Follow that posting schedule!
Its true! there is a suitable time to post on Instagram! Just because I may sit on my phone more than the average person, does not mean others do. (but they probably do) I checked out a range of different websites, and found one in particular which gave a posting strategy I am now going to follow..
According to Experticity.com, the best times to post to Instagram are:
- Sunday: 5:00 p.m.
- Monday: 7:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.
- Tuesday: 3:00 a.m. & 10:00 p.m.
- Wednesday: 5:00 p.m.
- Thursday: 7:00 a.m. & 11:00 p.m.Friday: 1:00 a.m. & 8:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 12:00 a.m. & 2:00 a.m.
I have just taken, and uploaded an image of a hyacinth at 5pm, and I will re-upload it at 7pm, seeing which image over a two hour gap will reign in the most likes. Once the four hour test was over, I will delete the image which received the least likes, and allow the one with more to shine on my blog.
5pm
At 5pm on a Monday evening, this image was posted. I chose 5pm because this is more of a usual time I would post an image so I wanted to compare the time that I usually post over the time those more intellectual individuals believe the best posting time is.
The likes I received at this time flooded in quicker than usual, with about five coming up in two minutes. As you can see from the screenshot, 15 people ended up liking my photograph in the allotted time. 15 likes, for my blog is actually quite high! with only 70 followers, it does not work out a bad overall statistic at all. Most likes on this image were from accounts I do not follow, so the hashtag defiantly pushed up a few likes, so at least the hashtag scheme is working to plan!
7pm
The time that all the articles and social media gurus believed was the best time to post… as you can see from my screenshot, my post at 7pm only managed to get nine likes in the two hour gap. I was not surprised by this, but I was shocked that it got nine, I did think personally 5pm was the better time for my audience to like my photograph, but I thought it would be one or two likes out.
Conclusion
5pm wins! there is defiantly a science to a specific posting time, but I do feel your best looking at when your followers post instead of following a scheduling guide. Most Instagram pages that get likes at certain times like those times stated above, are probably for Instagram’s with a big following, where the overall followers of the page are active around that time. Overall, I would still recommend a schedule for posting, but follow your own annotative and use what you see on your home page, your active followers and the activity of your followers at different times of the day. Posting at 10am on my blog would defiantly not see a higher list of likes, but 5pm works comfortably with my following. Base your schedule around what you see over a more scientific approach, until you get bigger then use the scientific!
What I do and how I do it
I have five cameras, two older Fujifilm’s that I no longer use, but I used to learn, a Fujifilm Polaroid, an Olympus Camedia, and my newest camera, a Nikon Coolpix B500.
Fujifilm Instax Polaroid
Nikon Coolpix B500
Olympus Camedia
All three very different cameras, three different purposes!
For me, the polaroid is usually for social events, for example an evening indoors with friends, or before a night out. This camera cannot capture landscapes, or if you was to go to a gig, it would not get very clear images of a stage, but for selfies, group photographs or to make a photo look more artistic, the Fujifilm is perfect, and prints for you straight away.
The Nikon B500 has a 40X optical zoom, and is perfect for shooting a range of different photographs. You can capture an up close image with the macro setting, portrait photos with the portrait setting, active shots with the sports setting, and so on and so on. The Nikon Coolpix has an incredible zoom, and for me, i got to try this out on the sports option when I took photographs of my boyfriend kitesurfing.
The screen also moves out of the camera so you can avoid a light glare on the screen, and you can get images of things that are in awkward positions. With a screen like this, flash, and a variety of settings, the Nikon can be used anywhere! on any landscape or scene, an up close or distant image, I would have faith that the Nikon could capture the perfect image.
Another option is the creative mode, where the camera records one picture with no effect and four copies, each with a different effect. So if you want a reasonably easy camera, with a variety of modes, the Nikon is wonderful.
The Olympus Camedia is a camera I use for events, nights out, away from chargers, so festivals, anything which you will want to capture lots of photographs at! As it runs off batteries and it is very small in comparison to the Nikon and the Fujifilm, a camera like this is exactly what is needed when you want to take photos on the go. It has all the same, well similar settings as the Coolpix, just way older.
The Olympus has 12X zoom, flash, macro, and a variety of portrait and landscape settings. Unfortuanetly, this old generation camera can deliver a good image, but not a high clarity image, but for me, that’s fine! If your phone half like mine, your phone does not last a whole event and you wake up in the morning gutted you did not get many images, so if you’d want to change that, the Olympus is a must have!
Why should I hashtag?
HASHTAGS
A hashtag according t
o Wiki is a type of label or metadata tag used on social network and microblogging services which makes it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content.
Social media is one of the worlds biggest online platforms. “Nielsen research (2010) shows that 22% of all time spent on the internet is spent on social media.” (Fenton, N. 2012) So where they all hiding!? to be noticed online hash-tagging is a perfect way to shoot up your Instagram likes and get on those popular 
Instagram pages.
To try gain followers, ‘hash-tagging’ is something which is a necessity
for receiving likes and feedback. On average, without hashtags I get three maybe four likes. This is down to a lack of effort my my behalf… but here is evidence that hashtags work! In a hour of posting I have received sevenlikes on an image of a colour moodboard extracted from a image of three detached, nicely coloured houses.
Here I am proving the impact hashtags have on posts. With only 64 followers, seven likes turned into 15! All from using the hashtag. Overall without hashtags I usually get around three, four likes, and by hash tagging at the time I did, using the hashtags I used, I accomplished my point by getting more likes.
Finding appropriate hashtags can be hard if your like me and can get stuck for words, so if you want a little help, go look at the Top 100 Hashtags and check out this link!
Bibliography
Fenton, N. (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet: The Internet and Social Networking. London: Routledge
The Start
From the beginning
‘In this matter of the visible, everything is a trap.’ – Lacan (1977)
Here it is, @xpretty_generic! My personal inspo/portfolio.
This is my page where I post edits, photography and my taste in imagery.
I am going to keep my blog updated with the efforts I make in gaining a following and getting that all important feedback on my work. I am going to indulge you in exactly what my taste is, what I like to photograph and what I create with images. Ill show you my cameras, my interests and the results of my work.
The message I hope my blog proves, is that I am what I would call a ‘prosumer.’ Explained by Rizter and Jurgenson (2010), “prosumption involves both production and consumption rather than focusing on either one (production) or the other (consumption).”
I am new to blogging, and reasonably new to photography, (well openly admitting I see myself as a beginner or aspiring photographer!) So when started my inspo-portfolio my fear lay in the transition from consumer to producer, the thought of publishing my work was scary, so imagine the nerves of writing about it! But because ‘Not Another Photography Blog’, doesn’t just focus on MY work, but HOW to improve my own portfolio, the writing part is not so hard.
So what you can expect from me? Ill report back to you on different strategies of getting more ‘likes’ and increasing your following. I will upload some of my photography and opinions of my own also, so you can see what I do and what I post. But, with a bit of luck, you will too see my adoration for photography and anything visual.
Enjoy.
Bibliography
Gillian, R. (2007) Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials. 2nd ed. London: Sage. pp 93.
Ritzler, G and Jurgenson, N. (2010) Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer.’ Unknown:Sage.