Introduction

Are you excited about learning how to use Instagram? We hope you are! Because we love Instagram, and we’re excited to show you how to use it and how to have fun with it! Instagram is all about entertainment and creating enjoyable content. Because you’ve chosen this book, we know you’re ready to get started creating an Instagram account you enjoy!

More and more people are joining Instagram every day. But with that growth comes a lot of noise and saturation from people who don’t quite understand how to use the platform effectively. After reading this book, you’ll have the tools and tactics necessary to build a successful Instagram profile.

About This Book

This book helps you use Instagram successfully. Instagram really is as simple as uploading a photo — and that was how the platform was initially designed. But you can do so many things with each photo or video — like adding filters, writing creative captions, and having conversations in the comments. And, as Instagram adds more features to the platform, such as multi-image posts and stories, understanding how to create this additional content is just as important.

We take you through every step of setting up your profile, creating and uploading content to Instagram, writing descriptive captions, finding hashtags that help you get more exposure, building your followers, and using all the fun features built into Instagram.

You don’t have to read this book from beginning to end — in fact, you can use the Table of Contents and Index to find the information you’re most interested in right this very minute. You don’t even have to read every word. If you’re short on time and just want to know what you need to know to get the job done, you can skip anything marked with the Technical Stuff icon, as well as sidebars (the text in gray boxes).

Finally, within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Foolish Assumptions

We made a few assumptions when writing this book. We assume that you

  • Have a smartphone
  • Have photos and videos you want to share
  • Don’t want to look like an amateur, even if you’re new to using Instagram
  • Are committed to devoting time and energy to build a presence on Instagram
  • Want to be a part of the Instagram community

If these assumptions are correct, then this book is for you! We’re confident that the tactics and information in these pages will help you achieve your goals.

Icons Used in This Book

To make sure you don’t miss important details, we use the following icons throughout this book. Here’s what the different icons mean:

Tip Anything marked with the Tip icon is a small piece of expert advice that will save you time and make your experience on Instagram easier.

Remember This book is a reference, which means you don’t have to commit it to memory. There won’t be a test on Friday! But, every once in a while, we tell you something so important that we think you should file it away with other important information, like your best friend’s birthday and the name of the newest royal baby.

Technical Stuff Most of this book is all about telling you what you need to know to use Instagram, and nothing more. But every once in a while, our inner geeks emerge, and we get a little technical. When this happens, we flag it with the Technical Stuff icon. If you’re in a hurry, or you just don’t care about this kind of thing, you can skip anything marked with the Technical Stuff icon without losing the point of the subject at hand.

Warning When you see a Warning icon, you’re not at risk of blowing up your Instagram account or doing anything irreparable, but you can rest assured that some helpful advice is at hand — advice meant to prevent any headaches or minor snafus.

Beyond the Book

In addition to what you’re reading right now, this book also comes with a free, access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that provides a handy list of Instagram lingo, size limits for photos and videos on Instagram, and steps for sharing posts and profiles. The Cheat Sheet also includes Instagram limits for everything from usernames to bios to the number of posts you can like in an hour and more. To view the Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and type Instagram For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.

Where to Go from Here

The first few chapters dive into how to set up a new Instagram account. If you already have an Instagram account, you can skip the first two chapters, but we encourage you to check out Chapter 3 because it contains information on how to set up an effective profile. Don’t worry, you can easily update or edit anything you’ve already started!

If you run into trouble, check out Chapter 5, which is dedicated to troubleshooting Instagram issues. And if you’re looking for inspiration, read Chapter 21.

We would love to hear from you about your experience with this book. Did you find it helpful? Was there something else you wish we had covered? Are you enjoying using Instagram now? Please feel free to email us. You can reach Jenn at jenn@jennstrends.com, Eric at ceo@butow.net, and Corey at corey@themarketingspecialist.com.

It’s time to jump into all the fun of Instagram that we’ve been talking about! Enjoy the book!