Googling “marketing tips” is like looking up a #MondayMotivation quote to post on Instagram … there are so many, and they all think they’re the very best.

If you think about it, though, finding the “best” marketing tip is relative — to your audience, resources, and marketing goals. What works for one business might not work for another. The same thing goes for #MondayMotivation quotes … and that’s why there are so many to choose from. We’re all different, and we’re all motivated by different things. And that’s a good thing.

But, how do you, as a marketer, consolidate those differences and find a new practice or process that works for you, your audience, and your product or service? Well, you experiment. You try new things. You learn from the experts and those who’ve come before us.

That’s why we’ve compiled this “ultimate list.”

We reached out to a bunch of INBOUND18 breakout speakers and asked them to share their very best marketing tip. Some responses have to do with their personal work, others are relevant to the company of which they’re apart, and a few are just really cool and new perspectives on tried and true marketing practices.

The best part about this list? It’s diverse — in terms of the answers and the people who gave them. There’s lots of great stuff in the responses below, so take your time combing through and take a few notes along the way. You never know what you’ll learn from your peers in the field.

The Ultimate List of Marketing Tips (From Marketers Just Like You)

On prioritizing your target audience …

“The best way to make sure things resonate is to put the audience at the center. The things we want to tell our audience, and the way we want to reach them, may not be the same as the things they need to know and the way they want to be reached. If we start with our audience’s needs, preferences and questions first, and build our marketing plans around that, we’ll likely be met with much greater success and we’ll see better results!”

— Melanie Deziel, Keynote Speaker and Founder of StoryFuel

On personal branding on LinkedIn …

“Stop writing in the third person when it comes to your (or your business’s) LinkedIn summary. Your summary is not a boring bio; it’s your introduction to the person viewing your profile, it’s a handshake. Make it warm, personal, and don’t be afraid to sprinkle your personality into it. It’s your first impression — make it a lasting one!”

— Michaela Alexis, Espresso-Fueled Expert on LinkedIn Personal Branding, Michaela Alexis

On the value of customer trust …

“I define sales as a meaningful transaction between two human beings, so before asking for anything, a customer’s trust must be earned. Brands need to build narratives that align with their organization’s values and then communicate those values to their customers. This leads to increased trust which then translates to brand advocates. Look at the passion of Beyoncé fans or Harley Davidson riders — those brands have created an identity that makes people feel like they’ve added value.”

— Amanda Slavin, CEO & Founder of CatalystCreativ

On creating memorable marketing messages …

“Lots of marketers aspire to create memorable messages. Making something distinct increases the likelihood that it will be better remembered. If you have cereal in your kitchen on most mornings, pizza served in bed will be distinct. To create distinct, memorable messages, first detect pockets of similarity in your industry. You need some similarity in order for the brain to detect distinctiveness. Second, ensure that your distinct message fits within known mental models and then play off of them. Returning to the breakfast example, “having a snake for breakfast” would be too provocative and wouldn’t fit within existing mental models. Change the question of “How do I create a distinct message?” to “How do I twist an existing mental model?” to increase the chances of becoming memorable.”

— Carmen Simon, Cognitive Neuroscientist, Author, and Founder of Memzy

On using events to set your business apart …

“In 2019, businesses will utilize event strategies more than ever before as human experiences will be how companies choose to differentiate themselves, especially those that can’t do so through technologies. The key to any great event strategy is very simple — identify the memory you want attendees to walk away with and work backwards. “

— Kenny Nguyen, CEO of ThreeSixtyEight

On creating a dual content strategy …

“All content consumption is driven by two things: active search and passive discovery. Search takes place on channels like Google, YouTube, and voice. Discovery is driven by word-of-mouth, social algorithms, and media coverage. Consider splitting your content strategy into two — developing one strategy that optimizes for all search algorithms (not just Google) and one geared toward social algorithms and influence-driven channels. Youtube is a fascinating channel in that it is both the world’s second biggest search engine and a leader in passive discovery-mode viewing. When tackling YouTube, consider crafting your content to solve for one of those roles. Create highly findable, how-to content for your area of expertise or a truly engaging editorial series of videos, perhaps on two separate channels.”

— Meghan Anderson, VP of Marketing at HubSpot

On investing in paid social …

“Everything has gone paid on social media. Gone are the days of brands organically growing audiences. Facebook and Google want your money, so give it to them. Never before has data and targeting been so deep and effective. Brands that nail paid social take control of their future.”

— Travis Chambers, Chief Media Hacker and Founder of Chamber Media

On customer experience before the purchase …

“In 2019, customer experience initiatives will become inseparable from marketing strategy. Today’s customer wants a consistent, multichannel experience with a brand, and as marketers,  we have to make sure we’re meeting customers where they are. By making valuable connections throughout the buyer’s journey, we build a positive long-term relationship. Customer experience is no longer something that happens after the sale: it’s an integral part of the buyer’s journey.”

— Patrika Alis, Customer Experience Marketing Manager at Hanzo

On the importance of consistency …

“SELF is a nearly 40-year-old brand competing in the buzzy and crowded health and wellness space. In order to stand out, we had to lean in to what really makes us special. That meant clearly honing our mission and values: We help people make the best choices for their personal health and wellbeing. And we do that by adhering to the values of inclusivity, accuracy, empathy, and autonomy. From there, it’s all about making sure that everything we do ladders up to that greater vision. That consistency is key to our success.”

— Carolyn Kylstra, Editor in Chief at SELF

On repurposing content …

“As both content marketing as a standard practice and your own content marketing program mature, it becomes more and more detrimental to ignore your old content. Having tons of old, outdated, and unoptimized content on your site is like forgetting to untag the most embarrassing pictures from college on your Facebook profile. Even though may not think about them anymore, they’re still there, and people can find them and use them in creating their first impression of you. The more content you have, the more time you need to be spending monitoring, updating, and repurposing old content instead of creating new stuff.”

— Brittany Berger, B2B Content Marketing Strategist at BrittanyBerger.com

On using data to connect the dots …

“Identifying, precipitating and connecting metrics that have a real business impact are arguably the most important things a data-driven marketer can do. It’s critical to step back and ask, “Are we closing the loop between marketing activities and actual sales data?” What further separates the great marketers from the good ones is the ability to connect the dots in time to maximize customer impact. If you take too long to apply what your data is telling you, your customer will likely move on to a competitor. As marketers, we’re lucky to be swimming in a sea of data and technology solutions, but make sure that your technology solutions allow you to quickly link your marketing efforts with results you can take to the bank!”

— Sahil Jain, Co-founder & CEO of Adstage

On building a story around your product …

“As a product marketer, stories have become a crucial part of my day-to-day. Twenty years ago, a company could launch a product with simple messaging, and advertising. Over time, buyers have been exposed to so many messages they now filter out overly promotional ones. So, as you consider launching a new product, or an update to an existing product think about these two tips. First, it’s not about your company. Your team built that product for a reason that matters to consumers, so ensure your messaging is squarely focused on them. Second, look at changes happening in the broader world. Tie your product message into a story with that overall narrative and show them how they can lean-in to that change to find success. It’s a formula we’ve used at HubSpot, and our team continues to use for product launches.”

— Jeffery Vocell, Senior Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot

On how to properly analyze events …

“Treat your live event portfolio just like you would any other marketing channel, rather than just something you manage for your sales team. Events need to be assessed with hard metrics, rather than just ‘gut-feel’ opinions and feedback forms to rate the coffee. Measure attendee engagement, rather than simply counting who registered and who showed up, as this is a great proxy for the effectiveness of the event. Finally, integrate this data into your CRM, so marketing is driving event follow up (and keeping those sales teams happy at the same time!)”

— Mike Piddock, Founder of Glisser

On telling visual brand stories …

“Attention is at the heart of marketing — getting it and keeping it. Arresting, powerful visuals are your key to capturing people’s attention, and storytelling is going to keep and help you turn that attention into something you can use. There isn’t a brand flourishing now without beautiful visual language and a compelling story. Google, Apple, Dropbox, Slack, Nike … you name it. As for Prezi, we wouldn’t even exist without both of these factors being absolutely vital in any brand’s success.”

— David Hooker, Head of Creative Services and Evangelism at Prezi

Over to You

Did you learn something new from our ultimate list? How about a new perspective on an old methodology? We compiled such a diverse list in hopes of providing a piece of advice for everyone. Now, go forth and use these marketing tips to grow your business in 2019 and beyond.

There’s a common misconception about attention that most marketers love to reference nowadays: the average human has a shorter attention span than the average goldfish. But if you really think about this claim, it can’t possibly be true. People watch two and half hour long movies and binge entire seasons of TV shows every day. If the human attention span is shorter than eight seconds, the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t exist and Netflix would be out of business.

However, in regard to dwindling human attention, there is something that’s actually shrinking: our ability to concentrate on given tasks. With all the dopamine hits that social media, email, and Slack notifications provide, we crave instant gratification more than ever before. And as our world becomes more digitally connected, these distractions will only worsen, ravaging our ability to concentrate.

In the conversion rate optimization community, image carousels, which are auto-rotating banners that sit above the fold on a website’s homepage, are a controversial topic because of our withering capacity to focus. Oftentimes, they distract users from the task at hand since their movement continuously draws attention — and this could plummet your website’s conversion rate.

So in an age where people’s ability to concentrate is lower than ever before, why do brands still use image carousels despite their potential to distract visitors? Well, according to Rebecca Hinton, a Website CRO Strategist and Copywriter at HubSpot, brands sometimes implement image carousels on their website because they can’t agree on a hero image, which is the single, featured image on a website’s homepage.

“Image carousels can result from stakeholders disagreeing on what they should feature in the hero image,” she says. “For example, a stakeholder who has to achieve a certain goal will argue to feature their specific slide as the hero image while another stakeholder will argues for hers. As a result, they’ll split the difference by including both slides in a carousel.”

If your website’s image carousel resulted from this exact predicament, it can feel frustrating. However, there’s no need to fret. You might need keep an image carousel on your website, but there are still plenty of ways you can optimize the space for maximum impact.

“If you have an auto-rotating carousel on your website, my advice is to turn off the auto-rotation. Once you do that, determine how you can optimize that space on your website. Generally speaking, leading with a single message is better than using a carousel, but you should always run tests before changing your website,” Hinton says. “I’d recommend running a series of A/B tests to answer the following questions: what’s the best carousel ordering? Could we replace the carousel with a single image? What copy, image, or CTA performs the best? Additionally, don’t forget about personalization. Consider how you could alter your carousel or hero image for different groups of people, like new users, returning users, different device types, regions, past purchasing behavior, etc.”

In our world, people crave instant gratification and get distracted more easily than ever before, so image carousels might not seem ideal for converting visitors on your website. But, sometimes, you need to keep an image carousel on your website because of a compromise between stakeholders. And the only way to prevent your conversion rate from plummeting is getting creative and A/B testing and personalizing your carousel.

You’ve done it — after countless informational interviews, phone calls, and in-person interviews, you’ve finally landed your dream job.

But as you peruse the contract, you find yourself a little hesitant about what they’re willing to offer you.

You’re torn. You know you’re going to love this job. Shouldn’t you just accept their first offer?

Unfortunately, your inability to negotiate now won’t just affect the next year or two of your life — instead, it will create a snowball effect that could result in major losses down the road. In fact, you could lose anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million over the course of your lifetime if you don’t negotiate early.

For instance, let’s say your employer offers you 55K for a role. You were hoping for 60K, particularly since you’re currently making 55K, but you accept. Then, after a year, your manager puts together a promotion package for you — with a 10% raise.

10% out of 55K is $5,500, but 10% out of 60K is $6,000. This means, year two, you could be making $60,500 or $66,000 — see why negotiating matters?

However, negotiation can feel awkward and intimidating, particularly if you’ve never done it before. Here, we’re going to explore the best way to negotiate a salary to ensure you receive what you deserve.

How to Negotiate Salary in Person or Over the Phone

It’s important to note, whether you need to negotiate your salary in person or over the phone, the following tips will be largely applicable to either situation.

However, if at all possible, avoid negotiating over email. Olivia Chin, a HubSpot Tech recruiter, told me, “I usually strongly prefer phone or in person over email/writing because there’s a benefit to on-the-fly adjustments and questions — it makes for a more fluid conversation.”

Take a look at the following five tips, as well as the sample script, to learn how to negotiate your salary.

1. Do your research ahead of time.

If you need to negotiate your salary in person, it’s critical you come to the meeting prepared with various business-related reasons you’re worth a certain amount. First, you’ll want to research the salary range for the type of role you’re offered.

Additionally, it’s critical you ensure you’re researching salary in the correct industry. A social media manager for a non-profit will have a different salary range than a social media manager at a major software company, so it’s important you focus on the salary range for roles in the correct industry.

Finally, it’s important you seriously weigh the worth of the skills and experiences you bring to the table.

For instance, let’s say you’ve received an offer letter for the social media manager role at a software company, which offers the same starting salary as your current role. However, in your current position, you’ve significantly exceeded expectations — rather than increasing the company’s Instagram traffic by 50%, you increased it by 125%. This is important information for proving you’re worth the additional investment to your new employer.

2. Come to the meeting with a collaborative attitude.

A negotiation is not an argument, or a chance to offer an ultimatum.

Instead, a negotiation is an opportunity to have a productive, collaborative conversation to reach a compensation package that feels fair to both you and your employer.

For this reason, come prepared with your non-negotiables, but remain flexible on the final result. For instance, perhaps you decide if the company can’t match your highest-range salary, you’ll accept additional vacation days or 100 more units of Restricted Stock allotment.

3. Come prepared with evidence based on research and market value.

When you arrive at the meeting, you should come prepared with notes on the research you’ve conducted — if you’re nervous, this can help you stay on-track. Additionally, you might forget numbers in the moment, so it’s important you have them written down.

You’ll want to make sure you know how much you can earn on the job market, and you want to convey to your employer that your data is grounded in reality. Begin the statement by saying, “Based on my research … ” so the employer knows you’re not just asking for a higher salary for the sake of it.

Additionally, include any information you might have regarding the value you’re providing your new employer. If you earned your last company an additional $50,000 through a new campaign you spearheaded, your new employer might see the necessity of offering you an additional 5% on top of your current offer.

4. Don’t say “I need” or “I want”. Say “I would be more comfortable with X. Is that number flexible at all?”

It’s a turn-off to employers if you begin the negotiation with a phrase like, “I need 5K more.” It’s critical you handle the conversation with tact. An employer will be much more open to the phrase, “I would be more comfortable with an additional 5K.”

To further demonstrate a level of empathy for your employer, add, “Is that number flexible at all?” This phrase provides the employer with an opportunity to tell you how much more they can offer, or alternative benefits they might increase, while maintaining a sense of collaboration, which is key.

5. Say “If you can offer X, then I’m on board.”

Your employer doesn’t want an endless negotiation, and neither do you. Using the phrase “then I’m on board” signifies to your employer that if they offer you something, you’re willing to accept the role, and negotiations can come to an end.

Of course, you want to be fair to your employer. If they tell you they can’t offer you 60K, you don’t want to say, “Offer me 60K, and then I’m on board.” Instead, you might say, “I understand the best you can do is $55,000. If you can do $55,000 and an extra week of paid vacation each year, then I’m on board.”

Here’s a full script to get you started:

Thank you so much for the offer. I’m very excited about this opportunity. Over the phone, you offered $50,000. Based on my research, I’ve seen the salary range for this type of role in the industry is typically between $55,000 and $65,000. Additionally, I feel I’m able to offer unique value to your company — in my prior position, I earned my company an additional $10,000 with a campaign I launched.

For these reasons, I would be more comfortable if we could settle on $60,000. I feel my qualifications and experience reflect this salary.

If you’re able to move the pay to $60,000, I’d be eager to accept.”

Remember — if you offer a range, you want to start at the higher end of the range, but you also should expect the employer to try to meet you more in-the-middle. In response to the script above, an employer might say, “Okay, how about $55,000?”

If they counter with a little less than what you’re asking for, you might respond with the following statement, based on an employee benefit or perk you feel is important to you:

“I understand the best you can do is $55,000. If you can do $55,000 and increase the Restricted Stock Unit allotment to 100 units, then I’m on board.”

Lastly, if you’re not sure whether you want to accept the offer, it’s acceptable to say — “Great. Do you mind if I take 24-hours to think it over?”

Regardless of how the conversation ends, it’s critical you thank your employer for taking the time to negotiate with you. This conveys a level of professionalism and shows the employer you respect them and their time — which is more likely to get you what you want, along with being the right thing to do.

Remember Your Worth — Regardless of Gender

In a study at The University of Texas, men and women were asked to negotiate a starting salary for themselves, and then for someone else. When women negotiated for themselves, they asked for an average $7,000 less than the men — but when they negotiated on behalf of someone else, they asked for the same amount of money as the men.

This concept is known as “communal orientation”. Essentially, women succeeded in negotiations when they felt it wasn’t about them — it was about helping someone else. Succeeding in negotiations, then, might be easier if you can reframe the very concept of negotiation.

For instance, perhaps it helps when you’re negotiating to consider how you are an asset to the company. If you focus on reminding the company how you’ll support the organization and help them, you can make the conversation feel less about you.

Oh, and one last thing — with job offers, 90% of employers have never, ever reneged because someone tried to negotiate. So what do you really have to lose?

Take a look at 6 Negotiation Strategies Every Marketer Should Know to further strengthen your negotiation skills.

Instagram has become the favorite social network of many — and not just for teens and Millennials. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, 35% of online adults use Instagram — up 3% from 2016. Compare that, for example, to 24% on Twitter.

Plus, folks don’t just use Instagram casually, as 38% of them use it several times each day.

But for those who have never used the platform before, or those who just want to take their usage to the next level, Instagram has some lesser-known tricks, settings, hacks, search options, and comment features you should know about. That’s why we set out to find them and list them all in one place. 

Whether you’re a recruiter looking to showcase your company’s culture, a marketer in the ecommerce industry, or an individual who’s just looking to use Instagram in the best ways possible, there are tips and features here for you.

And for a quick overview of these hacks, check out this rundown from HubSpot ‎Content Marketing Strategist Megan Conley.

Note: Before getting started, make sure you’re operating on the latest version of Instagram. At the time of publishing this guide, the latest version is 84.0 on iOS and 83.0 on Android. Please also note that although this article might demonstrate each tip below using an iPhone or Android device, all items on this list are available for both operating systems and can be enjoyed using the same step-by-step instructions.

27 Hidden Instagram Hacks, Tips, and Features

1. Get notifications when your favorite people post.

Never want to miss an Instagram post from your favorite influencers again? You can choose to get a notification every time a specific user posts a new photo. All you have to do is turn on notifications for each user individually.

To turn on these notifications, visit a user’s profile, click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the post, and choose “Turn on Post Notifications” from the menu that appears.

Want to turn post notifications off? Just follow the same steps. It’s important to note that you must enable notifications from the Instagram app in your phone’s settings — here’s how.

• To allow notifications on iPhone/iPad: Go to “Settings,” then “Notifications.” Choose “Instagram” and then turn on the setting to “Allow Notifications.”
• To allow notifications on Android: Go to “Settings,” then choose “Apps,” then “Instagram.” Select the option to show notifications.

2. Add special fonts to your bio.

Here’s an Instagram bio hack that can truly make your profile stand out. You can already add emojis to the bio beneath your profile photo, but your keyboard limits your creativity right there.

Using a couple of basic third-party websites, you can copy over some more special fonts not often found in the Instagram community. Here’s how.

To Add a Special Font to Your Bio via Mobile:

Add a new font to your Instagram bio via your mobile device using a website like LingoJam. Open the site on your phone, type your desired bio text in the lefthand text box, and you’ll see the same bio text in different typefaces appear on the right.

Carry your chosen font over to your Instagram bio by tapping it and selecting “Copy.” Then, open your Instagram app, navigate to your profile, select “Edit Profile,” tap the “Bio” section and paste your chosen font into the empty field.

To Add a Special Font to Your Bio on Desktop:

If you’re editing your Instagram profile on your laptop or desktop, Font Space has a library of fonts you can download and copy into your bio in seconds. To do so, Find a font you like and select “Download” beneath the font’s sample image, as shown below.

Downloading this font will open a folder on your desktop where you can pull a “.ttf” file that carries the various versions of this font. The file will look something like the screenshot below.

Once you have this font copied to your computer’s clipboard, open your internet browser and log onto Instagram.com. Select “Edit Profile” and paste your downloaded font into your bio field. You can then edit the sample text that came with your font to write your new bio as you see fit.

3. Add special characters to your bio.

Not only can you customize your bio with a special font, but you can also add atypical characters that distinguish you or your brand — but that you wouldn’t find on your smartphone’s normal keyboard. These include §, †, or even ™ if your Instagram name features a trademarked product name.

To Add Special Characters From Mobile

Using your mobile device, install a free mobile app like Character Pad, which catalogs nearly every character and symbol you might need but won’t find in the 26-letter English alphabet. 

Open the app and find the character you want to add to your Instagram bio. In Character Pad, you’ll simply double-tap the picture of your chosen symbol to paste it into a text box, as shown below. Then, copy this character to your phone’s clipboard.

Once you have your symbol copied to your clipboard, open Instagram, navigate to your bio, and tap “Edit Profile.”

Hold down your finger on the field of your bio you want to insert your special character until “Paste” appears as an option, as shown below. Tap “Paste” and you’ll be all set.

To Add Special Characters From a PC

You can also insert special characters and symbols through Instagram’s web client on a desktop or laptop computer. The easiest way is to use Microsoft Word’s “Symbol” insertion icon, as shown below.

Select your desired symbol or character and copy it to your computer’s clipboard. Then, navigate to Instagram.com and follow the steps above to paste your character into a particular part of your bio.

You might be tempted to simply Google search the special character you want, and at times it might work just as well as the steps above. But keep in mind not all special characters you copy from the internet are “clean” when you paste them into Instagram — some of them might become corrupted or not show up correctly.

4. Search Instagram users without an account.

As much as Instagram would like to see you ultimately create an account for yourself or your business, you can peruse the beautiful brands, people, and dogs that are waiting for you without an account to see if it’s worth signing up.

There are two ways to search for people on Instagram without logging in:

Entering a Username at the End of the Instagram URL

The first way to search users without an account is by using an Instagram username you already know, and adding it to the end of “www.instagram.com/.”

For example, if you were to start with our Instagram username — which is simply “HubSpot” — you can enter the following into your browser’s address bar: www.instagram.com/hubspot. This will bring you to our Instagram profile as well as the elusive search bar at the top of the page:

Once you’ve reached this page, you can use the search bar to the left of the “Sign Up” button to browse users who are already active on the platform.

Googling Them in an Instagram Site Search

A slightly “hackier” way of looking up users without an Instagram account of your own is to simply search their name in a Google site search. This means telling Google to only look up search terms on a website of your choice (in this case, Instagram).

To site search a user, open a Google search and type the following: “site:instagram.com [name of user].”

By keeping all the text prior to the brackets in your search bar, you can shuffle through names of people and businesses and Google will produce results that live only on Instagram. Here’s what a site search looks like for HubSpot, below. As you can see, Google produces our main profile, our culture-focused HubSpot Life profile, Instagram posts that include the #hubspot hashtag, and our HubSpot Academy Page.

5. See all the posts you’ve liked.

Ever wanted to see the posts you’ve Liked, all in one place? All you have to do is go to your own profile and click the “Options” button — a gear icon on iPhone/iPad, and three dots on Android — then, click “Posts You’ve Liked.”

To un-Like any of the posts you’ve Liked, simply go to the post and deselect the “heart” icon below it. Don’t worry — the user won’t be notified that you’ve un-Liked the post.

6. Add and manage multiple accounts from the same device.

Have a separate account for your dog? Don’t be embarrassed; stand by your puppy profile. In fact, whether it’s a pet account or a business account, you can add and manage this one right alongside your personal account. Here’s how:

1. From your profile, tap the gear icon. To find this icon on an Android device, you’ll first need to tap the three horizontal lines to the top right of your screen.
2. Scroll to the very bottom and tap “Add Account.”
3. Add your other account by username and password, and you’re all set.

To toggle between both profiles, hold down your profile picture in the navigation bar to view all connected accounts. You can also switch to a different account through the Settings page mentioned earlier. See what this screen looks like in the next Instagram feature, below.

7. Schedule posts in advance.

Instagram being a mobile app, you’re probably in a routine of taking photos and posting them to your Instagram Story on the fly. But, you can also pre-post them from your computer for a set day and time in the future.

This feature is available with a social media scheduling tool, as well as HubSpot if you have an Instagram business account. If you have this business profile, switch to it via the Instagram mobile app and follow the prompts to connect it to Facebook.

Depending on the social scheduling tool you use, you might not include this step. Once you’ve toggled to the right account, however, you’ll launch your scheduling tool, navigate to your current connected profiles, and see Instagram as an available integration.

8. Optimize your Instagram bio to appear in the Explore tab.

Your friends, family, and coworkers might be your first group of Instagram followers, but growing your audience takes more than the people who already know you. One key way to do this is to get your profile to appear in Instagram’s Explore page.

The Explore page, accessible using the magnifying glass icon shown above, is a browsing page that sorts the entire Instagram community by topic and keyword. These include “Fitness,” “Style,” “Science,” and more. 

Hashtagging your posts with these words can expose your content to the people browsing these topics, but you can also use them in your Instagram name and bio to promote your profile. If Jane Doe is a marketing consultant, for example, she might want to make her Instagram name “Jane Doe Marketing,” rather than simply “Jane Doe.” Then, in her bio, she can include all of her specialties, such as “SEO,” “blogging,” “email marketing,” etc.

9. Create a collection of saved posts.

In addition to being able to view all of the posts you’ve liked, Instagram also has an option to save or bookmark certain posts in collections that you create.

Start by going to your profile, and tapping the bookmark icon on the top-right menu above your photos.

Select the “Collections” tab, and tap “Create Collection.” Below, I’ve created one for food-related posts I particularly like.

Hit “done,” and you can start adding photos to your collection. To do so, tap the bookmark icon below the post you want to add.

Then, go back to your saved photos by following the previous steps. You’ll see the photos you’ve saved — to add them to your collection, select the collection you want to add to, and tap “Add to Collection.” From there, you can add any of your saved photos.

10. Use ‘Type Mode’ to enhance your Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories is a feature of Instagram that allows you to post ephemeral photos that show up separately from your profile and only last 24 hours. It’s a great function for helping like-minded users discover your profile on Instagram’s homepage. 

But since its beginning, Stories have become quite creative, and it takes more than a pretty filter to stand out to your audience. Enter “Type Mode,” an option similar to Snapchat that gives you the power to caption Stories that need extra context to resonate with someone. Here’s how to use it:

Open Instagram Stories by swiping right from your Instagram feed. This will launch your smartphone camera. Then, take a photo or video and press the “A” icon to the top-right of your screen, as shown below:

This “A” icon will open Type Mode, where you have five fonts to choose from: Modern, Neon, Typewriter, Strong, and Classic. Here’s what a sample Story looks like with Modern font:

11. Create Stories Highlights to show Stories for longer than a day.

Like in Snapchat, posts to your story only stick around for your followers to see for 24 hours. But sometimes, you have a story that deserves more daylight to be told.

That’s where Stories Highlights comes in, a feature by Instagram that allows you to save stories together in the same space on your profile page. If you ever wondered what that “New” button with the “+” icon was below your profile image, this explains it.

To make a Stories Highlight, tap this New option and select any number of past stories in your album:

Image via
Instagram

Then, give it a cover photo and a name to display as its own Instagram Story on your profile page. You can remove Stories Highlights at any time by tapping and holding down this story.

12. Post content from other users to your Instagram Story. 

Although Instagram Stories are a great way to give your content exposure on your followers’ homepages, you might not always have something Story-worthy. In those times, you can share an inspiring post from someone else through your Instagram Stories. Here’s how:

Find a post you want to share in your Instagram Stories and tap the paper airplane icon, as shown below.

This icon will open a screen allowing you to send this post to specific followers, or add to your Story. Tap the latter option, as shown below.

Tapping this option will automatically turn the post into an Instagram Story, which you can edit and design to your liking the same way you would any other Instagram Story. 

13. Upload and browse video content on IGTV. 

IGTV is one of the biggest new features by Instagram to date. This acronym, as you might assume, stands for “Instagram TV,” and it’s basically an Explore page just for users’ video content. The main benefits of IGTV? You can upload videos more than 60 seconds long, and you can create your own channel with, perhaps, a video series that can be broadcast across other video platforms like YouTube.

Navigate to IGTV by tapping the icon shown above. A page will appear featuring topics and videos by some of the most prolific IGTV video creators on the platform today. As you view more videos, the topics you see on the IGTV homepage will begin to adapt to your interests and serve you more content around those interests. And, naturally, the same goes for your target audience.

Create an IGTV channel by tapping the circular icon to the right of your screen, as shown below.

With an IGTV channel created, you can then upload videos directly from your smartphone’s camera roll to your channel.

14. See the posts your friends recently liked or commented on.

When you’re looking to discover new people to follow on Instagram, there’s nothing like asking your friends. There’s a quick way to do that — by viewing the recent liking and commenting activity of the people you follow.

To do that, click the heart icon at the bottom of the home screen — the first thing that should appear is a list of likes and comments on your photos. Choose the tab near the top that says “Following,” and you can see the activity of users you follow.

15. Look through pictures without accidentally liking them.

It’s pretty easy to learn how to like something on Instagram — so easy, in fact, that people do it accidentally: It’s just a quick double tap of the photo once you’ve entered its full view.

The thing is, it’s so easy to do quickly by mistake. So, here’s a quick Instagram cheat for you: To look through someone’s photos without “double-tap paranoia,” scroll through Instagram feeds with your phone set to airplane mode. Without internet access, you won’t be able to Like a photo, even if you accidentally double-tap it.

The pictures won’t load in the first place if you start on airplane mode, though. You’ll have to go to the feed first to load the posts, then turn on airplane mode, then start scrolling. When you reach the end of the first rows of posts and want to load more, simply turn airplane mode off, let more load, and then turn it on again. Cumbersome? Maybe a little, but it could be worth the paranoia mitigation.

• To turn on airplane mode on an iPhone/iPad: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and click the airplane icon. Or, go to “Settings” and then “Wi-Fi,” and switch “Airplane Mode” on.
• To turn on airplane mode on an Android device: Swipe down from the top of the screen. Then, swipe from right to left until you see “Settings,” and then touch it. Touch “Airplane Mode” to turn it on.

16. Hide, delete, or disable comments on your posts.

Twitter may carry a more “anything goes” culture of commentary, but your Instagram is your domain — and it’s much easier to control who says what on your content. This is especially important if you manage a business account.

To Filter Comments by Keyword:

In the Instagram mobile app, navigate to “Options” and select “Comments.” From here, you can toggle on “Hide Inappropriate Comments” and even enter specific keywords you’d like the app to police within each comment.

To Delete Comments:

Tap the speech bubble icon below the comment you’d like to delete, and swipe lightly to the left over this text. Select the garbage can icon that appears to delete this post. You can also do this to your own comments.

To Disable Comments Entirely:

To clarify, you can’t turn off comments across your entire profile; you can only disable them for individual posts.

To do so, start posting an image on which you’d like nobody to comment. When you reach the page to add a caption, tags, and location, tap “Advanced Settings” at the very bottom. This will open a screen where you can easily switch on an option labeled “Turn Off Commenting.”

17. Clear your Instagram search history.

We swear — this blog post isn’t all about how to convince people you’re not an Instagram creeper. But many of us can relate to the desire to clear our online search history everywhere, including on this particular social channel. Luckily, you can.

To clear your Instagram search history, go to your own profile and click the “Options” button (a gear icon on iPhone/iPad and three dots on Android). Scroll down and click “Clear Search History.” When prompted, click “Yes, I’m sure.”

18. Reorder filters and hide the ones you don’t use.

If you use Instagram a lot, chances are, you have a few favorite go-to filters, and others you never touch. To make editing photos easier, you can reorder the filters in your editing window, and hide the ones you never use.

To reorder or hide filters, add a new post and begin editing it. When you get to the filters page, scroll to the very far right of your filters options and click “Manage.”

To reorder filters, hold your finger down on the three grey lines on the far right of the filter you’d like to move, and drag it to reorder. To hide them, deselect the checkmark to the right.

19. Use Instagram as a photo editor (without having to post anything).

Perhaps you love Instagram’s filters and editing capabilities, but aren’t quite ready to post the photo to your account — right now, or ever. To use Instagram as a photo editor without posting anything, all you need to do is publish a picture while your phone is on airplane mode.

First, be sure you have “Save Original Photo” turned on in your Instagram settings.

Then, turn on airplane mode — see instructions in #5.

Next, follow the normal steps to post a photo to Instagram: Upload the photo, edit it, and press “Share.” An error message will appear saying the upload failed, but you’ll be able to find the edited image in your phone’s photo gallery.

20. Insert line breaks into your bio and captions.

When you write a caption in Instagram, you’ll see the keyboard doesn’t give you an option to press “Enter” or “Return.” The same is true for your bio. So how do all those people put line breaks in there?

It turns out that all you have to do is press the “123” key in the bottom lefthand corner of the keyboard, and the “Return” key will appear on the bottom right.

I know this tip sounds simple, but a lot of people miss it — myself included, until a colleague clued me in. We’ve seen some elaborate solutions out there for hacking through this problem, like writing the caption copy in another app, then copying and pasting it into Instagram. Thankfully, it’s much simpler than that.

21. Hide Photos You’ve Been Tagged In

When someone tags you in a photo or video on Instagram, it’s automatically added to your profile under “Photos of You,” unless you opt to add tagged photos manually (see the next tip).

To see the posts you’ve been tagged in, go to your own profile and click the person icon below your bio.

Then, to hide the posts you’ve been tagged in from other users, click the three dots in the top right of your screen and choose “Hide Photos.” Select the posts you’d like to remove from your profile, and when you’re done, tap “Hide Photos” at the bottom of your screen. When prompted, tap “Hide From Profile.”

This won’t remove the posts themselves from Instagram, but it will remove them from your profile, so you and others can’t access them.

22. Adjust your settings to approve tagged photos before they show up in your profile.

As we mentioned in the previous step, when someone tags a photo or video of you on Instagram, it’s usually added to your profile automatically. But, you can change your Instagram settings to enable manually selecting which photos you’re tagged in that show up on your profile.

To add tags manually, follow the same steps above to get to the photos in which you’ve been tagged, and click the three dots in the top right of your screen. Tap “Tagging Options,” and select “Add Manually.”

You’ll still be notified when someone tags you in a photo. Once that happens, to manually add a tagged photo to your profile, tap the photo you were tagged in, then tap your username and select “Show on My Profile.” And if you’d rather it not be visible, choose “Hide from My Profile” instead.

23. Browse posts from certain locations.

One fun thing you can do on Instagram is browse photos and videos from a specific location, or taken near your current location. I like to do that when I’m planning a trip somewhere, or want to check out a new restaurant and scroll through the pictures taken there.

Here’s how to do both of these things.

To Browse Posts From at a Specific Location:

You can either search for a specific place, or you can click into a geotag on an existing photo.

To search for a specific place: Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your home screen, which will bring you to the general search page. When you click into the search bar at the top, four tabs will appear. Choose “Places,” and type in the name of a place. When you press “Search,” it’ll show you all the top and recent posts that were geotagged with that location.

To look at posts with a certain geotag: Go to the photo that’s geotagged with that location, and click the geotag. It’ll show you all the top and recent posts that were geotagged with that location.

Browse Posts Near Your Current Location:

Follow the same instructions above to get to “Places.” Tap the search bar, and select “Near Current Location.”

Choose which geotag you’d like to browse from the options that appear. Let’s say I chose to browse posts with the Museum of Science geotag. When I click “Museum of Science, Boston” on the menu, I’ll see the top and recent posts that were geotagged at that location.

24. Drive traffic to an external website.

One of the biggest frustrations people have with marketing on Instagram is that clickable URLs aren’t allowed anywhere except the single “website” box in your bio. If you put a URL in a photo caption it’ll appear as plain text, meaning users would have to painstakingly copy the URL, open a web browser, and paste or type it in there.

One sneaky way to get people to visit your Instagram profile, which is where that one clickable URL is allowed, is to use your photo captions to encourage people to visit your profile for a link. Then, update that URL frequently to point to your latest blog content, YouTube video, product, or offer.

Check out the example from food magazine Bon Appétit below. This photo’s caption provides a text call-to-action to visit the user’s profile so you can click the link related to the post.

 

Comfort food gone green 🌱. Brandon Jew, chef at @misterjius, put a spring spin on his mom’s congee for @healthy_ish. Head to the link in our profile for the recipe. 📷: @laurashoots

A post shared by bonappetitmag (@bonappetitmag) on May 11, 2017 at 3:02pm PDT

Then, in Bon Appétit‘s profile, you’ll see the link itself. Update this link frequently to point to your latest content or offer.

Plus, if you have a verified Instagram account, you can also add links to your Story. Read more about this feature here.

25. Sell products from Instagram using Shoppable Posts.

You might already know you can tag people in your Instagram posts as (or after) you post new content. Now, you can tag products — and direct your viewers to a product page to buy what they saw.

To Add an Instagram Business Account

You’ll need an Instagram Business account to publish shoppable posts. You can get one by selecting “Edit Profile” on your Instagram profile and tapping “Try Instagram Business Tools,” as shown below.

To Tag a Post With Products

Once you’ve launched an Instagram Business account, you’ll need to enable product tags to use them on a post that depicts a product. Navigate to your settings using the gear icon from your profile page, and select “Products.” Tap “Continue” and follow the prompts to connect a “product catalog” to your business profile.

With product tags enabled on your Instagram Business account, you can now upload new posts and tag your photo with products you find from your product catalog. Here’s what a shoppable post can look like:

Image via Instagram

26. Pin your Instagram post to Pinterest.

Instagram doesn’t have a natural integration with many social networks (except Facebook, its parent company) for publishing Instagram posts to other social accounts.

But with respect to Pinterest, image-loving platforms stick together. Here’s a backdoor way to Pin your latest Instagram Story to Pinterest:

On the Instagram mobile app, tap a post to view it in full, then tap the three dots to the top-right of the image. Select “Copy Share URL” to attach the picture’s link to your clipboard.

Image via Boleh.com

Open the Pinterest mobile app — or download it; you’ll need it for this step — and navigate to your profile page. If you have the latest version of Pinterest downloaded, it might ask you as soon as you open the app if you’d like to produce the image from your clipboard.

If not, select the “+” icon to the top right to add a new pin, and you’ll see a menu of options where you can add your “Copied Link” to a new Pin or board on your profile.

27. Hide ads you don’t find relevant.

Instagram tries to show you ads that are interesting and relevant to you. You might see ads based on people you follow and things you Like on Instagram, or the third-party websites and apps you visit.

If you see sponsored posts you don’t find relevant, though, you can let Instagram know and slowly teach its algorithm what you like and don’t like to see.

To hide ads on Instagram, tap on the three dots to the right of a post labeled “Sponsored,” and choose “Hide This.”

From there, it’ll ask you to share why you don’t want to see the ad anymore.

You can also opt out of seeing ads based on sites and apps off of Instagram and Facebook from your device’s settings. Note that even if you choose to opt out of seeing these types of ads, you’ll still see ads based on your Instagram and Facebook activity.

• To limit ad tracking on an iPhone/iPad: Go to “Settings” and choose “Privacy,” then “Advertising.” From there, choose the option to “Limit Ad Tracking”

• To turn off interest-based ads on Android: Go to “Google Settings,” then “Ads.” From there, choose the option to “Turn off interest-based ads.”

28. Send photos privately to your friends.

Posting photos with all of your followers or with the public isn’t the only way to share content on Instagram. You can also share them with individual or multiple users, kind of like a Facebook message or group text message.

You can either send a new photo to friends, or send a photo that you or someone else has already posted.

To send a new photo privately, upload a photo and begin editing it, as you would when editing a new post. When you get to the “Share” page, tap the top where it automatically says “New Post,” but when prompted, select “Direct Message.” From there, you can pick and choose whom you’d like to send the photo to.

You can access your direct messages at any time by clicking the mailbox icon at the top right of your homepage.

To send an existing photo privately, start by opening the post you want to share — it can be your own or someone else’s, as long as the latter has a public account. Next, click the paper-airplane-like icon below the post, then select who you want to receive it when the “Send to” box appears.

Insta-Hacks

I might be biased, but Instagram is one of the most fun (and visually appealing) social apps around. And now, with these tricks, you can use it to an even fuller extent.

Plus, many of these features can help to enhance your brand’s presence on Instagram. Now, you know how to use the app more efficiently, to make sure you’re only tagged in photos you want to appear on your profile, and have even more ways to engage with the people by whom you’d like to be discovered.

In copywriting, there’s an old adage that states the purpose of your first line of copy is to compel people to read your second line of copy. In web design, the same principle applies. But instead of crafting a compelling first line of copy, you need to design gripping website content that sits above the fold.

Above the fold content is what your visitors see right when they land on your website. If it’s clear, engaging, and persuasive, it can convince them to explore the rest of your website. If it’s jumbled and uninspiring, however, they’ll bounce off your website faster than they’d exit out of a pop-up ad.

With only 15 seconds to engage the average website visitor, designing compelling above the fold content is crucial for making a great first impression, lowering your bounce rate, and retaining attention. Below, we’ll show you some of the best above the fold content examples to get your creative juices flowing, so read on to get inspired.

10 Compelling Above the Fold Content Examples to Inspire Your Own

1. Wistia

As one of the most creative brands in the MarTech industry, the fact that Wistia’s above the fold content is a video of a woman dancing around with a pink video camera in her hand shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

This makes their homepage feel casual and inviting, and coupled with a simple line of copy that encourages visitors to watch their company overview video, their homepage’s low-pressure vibes most likely convinces more people to watch their video than some of the best homepages could.

2. Airbnb

By featuring a vivid photo of one of their more adventurous bookings in their above the fold content design, Airbnb gives their website visitors a sneak peek at a possible experience they could take part in if they book one of their homes. And by planting this image in their visitors’ mind, searching for accommodation on their website is a natural next step.

3. Velocity Partners

Unlike most above the fold content design, Velocity Partners, a B2B marketing agency, doesn’t try to persuade their website visitors to watch their company overview video or try out their product. Instead, they encourage them to engage with a fascinating interactive slideshow that explains why innovative marketers need to leverage new content formats to tell more refreshing stories.

By sparking their website visitors’ curiosity with thought-provoking copy and capturing their attention with a graphic that looks like it belongs in Tron, Velocity Partners can convince them to find out why innovators need innovative storytelling, and, in turn, Velocity Partners’ services.

4. VeryGoodCopy

VeryGoodCopy is a creative agency that crafts articles, landing pages, web pages, and emails for brands, but their homepage doesn’t harp on their services, like most companies do.

Instead, they immediately offer the opportunity to learn how to persuade — a skill every marketer wants to master — by leveraging ample white space, an enticing headline, a brief description of their content topics, social proof, and a vivid call-to-action. This simple and engaging above the fold design ensnares their visitors’ attention and convinces them to check out their micro-articles.

5. Shopify

Since humans can process visual information four times faster than the blink of an eye, Shopify decided to rely more on visuals than copy when crafting their above the fold content. To do this, they included artistic images and an alluring video that could instantly capture their website visitors’ attention. But even though they sparingly use any copy on their homepage, their tagline is packed full of purpose and can compel visitors to get started with their software.

6. Ann Handley

By highlighting her impressive accomplishments of being a Wall Street Journal best-selling author and a partner at MarketingProfs, Ann Handley instantly conveys her impressive marketing prowess to her website visitors. She also leverages white space, a welcoming picture of herself, a catchy tagline, compelling copy, and a vibrant call-to-action to persuade her visitors to consider working with her.

7. Mint

Mint’s simple and professional above the fold content design can effectively attract its target user — people who meticulously manage their money. They also include a photo of their app in action and contrast bright colors, like orange and green, to catch their website visitors’ attention. Additionally, their copy is clear and concise and conveys the tool’s main benefit — effortless money management.

8. Drift

Drift’s above the fold content design features captivating images of their product in action, a refreshing picture of a real person, and attention-grabbing copy that injects excitement into their website visitors. By blending all three of these elements into their homepage while still leveraging a ton of white space, Drift can hold their website visitors’ attention and convince them to sign up for a free account.

9. InVision

One of the more sleek above the fold content designs, InVision’s homepage overlays sharp copy on top of dynamic, professional grade footage of their company overview video. This gives their website visitors a glimpse of the video and entices them to watch it. They also include a vibrant CTA that conveys they offer a freemium version of their software, which is an easy first step to take with the company.

10. Animalz

Similar to VeryGoodCopy, Animalz is a content marketing agency that doesn’t bombard their website visitors with messaging about their services in their above the fold content design. Instead, they offer visitors the opportunity to learn about some of top SaaS brands’ marketing strategies. They also leverage white space, feature visual appealing images, craft a simple yet potent tagline, and include a convincing customer testimonial to encourage their visitors to subscribe to their newsletter.