I only got an iPhone a year ago and so that was the same time I got an Instagram! I heard for years, “You are a photographer without an Insta?!” Having one helps my business immensely and I have been found and booked because of Instagram. With Facebook’s usefulness of free advertising going down for most business pages, Instagram is a wonderful free marketing platform. Using hashtags on your own Instagram account can help you to organize your own posts, and link to popular locations, fads, or commonly searched hashtags such as #LoganUtahWeddingPhotographer. Over and over again I was typing in the same hashtags to my posts, a long list to help organize my feed. It was time consuming, I would forget several and I needed a change. The answer was iPhone shortcuts! By creating the list of hashtags in my shortcuts, I can type in one word that creates my hashtag list for me and a 5 minute tasks turns to 5 seconds. This is also great for commonly used things like my email, website or home address.
Step One: Find Keyboard under General in the Settings of your iPhone.
Step Two: Click on Shortcuts in the Keyboard folder in your settings.
Step Three: Here is your list of shortcuts!
Here’s where you save your hashtags on the phrases line. Then you place your short cut on the shortcut line… Yes, seems straight forward but I’ve seen people get these two confused. For me I use “hashloganwedd” (<– everytime I type this in it automatically adds my hashtags, haha.) for all the weddings I shoot in Logan, Utah. To keep it less confusing, I also keep them in a note on my phone to keep them straight and so I can easily add and then copy them into the shortcut phrases. Then you post your shortcut in your first comment under your Instagram post so it doesn’t clutter your caption. Trust me, you will love this time saver!
Rachel Hudson, Kylee Ann Photography
