Instagram is currently my favorite social media platform. Why? Because of the gorgeous visuals. It’s a great tool to use to find products, personalities, and creative inspiration. Instagram is known for its high-quality visuals and engagement. Probably because we’re all visual by nature. 

I’ve had a lot of fun growing my Instagram for my business, 100% organically, to over 900 followers in a few months. So I thought I’d share some of the best apps and tools to use to grow your Instagram following without paid advertising.

Photo Editors

VSCO

VSCO is another photo editing and filtering app. It’s super popular amongst bloggers and is great for photographers as well. VSCO comes with a ton of filters and photo editing options. This app also comes with a grid layout, perfect for previewing how your photos will look on your Instagram profile before you publish. There’s a whole VSCO community which you can become a part of, particularly useful for those in the photography and design niches.

Cost: Free with fees for upgrades

Airbrush

Airbrush is really great for portraits (I cannot bring myself to say selfies). Sometimes you need to tweak a few things, brighten eyes, whiten teeth and hide some skin issues. But don’t get too crazy with it!

Cost: Free with fees for upgrades

A Color Story

I just recently found A Color Story. If you like bright colors, this is perfect for you.The basic app is free and they offer paid upgrades in order to take advantage of the rest of their filters/editors.

Scheduling Tools

Planoly

I am loving Planoly right now! It allows me to plan and schedule my Instagram posts in advance. One of the best features is the grid function. You literally drag & drop photos, write captions, and schedule when you want them to be posted. You can also repost content from other Instagrammers, with credit.  The Planoly app will send you a reminder on your phone, when it’s time to post.   

Cost: Free Basic Plan 

Later

Later is similar to Planoly in that you can drag and drop photos in a grid, write posts and schedule posts as well as curate content.   Later will also send a reminder to post to your phone.

Cost: Free Basic Plan

Buffer and HootSuite

If you prefer to have a social media dashboard where you can keep track of all your social media accounts, including Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook, then Buffer or HootSuite are good options.

Collages and Grids

Layout

There are about 1.5 million apps now that create photo collages for Instagram.  Layout, however, is the official app for Instagram.

Pic Collage

PicCollage allows you to create collages using your photos, fun stickers, texts frames. Once you’re done, post it.

Cost: Free Basic Plan

Video

Ripl

I recently started using Ripl to create mini animated videos. Everyone loves videos and this was a perfect option for a camera shy introvert like me. I also use it for quotes. It makes them a little more attention-grabbing than a plain text quote.

Cost: Free Basic Plan

Boomerang

This app is an oldie but a goodie. Boomerang takes a quick burst of photos and puts them together into a short video that plays forward and backward. I have a lot of fun with this one on my personal account, but this is a great tool for businesses as it can show behind the scenes mini videos.

Cost: Free

Animoto

Animoto is really cool! Grab your images, pick a style, set the music, and create quality videos in literally minutes.

Cost: Starts at $8 per month

Analytics

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is one of the most popular tools for measuring and optimizing your Instagram performance. The reports they generate help you understand and improve every aspect of your Instagram management.

Cost: Starts at $81 per year

Simply Measured

Simply Measured gives you a free Instagram user report so you can see how effectively your brand engaging on Instagram.  It will tell you which photos are working and how is your performance trending.

Cost: User report is Free

Bonus Apps

Hashtagger

I love Hashtagger. This was the first hashtag app I found that lets you search using your own hashtag and not by restrictive, predefined categories. Type in your search hashtag and pick up to 30 related hashtags. Then click copy and paste the tags in your post and that’s it!

Cost: Free

Linked Tree

You only get one link in your bio on Instagram. LinkTree allows you to transform your single Instagram bio link into multiple links for your followers. I use this on my own Instagram profile and love it.

Cost: Free

Unfollowers

I use Unfollowers a few times a week. I don’t play the follow, unfollow game that people do to grow their followers. It’s annoying. Please don’t do it. This comes in handy to get rid of the people who follow you to get a follow back and then unfollow you.

Cost: Free

Repost

Repost lets you easily repost photos on Instagram while giving credit to the original poster. You can also see which photos and users are getting the most reposts, as well as allowing you to search for relevant users, tags, and contests.

Cost: Free

So there you have it! My favorite apps and tools for Instagram that I use on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis.  Did I miss anything? Comment below.