online store. Your customers can even add products to the cart without having to leave the gallery.

Foursixty also allows integrating an Instagram feed curation to display specific products on their respective product pages, giving customers the opportunity to see the products in action and get suggestions for other related purchases.

ban.do example

Image: ban.do

Brands like ban.do , a retailer that sells everything from iPhone cases to dresses, use Foursixty to display photos of products in everyday use, select outfits, and professional photo shoots.

 ban.do

Image: ban.do

When customers click on a photo, they go to a detailed breakdown of the products in the photo with an "add to cart" button that allows them to make purchases immediately.

Pure Life


Pura Vida Bracelets is another example of an online store using Foursixty to give their customers a glimpse of their products. They use lifestyle-inspired photos showing their bracelets and give their clients ideas on how Pura Vida Bracelets fits into their wardrobe.

Like2Have.it

Cost: $ 20 per month

Like2Have.it is a great tool to integrate your Instagram profile with links that lead customers to product pages .

This tool also allows you to integrate the photos of your current customers using your products. This user-generated data works well on product pages, giving shoppers social proof and a nudge toward purchase .

Underables

Underables, a sleepwear store, uses Like2Have.it to display their products with a link to their store.

Underables example

Image:

They've even used the app to offer exclusive discounts for curious shoppers browsing their Instagram profile .

Showcase

Cost: Free and $ 29 dollars a month

Showcase is similar to the two apps above, but what really sets it apart is the price and specifically its free option.

With the free version, you can integrate your personalized Instagram profile into your online store to help your customers make informed purchasing decisions. However, to add links to product pages and make your profile sell, you need to upgrade to the paid version.

kzgear.com


KZ Gear, an adventure tour brand that sells sunglasses for outdoor living, uses Showcase to show customers a wide variety of lifestyle images in the sun.

Tools to measure performance

A successful Instagram marketing campaign doesn't end with a shared photo. Diving into an Instagram analysis is crucial to getting the most out of your business marketing strategy. You have to be able to analyze and refine your store's performance every step of the way.

While Instagram launched its own analytics tools recently, there are platforms that make managing marketing campaigns on Instagram easier .

Sprout Social

Cost: $ 59 to $ 500 per month

Sprout Social


Sprout Social is a social media management platform with extensive content programming and publishing tools. It also offers Instagram analytics , which give access to detailed reports on how the latest posts have performed.

With Sprout Social analytics, you can track engagement and compare the success of your store account against other accounts you manage.

In addition, it has tools for tracking hashtags and comments, which helps keep your eyes on the community and find new opportunities to drive engagement.


Cost: $ 28.80 to $ 499 annually

Iconsquare

Iconsquare is an analytics platform dedicated to deeply reviewing the performance of your content on Instagram.

With Iconsquare, you can track regular engagement data such as followers and likes, as well as get specific statistics about your followers, including location and level of influence on social media. As you identify your most influential fans, you can discover new influencer and reach marketing opportunities.

In addition, it gives the opportunity to compare your performance against your competitors, which helps to get a better idea of ​​where you are in the industry.


Cost: free

Websta

Image:

Websta is a free tool that allows you to better manage your Instagram account and helps you obtain easy-to-understand analytics about your followers' engagement and growth.

It also has Instagram hashtags added This feature allows you to search through all of Instagram to locate the best hashtags for your target audience. You can also get recommendations for hashtags that are related to the ones you've already used to help you diversify and find new audiences.

Tools for scheduling posts

To grow your audience and give your current fans a reason to stay, you need to keep your Instagram profile updated with fresh content regularly. But let's face it, keeping your profile constantly updated with new photos takes a long time, something most entrepreneurs lack.

Fortunately, there are several platforms out there that provide the resources you need to schedule your posts and maintain your profile with great content.

Schedugram

Cost: starting at $ 20 a month

Schedugram for Instagram

Image: 

Schedugram is a scheduling platform with a wide variety of features, including web browser scheduling, to run campaigns more efficiently.

Besides scheduling through the browser, Schedugram also has photo editing features. Using any of its built-in editors or integration with Canva, you can fine-tune and refine your photos beyond Instagram's default filters It also allows you to bulk upload, giving you the ability to schedule batches of photos at once and save time on your social media marketing efforts.

Schedugram has a starting price of $ 20 per month, depending on the number of accounts you manage and Instagram followers.

Later

Cost: Free with premium plans starting at $ 19 per month

Later

Image: Later

Later, formerly known as Latergramme, is an intuitive programming platform for mobile, tablet and web browsers.

Later has various features for campaign planning including the ability to explore hashtags and share user-generated content. It even lets you organize your posts into a handy content calendar and preview your Instagram feed before posting, so it's easy to see how your strategy is executing with this app.

Hootsuite

Cost: free with pro plan from $ 9.99

Hootsuite for Instagram


Hootsuite is a powerful social media management tool that you can also schedule and post on Instagram .

While Hootsuite has made a name for itself by optimizing marketing for platforms like Facebook and Twitter, its Instagram tools take social media management to another level. Hootsuite allows you to schedule Instagram posts in advance, as well as send notifications when they are scheduled. Once you receive a notice, you can go directly to the application to publish.

Start taking photos

Now that you have the right Instagram tools to work with, it's time to get out there and start taking amazing photos that really show the true value of your products.

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