Instagram

When I was just starting out as a freelance social media manager, I wrote this post which outlined the tools that I was using to manage my business and make life feel a little less hectic.

Over the past two years, some of those resources have definitely stood the test of time. However, as I’ve grown my business, updated my offerings, and brought on a team-- many of my needs have changed-- which means my business tools have too!

An Instagram influencer is defined as someone who has established an engaged audience on Instagram and can use their credibility, trustworthiness, and authenticity to persuade that audience to convert.  

In short, an influencer is anyone who has influence over a group of people. 

It’s a common misconception that in order to successfully partner with an influencer, the influencer account must have an extremely high number of followers, or be a high-profile celebrity. 

This is simply not true. 

If you’re interested in working with brands on your social media accounts, blog, or podcast -- you’re going to need a media kit.

A media kit is essentially a content creator’s resume.

It’s used to share the details + statistics of your online reach and partnership capabilities.

Even those who wish to be micro-influencers (accounts with less than 10k followers) should have something on hand to share important details about themselves with potential partners.

Let’s face it. As a business owner, you’ve got plenty to do on any given day.  

You know the drill.

Each time you check something off of your list, another task is magically added.

It’s a never ending cycle-- and to top it all off, apparently you’re supposed to post high quality content consistently (like every day?!) to social media.

What? Who has that kind of time?!

So maybe you’ve heard how important Instagram Stories are becoming.

Maybe you heard it from me ;)

Maybe you see all of your online pals + competitors hopping on and using Stories, and you get it. You understand why + how they work.  

You’re totally onboard. Stories are “a thing” on Instagram now. There’s no turning back.

When Instagram first announced it’s new Stories feature in August of 2016, the world let out a universal deep sigh and collectively rolled their eyes.

Much of the initial pushback on the new feature was because, well-- Snapchat was already doing that… get a life, Instagram, stop playing.

However -- in true Alpha fashion, Insta-stories quickly surpassed SnapChat’s daily active users, and has continued to beef up the in-app offerings with exciting new features.

It’s not really a huge surprise, but I’ve noticed that many business owners tend to focus all of their efforts on Instagram into growing a following. 

Some will even gauge the “success” of the account strictly by the number of followers they acquire.

And sure, while it’s great to have a large number show up in that little box labeled “followers”, that isn’t necessarily putting any money in the bank.

Ok folks, let’s talk about it- The Great Debate.  

Should you be focusing on SnapChat, or Instagram Stories for your business?! 

Both? Neither? HALP!! 

Now, I certainly have an opinion.  But in order to better understand my personal position on the subject- let’s begin with a little history… 

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I'm in the business of social media management + visual content creation.  Because of this, I've used more than my fair share of the latest + greatest scheduling platforms + editing apps.  

Since I'm not only creating content + managing accounts for myself; but for a variety of other clients in different industries;  I've been able to test out a plethora of different tools + resources for Instagram.  

The following list contains my top 20 Instagram tools, apps + resources. 

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