In this modern day and age, social media has become ubiquitous. Nearly every business, brand, and individual has one or more social media platforms. Instagram in particular has emerged as one of the fasted growing social sites/ Now more than ever, it is important to tailor your feed to your audience and your personal brand. Here are five apps that are helpful in boosting your (or your clients’) Instagram game, so your feed can be as polished as professional social media influencers’.
- VSCO
VSCO (pronounced Vis-Ko) is a photo editing app that is popularly used by influencers and for good reason. VSCO offer high-quality Lightroom style photo filters that turn your iPhone photos from drab to fab with just a little bit of tweaking. VSCO also allows you to change basic photo issues such as exposure, contrast, cropping and straightening, saturation, etc.
Pro Tip: Sticking to 2 or 3 go-to filters on your photos will make your Instagram feed subtly more cohesive.
- Canva
If you are well versed in the world of social media marketing, you probably already know about Canva. Canva is an extremely user-friendly design tool that helps you create graphics perfect for Instagram posts and stories. You don’t even need a particularly keen eye for design to use it. Canva comes with hundreds of free templates for whatever you may need! Even better, Canva offers a free app for the iPhone, so great design is right at your fingertips.
- Layout
Layout is a free app created by Instagram for Instagram, so naturally this app would be included on this list. Layout helps you create seamless, beautiful collages with a simple press of the finger. For the times you need multiple images in one frame, this app is perfect. And if you end up missing that little white border around your collage, you have the option to add it as well.
- Followers Tracker: Ins Report
This app is really handy if you don’t already have social media analytics to track your growth. On its free portion, Followers Tracker will give you growth analytics so you can handily track how many followers you’ve gained over the past week. It’s a quick and handy way to gauge how you fared on interactions for the past week.
- Camcorder
Sometimes regular videos are just boring. Sure, you could add one of Instagram’s preset filters, but that too gets tiring after a while. For something more interesting and refreshingly retro, try Camcorder. This app will let you record or upload videos and converts it into an 80’s camcorder style video. The irony of turning an iPhone video into an older style is definitely not lost on us, but we do love it for the nostalgia.
At the end of the day, Instagram is a perfect way to express yourself and engage with your followers. There are many of free tools out there to help you curate your perfect image, but the best free tool is your own creativity. Good luck, and happy ‘gramming!
– Katherine Bingham
