7 Tips To Improve Your Efficiency As An Instagram Manager

Instagram is an excellent tool for marketing and business growth, but being an Instagram manager can be a big undertaking. Between posting regularly, growing the account’s following, engaging with followers and keeping up with the latest trends and updates, there’s a lot for Instagram managers to juggle. Because of this long list of tasks, it can be easy for managers to feel like they’re not being efficient with their time. The good news is, there are a handful of tips you can use to get your groove back and improve your efficiency on Instagram quickly.

Common Challenges Instagram Managers Face That Hamper Efficiency

Before we dig into the ways Instagram managers can improve their efficiency, let’s look at a few key ways that they might be losing their efficiency.

1. Absence Of Instagram Planning, Scheduling, And Growth Tools

Managing an Instagram account means there are a lot of moving parts. If you’re trying to remember to post each day, deciding what to post in the moment and generally acting without a script, you’re bound to feel overwhelmed, and you’re not going to move as quickly as you may like. There are some excellent tools that exist that can help you here, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

2. No Access To Instagram Posts And Stories Templates

Creating content from scratch can feel like an overwhelming task. It’s difficult to come up with something new to say and post all the time. If you’re starting with a blank canvas each time you want to post, you’re not being as efficient as you could be. Instead, templates can help – and we’ll dig into that more in our tips section.

3. Lack Of Support From Creatives

Finally, let’s touch on your team for a moment. Chances are there’s someone in your organization who is skilled at making creative pieces of content. It’s an excellent idea to use them as a resource when possible. Otherwise, you’re not using their talents and trying to force yourself to become something you aren’t. We’ll touch more on why this is important later.

How To Improve Your Efficiency As An Instagram Manager

Now that we know how efficiency can be lost, let’s look at how Instagram managers can recapture and improve their efficiency.

1. Use Instagram Automation Tools

Automation tools are a great resource that are just waiting for you to use them. The best part is, there are so many tools available online right now that you can find the perfect solution for what you need. You can automate things like posting, follower growth, conversations and more.

Depending on what your specific need is, there are many tools you can use. Hootsuite is an excellent tool for scheduling and posting to Instagram. AutoHash is a helpful hashtag tool. Have2HaveIt can make your Instagram feed shoppable. Kicksta can help you get more Instagram followers without hours of work.

The tool you use will bring unique benefits, but at the top of the list will most likely be increased efficiency and time saving. You might also unlock a more cohesive look on Instagram, a more consistent message in your DMs, or a bigger following of people who are excited to see and engage with your content.

2. Don’t Be Afraid To Use Templates

You can find plenty of options for Instagram Stories templates, and also templates for posts. Templates can help you have consistent branding on all of your posts – in feed or on Stories. Beyond making your profile look pretty, though, they can also save you time and make you more efficient. When you know that you need to fill in an image, a few lines of copy and add a question, you can easily create that content. In fact, you could even create that content in bulk to save even more time and ensure you have posts ready to go in advance.

There are so many template packs that exist. Many different Instagram tools have designed their own sets of templates. Some of the best include Later, Flothemes, Canva and The Designest. With a quick search, you can find hundreds of template designs so you can pick the ones that perfectly fit with your brand.

3. Work Closely With Your In-House Creatives

In-house creatives can make your job a lot easier and a lot more efficient. Like we briefly mentioned earlier, they’re very skilled at content creation and design. If that’s something you feel like you struggle with or that takes you a long time, consider reaching out to the creatives within your organization. Keep in mind that they’ll probably be supporting various teams within the company, so you’ll want to work closely with them and communicate your Instagram schedule and needs early. This way you’ll know that you can rely on them, rather than going to them with a last-minute project when they’re already booked.

4. Outsource Video/Animation Work If Necessary

You might be thinking, “That sounds great, but I don’t have any in-house creatives.” That doesn’t mean you’re going to have to do all of the content creation yourself. If you don’t have any in-house creatives to do professional video or animation work, you can look to outsource these tasks or projects. You could even start by looking on Instagram for a freelancer who’s creating content you love and that matches the feel of your brand. Or, sites like Upwork and Fiverr are also great places to look for a contractor. If you go with one of those sites, though, it’s a good idea to have them complete a small, paid trial piece to ensure you like their work and that they fit well with your brand before you hire them for larger projects.

5. Use Hashtag Research Tools

Hashtags are an important part of any Instagram strategy, but they can feel a little overwhelming. The good news is, there are plenty of hashtag research tools on the internet that can help make your life a little easier. These research tools allow you to plug in a hashtag you know you want to use, and then they’ll generate other hashtags that are related to that one. They can also help you find popular hashtags among your audience.

There are many hashtag research tools and platforms on the internet today. Hashtagify will help you to amplify your hashtag strategy. Kicksta’s hashtag generator is easy to use and will help you find more hashtags to add to your toolbox. Ritetag gives hashtag suggestions based on real-time usage.

No matter what hashtag tool you use, whether it’s one of these or something totally different, you can cut your research time down significantly by using one. These tools are often helpful for avoiding banned hashtags, which is important to make sure you don’t accidentally use one and end up having Instagram hide your posts. 

6. Use Communication And Project Management Tools

Whether you work with a small, in-house team, a group of contractors or a large organization with people around the world, communication and project management are key. But did you know that there are tools that can help you step up your communication game? Project management tools keep your notes, conversations and task lists in one central spot so that everyone on your team knows where to go.

Slack and Asana are a couple of the best tools on the market. Slack is a chat-style tool that can be downloaded to a computer or a smartphone so that your team can easily communicate with one another. You can divide your communication into channels so that, for example, all of the Instagram-related conversations happen in one area.

Asana is a project management tool that allows you to create and assign tasks, set due dates and leave comments for your team members.

These types of project management tools will help you stay organized so you know who’s completing what task and when it’s due. You’ll save time and become more efficient by having everything in one centralized place.

7. Use Influencer Research Tools For Campaigns And Collabs

Finally, influencer research tools can help you become more efficient in creating campaigns and collaborations. Influencer marketing is becoming very popular, but have you ever wondered how you can actually find influencers? That’s where these research tools come into play. They can help you find influencers in your niche so you can create valuable relationships for your brand.

Like many of our tips, there are a wide variety of influencer research tools you can use. Upfluence, BuzzSumo, and Awario are all very common tools that either specialize in or have an influencer search aspect to their technology. These platforms use social listening as a way to identify influencers in your specific area.

By using these tools, you can save yourself the time of searching through Instagram, trying to find potential influencers to reach out to about a collaboration. These tools will also help you find good-quality options, so when you actually take time to reach out, they’re more likely to at least consider your message.

Time’s Ticking!

So now that you have seven ways you can improve your efficiency as an Instagram manager, it’s time to get started. The role might feel overwhelming, but it’s nothing you can’t handle, especially with a little support and help from tools, technology, and teammates. No matter which tip you want to start implementing first, it’s time to get going so you can start saving time and being more efficient.