October 21, 2016 9:23 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
Over the next few weeks, we’re focusing on showcasing some of our Instagrammers and each week we’ll be uploading a Q&A with one of them. Today, we’re featuring one of Instagram’s first users — Dan Rubin.
Dan Rubin was running his popular Instagram account long before the rest of us even knew what Instagram was. His account includes professionally crafted images of everything from buildings and car wrecks to landscapes, people and more. Read some of his tips in this Q&A:
Instagram / @danrubin
1. How long have you had your Instagram account for?
I was one of the original beta testers of Instagram before it launched, so I’ve had my account for about two months longer than Instagram itself has been publicly available.
2.When did you start getting popular on Instagram?
It really started right away, as one of my images was featured in the iTunes Store artwork on launch day. I was also lucky to be one of the first suggested users when Instagram added that functionality, and was featured early on by many publications as one of the top users to follow. It was a crazy time (and still is), so thankfully I’ve never let it go to my head and feel incredibly fortunate to have any attention at all.
3. What advice do you have for other influencers who want to improve their Instagram profile and grow their audience?
I’m not a big fan of focusing on audience size — it helps with certain things, but I don’t believe it should be a goal. Instead, focus on creating images, videos, and stories that are compelling, interesting, unique, engaging, and that make you want to keep creating. If you do that, your audience will eventually find you. If you focus on the size of your audience, all your decisions will derive from that priority rather than from something creative. The way to cut through the noise is to find your voice, whatever that may be, and however often it may change.
4. What camera do you use to capture your images?
I use many cameras from film to digital and yes, iPhone. The first five years of my Instagram images were all shot on smartphones (99.9% of them are iPhone shots), and now it’s
a combination of iPhone, film, and digital. My primary cameras for commercial work are an iPhone 7 Plus, Plaubel Makina 67 (medium-format film), Nikon F100 (35mm film), and Sony A7RII/SII (mirrorless digital). I love them all for different reasons.
5. How often do you upload pictures on Instagram?
It varies wildly from week to week, month to month, and year to year, and always has. I’ve never been too consistent, and though there’s an argument to be made for consistent timing of posts, I think it also changes over time based on Instagram’s algorithmic adjustments and improvements, so when people say that it directly translates to how and when your audience sees your images, that’s misleading.
Since this summer, I’ve been posting in sets of nine over a few days, posting three images at a time. More than five years of posting single images rather than sets, which tell more of
a story, was enough for me, and I’m really enjoying curating the sets ahead of time, planning their order and edits the way I would prepare editorial or commercial series for clients. It’s more rewarding for me, and it’s a chance to experiment with how Instagram presents my images to my audience, as well as measure the effect on engagement.
6. Are there any apps or equipment you would recommend to other Instagram users
As has often been said by people far more intelligent than me, the most important tool is the one between your ears! I use quite a few apps for post-production (my favorites right now are Darkroom, Snapseed, TouchRetouch, Afterlight), but you can use the exact same apps, filters, equipment as someone else and that won’t help you progress much in your personal development as a photographer (or designer, or cinematographer, etc.).
Practice and experimentation are the best tools, and what’s great about them is that they’re freely available to everyone.
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September 13, 2016 9:56 am
Published by Kirsty Sharman
In this month’s influencer showcase we feature two successful parenting bloggers. We also asked them to share some of their own blogging tips. Here’s what they said:
Lori Pace
Lori Pace, the creator of A Day in Motherhood, is a US-based parenting blogger. In between juggling parenting and her career, Lori shares her joys of motherhood and some of its challenges and how she deals with them on her blog. Have a look at some of Lori’s blogging tips.
What’s the one tip you wish you had been given to you when you started blogging?
To only worry about what you are trying to achieve.
I started ADayinMotherhood.com because it was cheaper than therapy. When I discovered a year or so in that I could make an income from it, I stressed myself out comparing myself to other bloggers:
“My post is better than hers, why did she get the attention? Why didn’t I succeed instead of the person who seems to not care? Oh, she’s posting deals and freebies, I need to do that to grow, even though I don’t use them myself.”
I realised that the competition of blogging comes into play very quickly. But if you just focus on you and what your goals are, you can build an audience and reputation that stands the test of time.
Do you have an SEO tip you’d like to share with other bloggers?
Honestly, I am terrible at SEO. For years, I would read an article and immediately apply the one tip they had and expect miracles. SEO is an ongoing process and takes time but is essential for any blog that wants to grow. I have a company that manages my SEO for me now and they have taught me a lot. If you can do that in the beginning, spend the money and do it just until you get a hang of it. But if you can’t, one of my best tips is to get a plugin, like Yoast, and at least complete the tasks it wants you to to do on every post to make your SEO more effective.
How often do you upload content? And how often should you be uploading content on your blog?
I post almost every day and sometimes, five to six times a day. It depends on my schedule and what I have to get done. I suggest at least once a day, maybe taking a Friday off, when blog traffic is generally low. A steady schedule is important when building a blog and reputation. You want readers and brands to see you as consistent and reliable.
What advice would you give up-and-coming bloggers to get noticed by brands?
The best advice I can give any blogger is to never miss a deadline, barring unforeseen circumstances, of course. If a review comes in and you promised the company feedback in a week, make sure it’s done in a week. If a client hires you for a sponsored post, thank them, ask any questions up front as soon as you receive the instructions, and then make sure your post is on time. Companies talk, often using the same PR company, and bad news spreads like wildfire. Treat your blog like a brick and mortar business. Show up on time, keep it clean and well maintained, and meet your customers’ deadlines.
Jen Walshaw
Jen is the writer of the award-winning blog The Mad House. If you love arts and craft, easy cooking or just need a new perspective on parenting, look no further. Here are some of Jen’s blogging tips.
What’s the one tip you wish you had been given when you started blogging?
Use bigger pictures! Looking back I used tiny images on my blog and wish I had optimised them for the site using the largest to fit the page.
Do you have an SEO tip you’d like to share with other bloggers?
Not to worry about it too much initially. Bloggers tend to write SEO-optimised content quite naturally. In fact, when I started blogging I had no idea what SEO was. I think that it’s okay to admit that you’re unsure how to do something. Use paragraphs and headings and consider using an SEO optimisation plugin.
How often do you upload content? And how often should you be uploading content on your blog?
Currently, I post four or five days out of seven, some weeks I post seven times and other weeks just three. I think that it’s okay to upload content only when you have something to say. All in all I have posted nearly 2 000 posts in over seven years. You need to make sure you market your content, as well as produce it, but I spend the same amount of time sharing that content.
What advice would you give up-and-coming bloggers to get noticed by brands?
Write great content that interests you. That way it’ll also appeal to readers. Brands love bloggers who engage with their readers and community. For me it was about producing creative content in my own way that got brands interested in working with me and my blog.
To stand a chance to be featured in our next influencer showcase. Tweet us your media kit. Here’s how you can create your own media kit.
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