5 Apps for Instagram That You Didn't Even Know You Needed
All the best instagrammers know that Instagrowth cannot be done with the Instagram app alone. Well, it could, but it would be a full-time job to run one account. Ain't nobody got time for that. If you haven't read our post 5 Must-Have Apps for Instagram, you'll probably want to do that before reading this post. Gotta crawl before you walk, girlfran!
This is a list of apps for Instagram that are a little more unusual than most Instagram apps you've used in the past. They're handy-dandy apps for a variety of different purposes, from engagement to design.
Source: Ask Lisa
Ask Lisa
You know that one friend who, right before you post on Instagram, you always bombard with photos that you cannot decide between? And usually the pictures all look essentially identical but for some reason you need someone else’s opinion before you commit.
Well, truth be told, your friends probably don’t jump for joy every time you send them a handful of potential Instagram posts. Luckily for you, Lisa lives for that sh*t!
Ask Lisa is your new best friend. Upload the photos that you’re choosing between, and Lisa will analyze them and tell you which one is most likely to get the most likes. AND, she’ll suggest hashtags based on the post!
But as great as Lisa is, hashtags are not her strong-suit. I uploaded pictures of pineapples and candles and some of the hashtags she suggested were #organ #hand and #number. I suggest using Lisa to help choose your photos, and Smarthash for your hashtags (we’ll talk about this one below)!
Smarthash
Okay so you’ve done your hashtag research and you’re using all 30 hashtags and everything seems fine and dandy because you assume your posts are doing well in each hashtag.
Ya ever hear that expression, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me? So let’s not just assume that your hashtags are working, let’s confirm it!
Smarthash is an awesome app that actually analyses the hashtags that you’re using on your posts and tells you which ones are driving engagement and which ones are duds. By paying attention to Smarthash, you can adjust your strategy until you’re using 30 hashtags that are all bringing in the likes and comments!
If you are serious about growing your audience on Instagram, you need to check out Boss Babe’s Instagram Growth Accelerator. I’ve personally taken the course and I truly believe it is the greatest Instagram course out there and well worth investing in.
Dollar Eighty
Dollary Eighty is a web-based tool that embodies Gary Vaynerchuk's $1.80 Instagram strategy. This strategy has users give their two cents to the top nine posts on ten different hashtags. When you add up all of your two cents, it is equal to $1.80. By choosing ten hashtags that are very specific to your niche and audience, you'll end up engaging with the top accounts for each hashtag. This gets your name out there! It's best to do this strategy once a day.
Gary Vee says, "It’s as easy as that. The overall process is incredibly simple. It’s .02 cents, on 9 posts for 10 hashtags every day. That all adds up to $1.80. No matter how much value you provide, this is still a game of numbers. You have to be willing to give yourself more at-bats. Everyone else is only leaving .02. You’re leaving a $1.80 Every. Single. Day."
So Dollar Eighty took this concept a step further and actually created a tool that allows you to enter your 10 hashtags, then gives you the 90 posts that you'll want to engage with. Engagement is really the most time-consuming part of Instagram, but it makes all of the difference.
As of right now, there is just a free plan, which allows you to select 10 hashtags and provides you with your 90 posts each day. But coming soon is a premium plan - users pay $1.80 per day (duh!) - that will have even more features such as detailed analytics based on your activity with dollar eighty, view the historical day's most popular posts, and the ability to see what posts within your community are working well!
Unfold
Don’t be basic with your stories, girl. Booooring! While Instagram has significantly improved the editing capabilities on Insta stories, they can still be pretty blah.
Unfold is an app designed specifically to help you create beautiful stories. The templates are clean and simple and you can add photos and videos. You can also add text and choose between a variety of fonts and colors.
What I also love about Unfold is that you create the stories almost like a book. So you can have a 5-page story and then save it, and upload all 5 posts to your story. It makes it flow very well!
My Insta Palette
My Insta Palette, another web-based app, is a little less useful than the other apps, but is SO. FREAKING. CUTE. You sign in to your Instagram account, and My Insta Palette scans through your feed and shows you your color palette.
Here's where it gets adorable.
It reveals your most used color and tells you what your color personality is! Mine is a light pink and it says I have a calming and non-threatening personality, which I like to think is true!
It also gives you your most liked picture and least liked picture, and tells you what filter you used. But because most of us don't use Instagram's filters, the answer will probably be #nofilter.
Do you know of any really awesome apps for Instagram that are not on this list? Let us know below!
