11 Instagram tools and aps for more success

More than 1 billion Instagram accounts are active each month all over the world – with more than half of them being used daily (as of August 2020). Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 90 percent of these accounts follow at least one company according to internal data collected by the photo network. Instagram has lots of in­for­ma­tion about user ac­tiv­i­ties as well as im­pres­sive success stories on its website to show in­ter­est­ed companies, bloggers, and in­flu­ences how appealing the social platform really is. Whether high-quality product photos, narrative Instagram stories, or target-oriented ad­ver­tise­ments: the success of marketing in the photo-sharing network seems prac­ti­cal­ly certain from a su­per­fi­cial point of view.

In fact, Instagram marketing also involves a lot of work that would not be possible without technical aids. The tools chosen play a decisive role in the op­ti­miza­tion of image and video material, which is decisive for the pre­sen­ta­tion. But also when sched­ul­ing pub­li­ca­tions and in­ter­act­ing with the target audience, relevant programs can be really useful. To make it easier for you to find the most suitable apps, this article presents some of the best Instagram apps and desktop programs.

Visuals play a central role on Instagram. Only those who convince through their external pre­sen­ta­tion can gain the attention of users on the platform and spread their marketing messages suc­cess­ful­ly. This makes Instagram tools for high-quality images and collages just as in­dis­pens­able as matching filters, fonts, and colors.

Ready-made collages can be exported with a single click and then sent by SMS or email, stored in the Cloud (Dropbox), or shared on social networks. Before the post is added to Instagram or wherever you want to post it, you can also make use of the filters and effects and write texts for the posts. iOS and Android users can find Pic Stitch in the App Store or Google Play Store as a free download. Windows users only have access to a paid app in the Microsoft Store, which is rel­a­tive­ly cheap at a price tag of $1.99.

A Color Story can be down­loaded for free. The app for iOS and Android devices can be down­loaded from the App Store and Google Play Store, re­spec­tive­ly. Access to all functions is only available for paying users at an annual sub­scrip­tion fee of $24.99. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, in­di­vid­ual filters can be purchased in-app at varying prices starting at $0.99. Tools that require a fee-based sub­scrip­tion are marked with a plus sign in the app.

Canva’s start-up menu notifies users that not all its functions are free to use. Free elements in the basic version are marked as such. And there are plenty to choose from, but full access to the library of over 60 million templates, fonts, and stock images is only available in the paid-for Canva Pro version via a monthly ($12.99) or annual sub­scrip­tion ($119.99). The basic version is available on the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android) remains free even for heavy use of the Instagram tool.

As is the case for newslet­ter marketing, Instagram marketing requires good planning. Choosing the right content to post is important, but so is the timing and frequency of posting your content. To make things a little easier, a range of useful Instagram tool apps exists. We’ll show you three of the top ones.

Hootsuite not only fa­cil­i­tates managing your own social media posts, but also has many useful op­ti­miza­tion features such as automatic link short­en­ing and detailed analytics reports (from the “Pro­fes­sion­al” edition onwards). In addition, the ap­pli­ca­tion tracks the actions of platform users (comments, likes, shares, etc.), which makes it even easier to work out how suc­cess­ful each post is. Another useful feature is the pos­si­bil­i­ty to display brand or company ref­er­ences, or new postings on specific keywords: this way, you get valuable in­for­ma­tion about where you stand, and at the same time, you have helpful input for in­ter­act­ing with the community. The Instagram app, which is available for iOS and Android can be used for free for up to three social media profiles.

When­To­Post presents multiple values in its overview. For one, the Instagram tool shows the top three times for posting in a single day. This is combined with a countdown and a weekly planner that sum­ma­rizes the best times to post for the full week. The basic version of the program is available as a free download for iOS and Android. Some ad­di­tion­al features, such as dynamic graph or diagrams for the top days of the week, can be added for a fee.

Its practical planning functions aren’t the only thing that make Combin Scheduler special. The tool lets users edit pictures with features for trimming, zooming, and adjusting the size of an image. Further, location tags and hashtags can be fully in­te­grat­ed in the desktop ap­pli­ca­tion. New users are given one week to test the tool and its functions for free. A monthly sub­scrip­tion costs around $21.

The time-lapse effect is suitable for a wide variety of ap­pli­ca­tion scenarios: for example, it gives behind-the-scenes videos of companies a certain “je ne sais quoi”. It also proves to be just as practical when it comes to pre­sent­ing products – from con­cep­tu­al design and man­u­fac­tur­ing to the finished product. In addition, the top speed videos offer an ideal op­por­tu­ni­ty to show a product in action in a short time. Instagram’s free app is only available for iOS, but with Microsoft Hy­per­lapse Mobile, there is a similar and al­ter­na­tive option (which is also free) for Android and Windows devices.

Boomerang is a tool created by Instagram. Usable as a stand­alone app or from within Instagram, the free tool shoots 10 photos in quick suc­ces­sion to produce a min­i­mal­ist photo series with the well-known boomerang effect. In this way, short and exciting an­i­ma­tions that hover back and forth like a boomerang can be created. Boomerang is available for Android or for iOS.

The recorded clip can be instantly shared to Instagram or Facebook via the app, saved locally, or shared with friends and family via email, WhatsApp, etc.

The majority of InShOt features are free to use. You’ll need a Pro account to use all available stickers, effects, and co. The costs range from $3.99 per month or $11.99 per year, or you can pay a one-off fee of $34.99. When you purchase an upgrade, all in-app adverts and the InShOt watermark are removed from your projects. The app is available for free download from the Google Play Store or the App Store. The free version provides plenty of op­por­tu­ni­ty for testing the Instagram tool ex­ten­sive­ly.

Hashtag marketing is by no means an exclusive dis­ci­pline among Twitter marketers. For healthy audience reach and en­gage­ment, the right keywords are in­dis­pens­able on Instagram. A well-ad­ver­tised link in your biography can make all the dif­fer­ence too.

inTags not only allows you to in­di­vid­u­al­ly search for the best tags for a selected keyword or any com­bi­na­tion of keywords, but also offers ready-made cat­e­gories such as ‘Food’, ‘Sport’, or ‘Drinks and desserts’. The Instagram tool for Android devices, which is just as useful for re­search­ing Twitter, Pinterest, etc. is free of charge in the basic version (with ad­ver­tise­ments). For a one-time payment of around $2, users can activate the full version if required, which doesn’t contain any ads.

Even the basic version of the Instagram tool allows for an unlimited number of links to be included. In addition, the free edition provides insights on how many times a link was clicked. Themes can be in­di­vid­u­al­ly adjusted for each link selection. Ad­di­tion­al themes and analytics insights such as click-through rate are included in the sub­scrip­tion version of the app ($6 per month or $48 annually). The Linktree watermark is omitted in the Pro version.