My Daily Instagram Routine

Hey guys! Today I am going to share my daily Instagram routine with you. Sometimes it varies slightly, but for the most part I try to stick to this process daily.

I also might add that I currently only post on Monday-Friday so my weekends on Instagram look a little bit different as well.

Ok, let’s jump in!

Getting my content ready to post

I generally try to have my posts ready in advance, but sometimes that doesn’t always happen. I often find myself scrambling to get a post ready 30 minutes before my posting time, even though that is not ideal haha!

Choosing what photo to use

The first thing I do is select a picture. I try to use high quality photos that are aesthetically attractive. Usually I try to plan my content in advance and have my pictures already shot. If you don’t want to use your own pictures, you can also use stock photos from free picture resources like Pexels.

After I’ve chosen what picture I am going to use, I always edit it. You can edit your photos right on the Instagram app, but I prefer to use the SnapSeed and Adobe Lightroom apps for my photo editing.

Personally, I like to use presets on all of my photos to give my account a more unified/aesthetic feel, but presets are in no way required!

Tagging accounts on my photos

When I post a picture that contains anything related to other accounts, I try to tag them. For instance, when I post a picture of our 5th wheel, I am going to tag Keystone RV Company. Or if I post a picture of our new RV shower head, then I am going to tag Oxygenics.

There are also accounts dedicated to reposting other people’s pictures. You can tag these accounts in hopes that they may repost your photo and gain you extra visibility to your account.

Tagging other accounts is totally optional, but it’s a great way to drive extra viewers to your posts!

Writing my captions

Next up, captions! This is probably the most time consuming part of getting my posts ready. Sometimes captions come to me easy, and other times it takes a lot of brain power!

Something I do want to express here is that your captions are EXTREMELY important!! This is where you are going to compel your audience to actually engage with you. You want to make sure you do a really good job with it.

Your caption is allowed to contain up to 2,200 characters although mine rarely ever come close to that. I try to make them long enough to captivate my audience, but not so long that they get bored and scroll past.

Using emojis

When appropriate, I use emojis in my captions. Usually I add one at the end of each paragraph.

Emojis are a really great way to show the emotions you are trying to portray to your readers! A lot of times, when you are reading something, you can misunderstand what the writer is trying to convey, and emojis help keep that from happening. Plus, they’re bright and attractive and can help draw attention to your caption.

Always add a call to action

I try to always include a call to action…usually more than one! At the end of my post I will ask a relevant question that I think is interesting to my followers and I always ask them to answer it! This could be a simple question or a more involved question. I will leave a few examples below:

Do you have any pets? If so, what kinds?

If you could choose to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Would you rather vacation on the beach, or in the mountains?

Do you like to play games? If so, what are some of your favorites?

These are all simple questions, but they compel my audience to answer and engage on my post. The more engagement you get, the more Instagram is going to show your post to new people!

I also ask people to follow my account at the end of each post. I usually say something like “Follow our adventures here –> @adventures_with_tucknae” That way, if someone is reading my post via hashtag search, they can easily click through my profile and follow me!

Choosing my hashtags

Instagram allows you to use a maximum of 30 hashtags per post.

I have written an entire post on “The Ultimate Guide to Hashtags in 2021” where I go in depth about how I choose and properly use hashtags. You can read that post here.

Properly spacing my captions

The last thing I do to get my posts ready, is make sure I have the proper spacing. Instagram is funny about not leaving the spaces you put between your lines so I use the Caption Writer app. I copy/paste my caption into the app and then select “Copy with spaces”. Then, I paste it into Instagram and it maintains my spaces.

What I do before I actually post

Ok, so I finally have my post ready to go, but I’m not going to post it right away. I want to introduce you to something in my daily Instagram routine called The 30/30 Rule…

The 30/30 rule

You’re probably thinking, what in the world is that?!

The 30/30 rule is simply this…I actively engage with current and prospective followers via hashtags for 30 minutes before, and 30 minutes after I post. If I’m running short on time on any given day, sometimes this ends up being only 15 minutes before, but I always try to engage before I post.

I usually click through about half of my hashtags before, and half after. I scroll through the “Recent” category of each hashtag and engage with the posts there. If an account appears to be someone from my “ideal audience” (blog post on this coming soon), then I will click through their account and like/comment on several of their most recent posts. If I enjoy their content then I usually follow them as well.

This might seem like a waste of time, but I promise you it is well worth it! I’ve found that when I skip this and go straight to posting, my account reach and engagement goes down drastically. Doing this also shows Instagram a boost of your engagement in those hashtags and your post will be more likely to end up in the top nine.

Finally time to post!

Ok, now that I’ve engaged for 30 minutes, I am finally ready to post! You’re going to want to figure out when your followers are most active and try to post at that time.

What now?

Immediately after I post, I share my post to my stories and let people know I have a new post up. I usually cover at least part of the photo so that people are intrigued enough to click through and see what I’ve posted.

Another thing that I do, is go to my other personal accounts and like/save my new post. This helps give it a little boost right away!

Staying active & engaging

After I post, I try to stay active on Instagram for an hour. Sometimes I can only stay on for 30 mins or so, but it’s important that you remain active for the first period of time after you post.

I usually spend this time flipping back and forth between engaging with people on my new post, and engaging on other people’s posts. If I didn’t have time to work through all of my hashtags before I posted, then I try to finish that as well.

It is SUPER key for you to reply to comments as soon as possible! If I reply to a comment right away, then that person is likely to still be active on Instagram and I can engage back and forth with them. If it’s fitting I might ask them a question in return or even just chat back and forth right there on my post. This increases the amount of comments on my post, and in turn boosts my post in the Instagram algorithm.

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The first 30 minutes to an hour after you post are generally what is going to determine the reach of your post. If I end up with a lot of engagement on my post right away, then Instagram recognizes my post as something people are enjoying and it shows it to more and more people. This is also going to give me a better chance of trending in hashtags and reaching more people.

Another thing I try to do is return engagement. If someone likes/comments on my post, then I generally go to their page (if it’s public) and like their recent posts and comment if I want to. This shows people that you genuinely care about them and that you’re interested in their lives as well.

After an hour or so, I generally hop off of Instagram and work on other things. However, if I see a comment come through, and I’m able, I will reply to it.

Other things I try to do daily

There’s a few other things that I try to do on Instagram every day.

Being present on Instagram stories

My daily instagram routine also includes being present on Instagram stories. Stories is where I try to give my followers a little glimpse behind the scenes into my daily life. This might be pictures of my dog, what I’m cooking for lunch, or just sharing a funny story about something that happened.

People enjoy seeing/hearing the person behind an Instagram account. As often as I’m able, I try to post short video snippets as well. This actually builds a bond with my followers and helps them feel like they know me better and trust me.

I like to post daily quotes as well and I’ve had really great feedback about that!

People also enjoy engaging in polls and asking questions on stories. This or that polls have been especially popular in my experience!

Engaging with new accounts

Every day I try to engage with new accounts either via hashtags, or from connecting on other people’s posts. I absolutely love “meeting” and talking to new people! It’s a lot of fun to connect with them and learn what you have in common!

In a post coming soon, I will be teaching you a lot of my Instagram growth tips and tricks. One of them is how you can engage with 100 new accounts in your niche everyday–It’s a lot easier than you may think!

Reply to DMs

A part of my daily Instagram routine, I try to reply to all of my DMs and message requests. Unless they’re spam, I try to reply to everyone that takes the time out of their day to message me…the least I can do is return the favor!

Keeping track of my Instagram growth

One of the last things I do before going to bed every day, is write down my ending follower count for the day. I really love being able to look back over the month and assess my account growth! I have created a free printable Instagram growth tracker for you that you can enjoy below!

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And that’s a wrap!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about my daily Instagram routine. I hope that you’ve learned something useful!

If you would like to learn more of my Instagram tips and tricks, then please sign up for my email newsletter! I promise, I’m not going to spam you and you can opt out at any time 🙂

If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

You can find me on Instagram here or you can send me an email here!