Tips for News and Media Organizations

Millions of people around the world are documenting their lives on Instagram every second of every day. From personal moments to major world events, Instagram is the place to instantly communicate through images.

As a news or media organization, the ability to tap into the conversations and the content that people are sharing around the world can be incredibly powerful. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of your Instagram presence:

Use compelling images to drive traffic: Capture users’s attention on Instagram and direct them to your site for deeper engagement

• Post compelling photos that capture attention and generate excitement
• Use your Instagram account to build your brand and establish connection with your audience through images
• When posting a photo on Instagram, include links to articles or photo galleries in the comment and share to other social networks. View the links on Twitter, Facebook and Webstagram

Leverage the Instagram API to crowdsource photos: Use hashtag and location targeting to find relevant user generated Instagram photos for news reports or articles

• Create on-going conversations or repeated calls to action
• Use hashtags and location tags to source photos surrounding breaking news and world events

Curate images to tell a story: Curation is more powerful than aggregation. Use tagged photos to gain insights and present the content in a meaningful way.

• Create galleries of images or interactive maps to show where photos are being taken
• Use Instagram photos in your print publications
• Feature guest photographers

Instagram Best Practices

To see more tips and examples, visit our Instagram for Business help center.

CHANGE PERSPECTIVE
Make sure you sign up for a personal account as well so you can experience what a user experiences. You’ll discover how you want to consume content, how you interact with other users and what type of images you find interesting.

SHARE COMPELLING CONTENT
Post photos that users can’t see anywhere else – behind the scenes photos or sneak peeks of what’s to come. Don’t be afraid to experiment, and pay attention to what users like and comment on most. Here are a few tips and tricks to make your photos more beautiful.
Example: Shwood Eyewear

TELL YOUR STORY
The photos you post tell a story about your brand. Users can tell when you’ve put thought into every photo you post. Being authentic about the content you share will help you build genuine connections with your followers.
Example: Almond Surfboards

EXPAND YOUR AUDIENCE
Connecting your Instagram account to your other social networks is a great way to let your followers know you’ve joined Instagram and to grow your audience. It also makes it easy to share the content you post on Instagram to your other accounts in order to increase your reach and exposure.
Example: Puma Sailing shares their Instagram photos on Tumblr and Twitter

POST CONSISTENTLY
Users generally like to see a variety of photos from different accounts in their feed. Post often enough to keep users engaged, but keep them wanting more. Spread your posts out throughout the day or over multiple days.
Example: charity: water

ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY
Interact with the Instagram community, both in the app and in person. Ask questions in your caption and respond to comments. Engage with your local Instagram Meetup groups. Encourage users to hashtag photos at your events.
Example: NBC News Hashtag Collections