I recently interviewed Sue Zimmerman, a leading Instagram expert. She shared some amazing tools and tips, and I’ve listed them below. (Many of them are iPhone apps, but I’ve included Android alternatives.)
1. Videohance: Create awesome Instagram videos
You can create 15-second videos on Instagram, but because they didn’t debut until 2013, photos are still dominant on the platform. This means there’s an opportunity to stand out with video.
Videohance is a nicely designed iPhone/iPad app that makes it easy to edit videos for Instagram. Key features enable you to:
- Add filters and effects
- Adjust white balance, contrast and exposure
- Apply Instagram filters
- Add sound and trim the video
Android alternative: Videoshow
2. iWatermark: Protect your pictures
If you’re worried that people will use your images, watermark them with iWatermark. You can upload your logo, name and even the date.
If you don’t want to use a full watermark, you can add a small logo at the bottom of the image so people know who created it.
iWatermark is also available for Android.
[RELATED: Escalate your social media game at Ragan’s Disney best practices summit.]
3. Flipagram: Create a video with your pictures
Instead of posting pictures all the time, Zimmerman compiles them into a video using Flipagram. This app helps you create a story around your pictures. The videos are 15 seconds long, but you can adjust how long the images display.
Zimmerman recommends putting text on the first image in your video to describe what the story is about. For example, if you’re at an event, add the event’s name or hashtag. See an example here.
Android alternative: Videoshow
4. Diptic: Create a scrapbook
Diptic compiles a group of images into one by using a scrapbook-type effect:
Choose from 179 layouts, position your photos, and customize the frame. You can also apply filters, add text, adjust colors and more. Diptic is available for Android and iPhone, but PicFrame (also available on Android and iPhone) is also a good alternative. Try both to see which suits you.
5. Camera+: Improve your photos’ quality
If you’re disappointed in a photo’s quality, use Camera+ to improve it. Here are the app’s main features:
Camera+ is available for iPhone and iPad.
6. Repost Whiz: Repost other users’ content
Use Repost Whiz to repost other people’s content. It also nicely attributes the original poster. Repost Whiz is available for iPhone and Android.
7. InstaSize: Resize images
InstaSize resizes any photo to fit Instagram’s parameters. It’s particularly useful for long, horizontal photos. The app also enables you to:
- Apply filters, stickers and overlays
- Add backgrounds
- Edit and crop pictures
InstaSize is available on both Android and iOS devices.
8. Word Swag: Add text overlays
Word Swag is perfect for easily adding text to an image. You can add text in all sorts of fonts and sizes, and easily position it on the image. Here’s an example of a Word Swag image:
Android alternatives: Photofy,Rhonna Designs and A Beautiful Mess
9. Emoji app: Add emojis to your images
In case you don’t know what emojis are, here are some created with the Emoji> app.
They are cool symbols you can use to make your images a little more interesting.
Android alternative: EmojiArt
Here are a few more cool Instagram tools:
Iconosquare
Zimmerman primarily uses Iconosquare for Instagram analytics, but it also provides other features, including:
- Instagram viewer: View, comment, “like” and repost any of your Instagram photos through a nice viewer application.
- Management tools : Reply to comments with emojis, mark comments as read and view all comments.
- Promotions: Display your Instagram feed on Facebook, create a photo gallery widget on your website and give access to non-Instagram users.
- Competition: Run Instagram competitions.
Schedugram
Schedugram enables you to manage and schedule multiple accounts with multiple users. Zimmerman posts a lot of real-time content, but she uses Schedugram for any necessary scheduling.
Which of these tools will you try? Are there any apps you recommend?
A version of this article originally appeared on Razor Social.from Ragan.com http://ift.tt/1TmJzes via web video marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1TmK1JA
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