The day has finally come. You’ve decided to join the hundreds of millions of other people who are using Instagram. Maybe you’re joining Instagram because you want to grow your personal brand. Or maybe it’s time for your company to establish a strong social media presence. Regardless of why you’re getting started with Instagram, you’ll have a lot to do on day one. Since you don’t want to overwhelm yourself, it’s important to have a basic checklist to guide you.
Below are six things you should do or start thinking about on day one. While there may be other tasks that come into play at some point, this is where you should start:
1. Think About Ways to Accelerate Your Growth
Organic growth is what you’re after, but that doesn’t do much to put you on the right track. You need to fully understand how you can achieve this growth.
There are services such as viralrace.com designed to help you grow your following. The way it works is simple. You pay a small fee, such as $12.99 for 1k followers. From there, the service is designed to grow your follower count in a natural manner.
While you may have concerns about getting your account banned, ViralRace, among many other services, take precautions to protect against this. With so many unique ways to accelerate growth, you can handle a lot of this on your own while also reaching out to others for assistance. As long as it’s working, there’s no reason to stop. After all, there is no such thing as having too many Instagram followers.
2. Choose a Profile Picture
It’s not the biggest decision you’ll make when using Instagram, but it’s likely to be the first thing you do. Carefully consider the profile picture you choose, as it should be based on the image you want to convey.
For example, if you’re going to share content about your travel related experiences, you may want to choose a picture of you standing on the beach or heading down the ski slopes. You can change your profile picture in the future, but don’t make a rash decision the first time around.
3. Start Following People of Interest
You may be new to Instagram, but there are hundreds of millions of others who are established. This gives you the opportunity to follow many people with the same interests as you. And if you’re lucky, they’ll come to find that you’re just as interesting, which will lead them to follow you back and engage.
Once you follow a handful of Instagram profiles, engage on their most recent content. You can like your favorite photos and leave comments. Or best yet, do both.
Don’t go crazy with the number of people you follow, as you don’t want to give Instagram the wrong impression. Instead, start with a handful each day and go from there.
4. Complete Your Bio
You’re so excited about making your first post that you rush through this process. Don’t make that mistake. Your bio is important, as it gives people a clear idea of who you are and what your Instagram page is all about.
Just the same as your profile picture, you can change your bio as often as you would like. But once again, you’re better off making it good the first time around. Take your time when creating your bio. You don’t have a lot of space, so it must be punchy yet informative.
5. Post Your First Picture
The time has come for the real fun to begin. Posting your first picture is a big step forward, as you’ll look back at this one day and realize just how far you’ve come.
Of course, you don’t want to drive yourself crazy trying to come up with the perfect photo and caption. Do your best to get everything right and publish it to your profile.
You may look back and realize that you missed something, such as a hashtag that could have worked better, but it’s all part of the learning experience. With each picture you post, it becomes easier to understand how to improve upon it in the future.
Day One Will be Gone Before You Know it
Don’t get so hung up on what you’ll day on day one that you overlook the fact that you have a lot of work (and fun) ahead of you.
It’s important to do these things on day one, but as you move on you’ll adjust your approach. Just remember that it’s the things you do in your early days of Instagramming that will affect you well into the future. Make good decisions now so you won’t regret them later.
Do you remember your first day on Instagram? Did you complete the tasks above? Any others? Did you make any mistakes that you still regret? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.