Social Media + Instagram

June 15, 2018 • 5 min read

You May Be Missing Some Great Instagram Posts; Here’s How You Can Fix That

If you’ve got a lot of interests like I do, you probably have a lot going through your Instagram feed. And you’re missing a lot of great posts from the folks you are following.

When I started with Instagram I had just decided to begin using my iPhone as my only camera and thought it would be fun to share my photos. I only followed other travel and landscape photographers and I learned a lot about photography and my photos improved.

After a while, I began following posts focused on another of my passions, ceramics. By finding and following artist whose work I liked, I got lots of inspiring images in my feed. Again, I learned a lot and my ceramics practice has benefited a great deal.

I use Pinterest to create boards with inspiring work from other designers, illustrators, and hand lettering artist. And recently I began following many of them on Instagram as well.

Wait, Something Is Missing Here

After a while, I realized I wasn’t seeing posts by many of the photographers I originally followed. Also, some of the ceramic artist I looked forward to seeing every day were appearing less and less.

As it turns out, I was following almost 1,000 feeds with my single Instagram account. With that many posts, some would end up so far down in the feed, by the time I checked it again, I was missing posts.

The same thing could be happening to you. Let’s look at how easy it is to use multiple Instagram accounts to organize your interests.

How To Add Multiple Instagram Accounts And Easily Manage Them With Account Switching

Not that long ago, if you had multiple Instagram accounts you would have to sign in and out of one account to use another. Since February 2016 account switching has been available for both iOS and Android. (Be sure you’re using version 7.15 or later.)

You Can Have Up To Five Instagram Accounts

Instagram limits you to five accounts that can be linked together. You’ll need a separate email account for each one, so if you don’t already have multiple emails you should set those up first.

Let’s Go Through How To Add A New Account From Inside The App

• Go to your profile (tap the little ‘head and shoulder’ icon in the bottom right of the screen)
• From your profile, tap the gear or tipple dot icon at the top right
• On the “Options” screen scroll down to bottom and choose “Add Account”
• You’ll get a screen to sign in to Instagram or to “Sign Up”, you’ll want to sign up to create a new account
• Follow the prompts to set your username and password to create your new account, much like signing up for the first time

Your new account will now be added to the app.

Switching Between Accounts

To switch between accounts, go back to your profile and tap on your username at the top of the screen to bring up a menu of your linked accounts. Select the one you wish to use to switch to that account. (Depending on the version of the app you use, this menu may appear by selecting your profile picture at the bottom of the screen.)

Pro Tip: You’ll now have the option to add other accounts directly from this menu.

I created three accounts; my primary account for those landscape pictures @toddhagler, one for my ceramics @toddhagler_ceramics, and one for design and illustration @toddhagler_design. I suggest you plan ahead and have the emails you use to create your accounts relate to the theme of your feed. And use your new Instagram account names to define your theme or to support your brand.

Pro Tip: Have a different photo ready for each account you link. These photos appear throughout the app and will help you know which account you are in. They are also a great opportunity to support your brand for business accounts.

From now on, go back to your profile to switch between accounts.

You may begin receiving push notifications for all the accounts you add. You can change these within each account. Check Instagram’s help center to learn more about adjusting push notifications.

A Much Better Instagram Experience

Since I set up linked accounts I’m enjoying Instagram much more. I launch the app, scroll through the latest landscape photos and then quickly switch to my ceramics or design accounts to see those posts. I’m seeing everything again with much less scrolling.

While this type of setup helps organize your feeds and improves your enjoyment of Instagram it is also great for business promotion. For instance, I’ll use my design account to only post my design work. I can use it to promote my business without weakening my feed with unrelated posts. Instagram users love to follow focused accounts.