One cannot deny the fact that social media is an addiction that one doesn't want to kick, and for a good reason. With over two billion active social media users worldwide it makes sense. Whilst some may find their substance of choice is Facebook or Twitter, the real trap is Instagram. It's easy to see how people get crazily addicted to such an app with it's creative filters, artistic photography and those narcissistic images we just love to hate.
With over 300 million monthly active users, It's evident that Instagram is one of the top social media choices for bloggers and small business owners. Instagram has become a powerful marketing tool-- but simplistic photos taken from one's mobile phone with vintage inspired filters does not take the cake. Fortunately for us, there are an abundance of apps at our disposal to enhance our Instagram posts.
Instagram opens the door to showcase your brand visually and interact with potential customers who may be interested in your products or services. The secret ingredient to a flourishing Instagram community is with appealing, high quality images-- coupled with awesome photography apps making it possible to take and edit brilliant photos that capture one's audience.
Without further ado here are 3 apps to get your photos Instagram-ready:
FilterBaker
Instagram is a crowded landscape that comes with it's pros and cons. The pros-- the ability to get ahead in the game. The cons--how to make your profile and posts pop in a sea of people. Filters work on Instagram, It's what Instagram was constructed on. A recent scientific study by Georgia Tech found that photos with filters are 21% more likely to be viewed and 45% more likely to get a comment. So, it's an absolute must that every business and brand utilize photo filters to optimize their images.
A new photo-editing player on the field, FilterBaker, is a filtering app unlike no other. If choosing from a series of set filters doesn't give you the right amount of satisfaction-- FilterBaker offers a plentiful of options to manipulate your image the way you want before saving them as your own filter. The app calls for your inner creative genius to come out and play with it's hands-on approach. With each photo filter, you can adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation. This can be taken even a step further by moving onto more complex tweaks with shadows and highlights, color dispersion and refining tools.
Videohance
Posting images on Instagram is so last year! in 2013, Instagram introduced the ability to create and post 15-second videos. Even though the majority of content shared on Instagram is still imagery, video is a great way to get noticed. They liven up your brand, show off adventures that your brand has and makes your business relatable. Additionally, by adding filters to a video you can express your brand's ingenuity.
Videohance is a video editing app that makes it easy to add filters and effects to your videos for Instagram. There are tons of basic Instagram-style filters you can overlay, and as you play the video you can try them all out to see what you like. But if you prefer to keep it old-school, there are more advanced tricks such as white balance or adjusting exposure and contrast as well as adding and editing sounds from the video. When the editing process is over, you can export the finished product and save it locally, or upload onto your Instagram profile.
Phonto
Instagram captions often go by unnoticed. So if your business has a short message to share with its followers, adding text onto the photo can be potentially powerful. It's a super simple and bold way to make your posts stand out on Instagram. Whether you decide to customize your images with a company logo or add an inspirational quote as an overlay-- dressing up your photo can give it the extra edge it needs to captivate your followers.
There are a few different ways to add text to your photos for easy, quick, and cheap editing on your phone. Phonto is a simple and user-friendly app that offers a library of ways to embellish your images with text in decorative fonts, thought bubbles or badges. With a few finger touches your photo's can be enhanced with stickers such as stars and hearts or texts in different colors and sizes. Phonto also allows you to install your own fonts by connecting your phone to your computer, launching iTunes, dragging and dropping the font (.ttf or .otf) files into the Phonto app.
The power of visual communication is hard to overlook. As a business it should become your duty to take advantage of Instagram's force by adding some personalization to your images to complement and show off your brand.