Are you interested in being on Instagram?
I’ve had my Instagram account for a few years now, and recently I’ve been starting to grow my account and post more regularly.
But what if you don’t have a blog yet? Can you still be on Instagram?
The answer is yes, you can start a blog on Instagram, and I’m going to show you how!
Instagram is a popular social media platform any person can use, whether they have a personal blog, no blog, a podcast, printables, or courses.
As of January 2022, 1 billion people and 71% of businesses are using Instagram.
On average, people spend 53 minutes on Instagram scrolling through Influencers promoting brands, and cute inspirational posts from their followers.
If you want to be on Instagram, I’ll help you start!
In this post I’ll go over what to share, how to find your niche, how to create different types of content, how to increase followers and finally, how to make money if you want to start a blog on Instagram.
What is a Blog on Instagram?
Having a blog on Instagram means a person with an Instagram profile sharing their life online.
It could be a blogger sharing their passion, whether it be content creation or selling real items like water bottles or skin care products.
You don’t have to have a separate website blog if you want to blog on Instagram, but it’s always nice to have another place online you can call your own.
You don’t own Instagram, so the content on Instagram doesn’t belong to you.
If Instagram decides to shut down your account or do something drastically different on their platform, you could lose your content.
That’s why I encourage you to start a blog on WordPress so you always own your content.
A WordPress blog is self-hosted, meaning you’re in control of what you put on your blog, and it’s a place where you can build a community.
But I understand if you don’t have a blog and want to start somewhere, then you can start on Instagram.
For example, Kailyn has a personal Instagram profile, and she shares her family and her life.
She doesn’t have a blog which means she’s using Instagram like a blog.
If you’re a blogger, create an Instagram profile like Biz Coach Jen and link to a landing page where you offer an incentive.
Many bloggers who have a business use landing pages to grow their email lists.
You can also start a blog on Instagram by linking to a podcast.
This is what Kristi Carden does on her Instagram profile.
And, as you can see, these women don’t have a blog.
They are doing Instagram blogging or linking to a landing page for incentives, a podcast, or a calendar for coaching calls.
So you decide what type of Instagram account you want to have. If you want, learn how to start a food blog on Instagram, or learn how to start a fashion blog on Instagram. Pick a passion if that’s your choice.
My suggestion, though, is to start on Instagram and share aspects of your life.
When you start a blog on WordPress, you can link it in your Instagram bio, like The Laid Back Adventurer did.
This is ideal because you have hopefully generated a dedicated following on your Instagram profile by the time you start a blog.
Even if you want to learn how to start a mom blog on Instagram, you would be sharing parts of your life as a work from home blogger with kids on Instagram!
These followers can become subscribers of yours and would be the first step in creating a business from your blog.
So, what are the steps to creating a blog on Instagram?
1. Create an Instagram Account
To start on Instagram, download the app from the Google Play Store if you’re on Android or the App Store if you have an iPhone.
Go ahead and follow the steps to create an Instagram account.
When setting up your account, one thing to remember is to set it to public and not private.
You want to have a public account because you want to grow followers and hopefully eventually start a blog out of all of this.
You did it!
You started an Instagram account, and now you can blog on it!
2. Decide on What to Share on Your Instagram Blog
Now that your account is up, the next thing you want to focus on is what you’re going to share on your Instagram blog.
One of the most popular things people share on Instagram is their life.
You might see pictures of a family outside or down by the beach, or photos of a beautiful home, or beautiful breakfast.
Here’s The Wendy Home’s Instagram profile and photos of her gorgeous home.
Another popular Instagram niche is fitness. Learning how to start a fitness blog on Instagram mean you would share your fitness life, fitness tutorials and maybe what you eat to stay fit.
If you’re not interested in sharing your life on Instagram at the moment, you can share inspirational quotes.
You can use a free image editing tool like Canva to make inspirational quotes.
Share a quote every day if you want, or twice a week.
Many Instagrammers will share your inspirational quotes (in their Stories), which will help you drive more engagement and followers on your profile.
If you have something to teach or tell, you can create an educational post on Instagram.
Sometimes posts can be a carousel post where you can share multiple pages in one post.
These types of educational pieces of content do well for business bloggers.
Here’s an example of what an educational piece of content on my Instagram profile looks like.
Finally, you can share all three types of content on your Instagram blog if you want.
For example, on Mondays, you can do an inspirational quote, on Tuesdays, you can do a lifestyle post, on Wednesdays, you can do an educational post and then start all over the following week.
No matter what you share, make an effort to share content when on Instagram.
To help you refine the exact types of content you’re going to have on your Instagram account, let’s go over how to choose a niche for a blog on Instagram.
3. Decide on Your Overall Niche
I’ve learned from having an Instagram account for a few years that it’s okay to have one or two niches to share with your audience.
For example, I’m more personal on my Instagram account and often share pictures of my children and family life.
But I also share business and educational content since I am using it for business purposes.
I’m also marketing to two different types of audiences: bloggers and freelancers.
So for me, I don’t think it’s hurting me by not focussing on one core niche.
It’s up to you if you only want to talk about horses, or you only want to talk about art, or you only want to talk about clothing.
If you end up niching down, you’ll grow faster and have a larger audience, but, for me, I’m okay with my profile and my niche.
But go ahead and jot down a few niche topics you would like to share on your blog on Instagram.
I would then create content or post around those topics and see if it resonates with your audience or grows your audience.
If you find your cat pictures aren’t resonating, you don’t need to share cat pictures anymore. Rather, focus on other pieces of content that you share instead.
There is no right and wrong answer in finding a niche for Instagram.
Play around and see what you enjoy posting and what gets engagement.
One way to help you with this is to follow other Instagrammers in your niche.
4. Follow Other Similar Instagrammers
Go ahead and start researching other Instagrammers who talk about the same things you talk about on your Instagram account.
You can search up “art blogger” or”food blogger.”
If you don’t want to follow bloggers, you can search for “my paleo life” and find people who share their paleo diet inspirations on their Instagram profiles.
Try to find at least 10 to 15 new Instagrammers to follow who are either in your niche or the surrounding niche.
For example, I follow other mom bloggers and freelancers, but I also follow micro-influencers.
This helps find my target audience and helps me with any content struggles. I can look to these micro-influencers, see what they’re sharing, and get some ideas if I’m stuck on what to share on my Instagram account.
After you follow 15 Instagrammers, wait a week or two, and follow another 10 to 15 Instagrammers.
By following new Instagrammers, you will also get followers in return.
But be careful and not do an “if I follow you, you follow me back,” strategy.
Instagram doesn’t like that, so don’t always follow people that follow you, and don’t expect all the people you follow to follow you back.
5. Create an Instagram Blog Content Schedule
Now that you have some people you’re following, and people are following you back, it’s time to think of an Instagram blog content schedule.
You have to develop what is feasible for you to promote your Instagram profile.
Ideally, if you create content every day, such as a post or Reel, and then share it to your Instagram Stories, you will see growth happen quicker than if you only post once a week.
If you don’t know what Instagram Stories are, you can share content just for your followers to view once you have some followers.
Your profile picture lights up when you do that, indicating that you have a new Instagram story to share with your followers.
If you can only post once a week, that’s okay.
Give yourself grace.
I often struggle with having a consistent Instagram schedule because I run several blogs, email lists, and several social media profiles.
But I recently created an Instagram Weekly Schedule to help me get on track.
Using this method, I can create all my content for the month or every two weeks.
This is something I’ve never done before, so I’m looking forward to how an Instagram blog content schedule will work for my profile.
You can easily create your schedule using Canva. Here’s what my schedule looks like.
And to help you get your post seen by more people, I want you to start incorporating hashtags.
6. Create a Hashtag Swipe File
Hashtags are like keywords for Instagram.
You can run a Google search to find Instagram hashtags in your niche.
When you find hashtags, go ahead and create a swipe file.
You can use Google Docs to track all your hashtags for your niche.
When you start using hashtags on posts, people who also search Instagram with those terms might see your post.
My suggestion when picking hashtags is to pick ones that are no more than 1,000 searches.
If you choose hashtags with a million searches, you’ll have a hard time getting your content seen.
If you end up using hashtags for every post you create and that makes sense to you, you’ll see more engagement and more followers to your Instagram account.
But it’s up to you if you want to start using hashtags.
7. Create Your First Post
All right, it’s time to create your first Instagram post!
I started my Instagram account years ago, and I let it lay dormant.
But when I started Twins Mommy, I wanted to revive my Instagram account.
So one of the first pieces of Instagram content I did to reintroduce myself to my small audience I had at that time was to create a vision board.
This proved well for me, and it helped me get more engagement and people talking about my vision board.
I then shared my vision board with my stories to give my post more impact.
So my suggestion is to be truthful and honest with your first post.
You can post a picture of yourself, introduce yourself, and share your story if you want.
Or, you can do what I did and share a creation you made.
Whatever it is, I want you to create a post for your new audience.
8. Learn How to Create a Carousel Post
Once you create your first post as the Instagram user, you can start thinking about other posts to create with your blog on Instagram.
As I mentioned, you can create a carousel post with educational content.
This post has several pages that people have to swipe to view the entire post.
You can easily create this with Canva for free. Canva makes it easy with templates such as carousel templates.
Find a style you like and then add your branding colors and style to the photo.
Here’s a template I branded.
9. Learn How to Create a Reel
Reels are huge right now on Instagram.
You can get 22% more engagement than a regular post when you post a Reel.
Video marketing is also growing, and Reels are like mini videos you can share on your profile.
There are many ways to create a Reel video.
Many people sit and talk in front of their camera to create their Reel.
When they make their Reel using Instagram, they can add text to it.
Other types of Reels incorporate music and dancing.
I’ve tried different types of Reels, but I like to create picture-based Reels, which I can easily make in Canva.
*Here’s my video showing you how I create my Reels in Canva.
9. What to Share on Your Stories
As I mentioned earlier, your Stories are things you share with your core audience.
If you’re brand new and don’t have many followers, you don’t have to update your stories every day.
But once you have some people following you, it’s a good idea to create content to help them with whatever they’re going through, update them on what’s happening with you, or provide help and inspiration.
You can also share any posts, or Reels you created to your Stories.
One popular way to use stories is to create an “Ask Me Anything” or AMA tag.
When you post an AMA tag, followers can ask questions, and then you can go on your stories and answer them.
This is a great way to share authentic and personal content to your core audience to let them know who you are.
A great example of doing an AMA is Cathrin Manning.
She’s a YouTuber, but she uses Instagram regularly and often uses it for Stories to ask questions and to help her audience.
This is a fun activity, but it does take all day since you are waiting for questions that pop up on your phone and then quickly answer them.
But if this is something you like doing, I encourage you to try to do this once a week.
Another type of video you can do is an Instagram live.
These go on your feed and in your video tab.
With all this content you are creating, make sure to check your Instagram insights to see how many clicks and likes you received from your content!
Now that we’ve covered what to post and different types of posts, let’s get into how to can grow your followers with your blog on Instagram.
How to Increase Your Followers on Your Instagram Blog
One of the biggest struggles new Instagrammers face is growing followers.
They don’t understand why people follow, and then the next day, they lose followers, and it becomes an uphill battle to gain five new followers a day.
This is normal because people who follow you want you to follow back, and as I mentioned, this is not a great practice to do on Instagram or any social media platform.
Most likely, you’ll see new followers and then hours later or the next day fewer followers.
So how can you grow your followers if you keep losing them?
With these five ways!
1. Post Every Day If Possible
An easy but challenging way to grow your followers is to post every day.
It doesn’t have to be time consuming, though.
Sharing a picture of yourself and a one-line caption or an emoji is enough to update your blog on Instagram.
This is something that Gillian Perkins does as she only updates her Instagram profile weekly.
By using a weekly schedule, you can figure out what you want to post every day, making yourself accountable for posting on Instagram.
If you find that posting every day is too much to do then be consistent at least with posting once a week or twice a week.
In either case, by being consistent and regular, you will start growing your followers.
2. Engage With Other Instagrammer’s Posts
A great strategy you can do and doesn’t take a lot of time is to engage with other posts you see on your feed.
While I don’t do this every day, I will start scrolling through my feed to check out other people’s posts when I have a few extra minutes.
This can often create a conversation between the poster and yourself.
Here’s an example how my comment on Natania Creates‘ post generated engagement for her.
However, one thing to note is to be meaningful when you reply to other people’s posts.
Simply liking the post or adding one emoji isn’t enough to develop a connection between the poster and yourself.
But if you connect meaningfully, you’ll gain followers over time.
So give it a try and post thoughtful replies when you scroll your feed.
3. Share Other Instagrammer’s Content
An easy way to get on the radar of other Instagrammers is to share their content in your Stories.
This is something I try to do every day when I don’t have anything to share about myself and I want to update my Stories.
I’ll often find a quote that someone posted or an informational piece of content and share that to my Stories by adding something like, “This is spot-on!” or “I have to check this out.” When you do this, you can gain followers from the people tagged when you share their content.
So, if you struggle to update your Stories try this method out.
4. Sign Up for Freebies
If you’re scrolling through your feed and you find something interesting, go ahead and click on the person so you can visit their profile.
Look to see if they have a link to a page or blog and if they do, go ahead and sign to their free incentive they are offering.
By doing this, you can connect with the Instagram poster differently.
You’ll be receiving emails from them where you can reply and ask questions and develop a relationship outside of your blog on Instagram.
And this could lead to a new follower.
5. Provide Helpful or Inspiring Content
Make sure the content that you provide is helpful or inspirational.
By providing valuable content and replying to responses, I increase the engagement on that post and gain new followers.
So make sure in your weekly schedule for Instagram, you’re providing something that’s helpful or something that’s inspiring.
Now that your blog on Instagram is somewhat thriving, you might be wondering if you can make money on Instagram.
How to Get Paid on Instagram (How Many Instagram Followers Do You Need?)
It is possible to get paid on Instagram with just a thousand followers?
Marketing leader Neil Patel clarifies that with followers of 1000, your content has to be engaging, which means people will share and comment or like your post.
He says, “Brands are willing to invest in you because of the profitable actions you’ll drive through your account,” Patel adds.
Doesn’t that sound very promising? Make sure not to strive for 1000 followers, though. What I mean is don’t make your whole strategy on Instagram only to grow your followers.
When you focus on value, you have a chance of making money on Instagram.
If this is something you want to do with your blog on Instagram, you need to make sure you have a business account on Instagram.
Let’s look at three ways you can get paid on Instagram.
1. Get Sponsored
Sponsors often look at smaller Instagrammers to share their product vision.
To get in front of a sponsor, make sure you know exactly who your audience is, provide valuable content and use specific hashtags or even locational hashtags when you post.
Make sure your Instagram bio has contact information so if a sponsor sees your post and user profile, they know where to contact you.
I would then start tagging brands in your photos.
For example, I recently purchased a new Fitbit watch and tagged Fitbit when I posted it on my Instagram profile.
When you’re ready, you can start pitching to sponsors.
Here is a list of some sponsors that tailor to small Instagram profiles.
Make sure you know your value when you pitch to these companies.
Even if you have less than 1,000 followers, portray to these companies your followers are brand ambassadors that watch your IG lives, like and engage with your posts and support you 100%.
Companies want followers like this and will pay top dollar for for your sponsored content.
And writing a sponsored post isn’t that hard either! Have fun sharing what you love to your audience and the words will come!
2. Offer a Service
Another way you can get paid on Instagram is to offer a service.
This is what I’m doing with my Instagram profile.
I am marketing my SEO copywriting services for software-as-a-service digital brands and my email writing for coaches and creatives.
By advertising my service and providing helpful content around it, I can locate my ideal target client and connect with them before pitching them.
This method has worked, and I have landed three clients this way.
If you need help figuring out what service to offer, check out my post on Side Business Ideas.
3. If You Go Live You Can Earn Badges
If you enjoy going live on Instagram, you can earn Badges, and where people can purchase badges, helping you make money.
To enable badges, go to your profile and tap Professional Dashboard.
If you’re eligible to be monetized, you’ll see something like Set Up Badges.
If you don’t see this, you can apply by tapping Apply for Monetization and checking your Professional Dashboard for updates.
Your badges will automatically be enabled once you go live on Instagram if you’re approved.
What Sells Well on Instagram?
To prepare your blog on Instagram to make money, here are the niches that do well on Instagram.
Popular Instagram niche topics:
- Beauty – Apparel, Jewelry, Skincare
- Health – Kombucha, natural products that are eco friendly
- Home decor – showing off your perfect room or house drives engagement and sponsorships
- Fitness – living a healthy lifestyle is popular on IG, and you can promote lots of health products from shoes to smart watches
- Food & Cooking – plant-based lifestyle and showing recipes are trending and popular
When deciding your niche when you blog on Instagram, consider one of these popular Instagram niches that do well.
Create a content plan on showcasing different areas of your niche. For example, if you’re in the health niche, your content week might look like this:
- Monday – Showcase your new athletic gear and tag the company
- Tuesday – Take a picture of you drinking Kombucha and use an inspirational quote in your caption
- Wednesday – Go Live and do a 20 minute yoga stretch routine
- Thursday – Turn that Live into a Reel
- Friday – Do an AMA on your Stories
Popular Instagram Influencers You Should Know
Finally, if you want to know who the most popular influencers on Instagram are, they are:
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Ariana Grande
- Dwayne Johnson
- Kylie Jenner
- Selena Gomez
Each of these influencers has over 200 million followers.
Follow each Instagram influencer (and check them on your Instagram feed) and learn how they engage with their audience, if they promote any products and how they style their photos.
With your new blog on Instagram, you can start adapting those tactics to form a solid brand your followers will love!
There Ya Go!
That’s how you start a blog on Instagram.
You’re an Instagram blogger now!
Tell me in the comments below are you excited to start on Instagram?
And don’t forget to pin me and I hope you enjoyed my blog post!
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