I started getting serious about my Instagram account about four months ago by dedicating two hours each day to posting, responding and discovering new accounts to follow and like. With the advent of Instagram Stories and IGTV, brands have elevated the aesthetics of their content. Most bloggers and brands now spend the time planning, designing and curating not only their Instagram feed but ensure that their stories are formatted and designed to be aesthetically pleasing. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the authenticity of posting a raw video or photo to my Stories, however, it’s so much more fun to design these stories, most of which are multiple pages.
I use many apps daily to plan, design and curate my posts. I always get questions via text, direct message and email inquiring about these apps. So in honor of the 11 Year Anniversary of Glamazon Diaries, I have decided to do a Blogging 101 series to share some of the things I’ve learned since starting my blog in 2007. So I’m kicking things off with the Best Apps for Instagram & Instagram Stories. Enjoy and please feel free to share. Do link back to this post if you decide to use my article. I will add to this post as I discover new apps.
Curating & Planning:
UNUM – really cool because you can also edit within and they have some awesome filters, templates, and overlays. You can also draft your posts.
PLANOLY – has some of the same features as UNUM, however, you are also able to schedule ALL posts to automatically send to Instagram. This means you can plan your week, month, year.
PRIME: Runs an algorithm of your Instagram timeline so that you can know the best times to post your pictures to get the most engagement.
Editing:
SNAPSEED: This is my go to for quick photo editing. The app is pretty robust and allows you to use some of the features similar to that of Adobe Light Room.
FACETUNE: This is purely a vanity app to airbrush beauty shots, you can also refine image by making the subject skinnier etc (wouldn’t recommend because it severely distorts other aspects of the photo). I just don’t have the patience to do heavy editing.
VSCO: I love this app and so many bloggers use it. It’s like Adobe Lightroom Presets packed into this mighty app. It’s free but I pay the $19.99 annual fee to get access to all the filters and you can also create your own.
AFTERLIGHT: I use this a few times but it allows you to apply filters and edit photos. A cool feature here is that you can add stickers, flowers and quote illustrations to your pics.
PHOTOSHOP MIX: I use this to edit my photos to make their sizes appropriate for whatever social media app I’m using. You can also save your work and move it to Photoshop on your desktop to continue edits.
Instagram Stories:
OVER: Great for Insta stories because you get a big library of templates to use as well as new fonts and access to Unsplash for even more images.
CANVA: I love this app to create my IG stories and icons. It’s got a huge library of illustrations, images, and fonts. It’s great to use for creating a theme for your Instagram or website.
SPARK POST: An Adobe product with a huge library of templates to use for Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook to create really professional looking stories.
UNFOLD: By far my favorite app to use to create a themed storyline for my Instagram/Instagram stories. You can add multiple images and video to create a storyboard.
HYPETYPE: Coolest app for animated words for your Instagram stories.
Collages:
These 3 apps allow you to create a collage of your pictures and videos.
PICSTITCH
VIDSTITCH
PHOTOGRID
Fun App:
KIRAKIRA: to make photos sparkly and blingy.
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