How to Stand Out on Instagram

You feel yourself drowning in this highly congested market as you compete for double taps and features on the discovery page. You need to get smarter, feistier...but how? Here's how to stand out on Instagram.

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Juxtapose colors. Niki DeMar does an excellent job understanding the opposite ends of the color wheel. Her hair is blue, so she seeks out oranges.

In general, hues of blue receive the most likes. So maybe get off your couch and go outside, you lazy a$$!

Cut the hashtags. Adding too many, even if you put them all in the comment section, looks desperate. There needs to be an aesthetic to your caption. In 2018, you should be adding simple text -- all hail the lowercase letter trend. Make it simpler and throw in only an emoji. If you want to include a hashtag, keep it at two max. 

Post to your story. Upload selfies all the time with clickable features, like a hashtag and or location. Viewers may not go out of their way to visit your profile, but seeing your face constantly will make them intrigued to look you up. Contribute to your story a few times throughout the day.

Play with your audience. There are a lot of engagement features that you can add to your story, such as a poll. You can also confide in your audience through your captions. Sometimes you need to appear tangible to your followers, but other times you must claim your thrown. Alexis Ren does an amazing job of doing both. Check out some of her posts below.

View this post on Instagram

Cheat days are so needed â–¡ what is your go to treat? I love chocolatee

A post shared by Alexis Ren (@alexisren) on Sep 4, 2018 at 11:41am PDT

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I’ve been looking for a way to interact more with you guys and I’ve come up with something new & exciting. All my followers in Spain make sure you are in Barcelona on Friday the 29th □

A post shared by Alexis Ren (@alexisren) on Jun 21, 2018 at 9:26am PDT

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One of my insecurities is my five head □□‍♀️ what are one of your insecurities?

A post shared by Alexis Ren (@alexisren) on Aug 30, 2018 at 4:57pm PDT

Take advantage of the comments section. Spend some time commenting on your friends and celebrities' posts, so people stumble upon your username again and again. However, the best way to earn a profile view is to leave an unusual or humorous comment. Nobody cares if you're "first," you gotta be THE BEST.

Be careful of articles that were posted in 2017 since they aren't up to date with photo trends or the Instagram algorithm. I never had much luck with an Instagram Pod except a confident boost, so handle those with caution.

Did I miss any Instagram hacks that are worth mentioning? If so, please let me know in the comments. Enjoy your day!