30 Instagram Hacks and Features You Didn’t Know Existed

Want to know how to use Instagram better and take your social media game to the next level?

Then you need to start making the most of Instagram. There are plenty of awesome Instagram hacks that most people aren’t using. These can make your content really stand out.

Loads of social media users don’t even know about half the Instagram hacks and features that they could be applying to their profiles. These Instagram hacks work for businesses and personal accounts.

Using these hacks could be your secret to attracting more followers and making your Instagram account stand out.

If you want to start posting like an expert, then check out some of our favorite Instagram hacks. They’re all easy ways to get more likes and ramp up your engagement.

1. Hide Your Hashtags On Instagram Stories
2. Create Shortcuts for Easy Responses
3. Hide Posts Without Deleting Them
4. Use Special Fonts for Stories Text, Your Bio, or Posts
5. Share Previews Of Your Instagram Stories and Posts
6. Add Line Breaks Into Your Instagram Bio
7. Add Specials Characters to Your Bio
8. Create Shoppable Posts
9. Optimize Your Name to Appear in More Explore Page Results
10. Set Your Instagram Stories Highlights Icon to a New Image
11. Switch to a Business Profile
12. Follow Hashtags
13. Access More Colors in Instagram Stories
14. Use Your Instagram Stories to Link to Instagram Video
15. Arrange Your Filters
16. Use the Eraser Tool for Unique Effects
17. Use a Green Screen in Your Instagram Story
18. Stop Seeing Posts or Stories From Certain Accounts
19. Get Notifications for Your Favorite Accounts
20. Add Music to Your Instagram Story
21. Post at the Right Time
22. Change the Background Color Of Your Instagram Story
23. Create a Dramatic Reveal for Posts in Your Stories
24. Change Your Instagram Story Background to an Image
25. Add an Effect to Emojis
26. Make a rainbow Effect on Your Instagram Story Text
27. Add Your Exact Brand Color to Your Instagram Stories
28. Layer Text for a Shadow Effect
29. Create Stories That Build on the Same Image
30. Pin Your Top Posts to Your Grid

1. Hide Your Hashtags on Instagram Stories

You can add a bunch of hashtags to your Instagram stories to help improve your organic reach.

This is always a good strategy for getting your Instagram Stories out there to new followers. The problem is nobody wants their stories covered in hashtags. It just looks too promotional.

Well, there’s a way to hide your hashtags in your Instagram Stories. This means your Instagram Stories still get traction from the hashtags, without them being displayed all over your images.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Choose your image to share on your Instagram Story
2. Write a hashtag for that image over an area with solid color
3. Move the Pen icon over the image and use it to cover up your hashtag in the exact same color as the image behind it
4. You now have an invisible hashtag blended into the background of your image

Use this Instagram hack all over your Instagram Stories if you want to get them seen by a bigger audience.

You can add up to 30 hashtags to get maximum reach, and then hide them to make your Instagram story look neat and clean.

This is one of the sneakiest Instagram hacks to drive up engagement.

2. Create Shortcuts for Easy Responses

If you’re an iOS user, you can create automatic responses to save you loads of time replying to comments and questions.

This is seriously useful for business pages and community managers who face the same repetitive queries every day. You could also use it for your personal Instagram profile if you get a lot of repetitive questions.

This is one of those Instagram hacks that can save loads of time while still showing that you take the time to respond to queries.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Tap the hamburger button and go tap Settings
2. Tap Creator, tap Quick Replies, tap New Quick Reply
3. Write a phrase for the shortcut of that reply
4. Type out the response that you want to send in the message section
5. Tap Save
6. When you want to use that phrase, just type your shortcut into the comments, and your response will automatically fill out

3. Hide Posts Without Deleting Them

You can remove old posts from your Instagram account without having to delete them for good.

This can help to freshen up your Instagram profile without having to sacrifice getting rid of everything.

Rebranding your business page? Want to redo the aesthetic of your Instagram profile? This is one of those Instagram accounts that’s always helpful to know.

Just do the following:

1. Tap the three-dots icon at the top of the post
2. Press Archive

It’s that easy. If you want to review these old posts, you can:

1. Go to your Instagram profile, and tap the hamburger button in the top right corner
2. Tap Archive
3. Tap the archived stories or posts you want to see
4. Tap Show on Profile and your post will be restored

4. Use Special Fonts for Stories Text, Your Bio, or Posts

Instagram offers very limited font options, but you can use more if you want to really customize your text.

Have you ever seen some interesting font on someone’s Instagram bio or story, and wondered how it got there? They would have used an Instagram hack like this.

Special fonts could help your business account to stand out more on any Instagram feed, and highlight your brand even more clearly.

1. Find a special font app for Instagram. There are many free options available, like Fonts for Instagram Keyboard.
2. Type your text in the text box of the special fonts app
3. Got through the different fonts and choose the one that works best for you
4. Copy and paste this text into Instagram and your new font will appear

Text replacement like this is easy, and it can go a long way to make your Instagram posts stand out. This is one of those high-impact Instagram hacks that help to set your profile apart.

5. Share Previews of Your Instagram Stories and Posts

Want to get more of your followers interested in what you’re posting about? Using story previews is a great way to do this.

You can show little sections of your short video content in stories, or reveal a small portion of your posts in your stories.

Adding a sneak preview is a clever way of building up some curiosity around your Instagram stories so that users will want to find out more. Sharing previews is one of our favorite Instagram hacks for your business or personal account.

Here’s what you do:

1. Open Stories and choose your image
2. Tap the Pen icon, then choose a color
3. Tap your screen and hold your finger there for a couple of seconds until the screen fills with your chosen color
4. Tap the Eraser tool, and wipe an area of the image clean. This area will be available for preview
5. Now you can share the story. Adding text or CTAs is a good idea here

6. Add Line Breaks Into Your Instagram Bio

It can be so frustrating when your line breaks are always being removed by Instagram. When it comes to Instagram hacks, adding line breaks to your bio seems pretty simple. However, it can make a big difference.

A well-spaced-out Instagram bio looks great, and it can give your profile a special edge.

Lots of Instagram users don’t know how to add line breaks to their accounts, so this is one of those Instagram hacks that can really help your Instagram profile stand out.

Here’s how what you do:

1. Log into your Instagram profile through your laptop
2. Tap Edit Profile
3. The settings tab will appear. You can use the Instagram bio text block here to write your new Instagram bio with line breaks
4. Save and submit this, and your Instagram bio will now have line breaks

7. Add Special Characters to Your Bio

Want to add those cool little characters to your profile page?

This is one of the easiest Instagram hacks that can help your profile page look amazing and eye-catching.

All you need to do is:

1. Open up a new Google Doc or Word document
2. Type out your bio in this document. Where you want the special characters to be positioned, click Insert, and then click Advanced Symbol
3. Search for any symbol/image you want. Zodiac signs, regular emojis, wingdings, or whatever characters you want to add to your account
4. Then just copy and paste this new bio into your Instagram account. Tap Done, and see the special characters appear

8. Create Shoppable Posts

This Instagram hack is incredibly useful for any retailers advertising their products on Instagram.

If you’re interested in improving your eCommerce marketing, then shoppable posts are a great way to go. This lets you use Instagram to sell more products through your posts.

First, understand that not everyone can use Instagram shoppable posts. You have to run a business account, and you need to sell goods that comply with Instagram’s commerce eligibility requirements. You also need to have your Instagram account connected to a Facebook catalog of products.

Shoppable posts also aren’t available for Instagram users in all countries.

Basically, shoppable Instagram posts are connected to your Facebook product catalog.

Here’s how you can create tagged photos that are shoppable:

1. You need to first have a Facebook catalog, which you can create in the Facebook Business Manager. Your account then needs to be approved for the shopping feature.
2. Now you can tap Settings on Instagram and tap the Shopping section. Shopping will only be available once your account is approved.
3. From Shopping, tap Products
4. Choose the product catalog that you’re connecting to your Instagram profile
5. Tap Done

Image: Techfunnel

Now when you want to tag your products in any post you want, you can do it the same way you would with people in tagged photos. This is one of the best Instagram hacks for eCommerce businesses.

Follow our complete guide on social commerce to learn more about selling on social media.

9. Optimize Your Name to Appear in More Explore Page Results

If you want your posts to go viral, then you will want to end up on the Instagram explore page as much as possible.

Many Instagram users don’t realize that the name section in your Instagram bio is also searchable. So, optimize your name with the right keywords for your niche. If people search for these keywords, then your chances of appearing on the explore page are higher.

This is one of those Instagram hacks that seem really small but can make a big difference to how many people see your account and content.

For example, if your Instagram account is for a pet store, then include a phrase like “pet store” in your name. Instagram hacks like this may seem minor, but they really work.

Check out our complete guide on how the Instagram algorithm works to help you improve your reach.

10. Set Your Instagram Stories Highlights Icon to a New Image

Those small highlights icons take up some of the most valuable space on your Instagram profile.

There’s a way to change each Instagram Stories highlights icon at the top of your profile without actually publishing the image in your story’s video content.

This lets you maintain the right aesthetic across your profile without having random images in your stories. You can also easily show what your highlights are about with the right icon.

Here’s how you can change the icon at the top of the screen:

1. Simply tap and hold the highlight icon you want to change the cover of
2. Tap Edit Cover
3. Scroll to the right where the image icon appears. Tap this image and you can access your camera roll. Choose your image and set it as the cover for your highlights reel.

11. Switch to a Business Profile

When it comes to Instagram hacks for your business, one of the easiest things to do is to just switch from a personal account to a business account. This can offer your business many advantages, such as useful insights and ad possibilities.

You should also connect your Instagram account to a Facebook business account for better results.

All you need to do is:

1. Tap the hamburger button above your profile
2. Tap Settings
3. Tap Account
4. Tap Switch to Business Account/Professional Account
5. Fill in any details about your business account
6. Tap Done

12. Follow Hashtags

Your Instagram feed doesn’t just have to come from accounts you follow – you can also follow hashtags.

This is a great way to keep up with trends within your niche or area of interest. Doing this will make sure your Instagram feed is always full of the right posts that you actually want to see.

To follow an Instagram hashtag, you can do the following:

1. Tap the search icon to go to the explore page
2. Search for the hashtag you want to follow
3. Tap on the hashtag, and when you get to the hashtag page tap Follow
4. Now posts for that hashtag will appear in your Instagram feed

13. Access More Colors in Instagram Stories

When you create an Instagram story and want to add color to your text or image, you’re faced with a very limited selection. If these colors don’t suit your aesthetic or brand identity, then there is a way to access a wider range of customizable colors.

This could take your Instagram stories to another level.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Open your Stories and tap on the pen
2. Tap on one of the color options and hold down for a few seconds
3. Now a color palette will appear full of gradient colors
4. Tap the exact shade you want and add it to your story

14. Use Your Instagram Stories to Link to Instagram Video

This Instagram Story hack is actually really straightforward, but so many users dont know about it.

You can link to your videos from your stories to increase your views. This is a great way to use your Instagram Stories for better promotions. Your followers can watch your Instagram Story, swipe up, and be taken straight to your video.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to Stories, and choose the image you will be using. Using a screenshot from your video works well.
2. Tap on the link icon at the top
3. Choose the video you will be linking to
4. Tap Done

Follow our guide to learn how to add a link to your Instagram Story.

15. Arrange Your Filters

There’s an easier way to access the filters that you love and always use.

Instead of having to scroll through the various filters to find the right one, you can rearrange your favorite ones on your Instagram app.

This is one of the easiest Instagram hacks, but it can save loads of time whenever you use Instagram.

Follow these steps to rearrange your filters:

1. Before doing the Instagram story or post you want, go to filters
2. Tap Manage (at the very end of your filters)
3. Tap and hold the three lines next to the filter to rearrange their positions
4. Tap on the circles and ticks on the right side of each filter. This hides or shows the filters
5. Tap Done to save your filters

16. Use the Eraser Tool for Unique Effects

The eraser tool offers plenty of creative opportunities for your Instagram Stories.

This tool can create some interesting effects that make your Stories stand out. With a bit of creativity, you can really wow your followers with this simple hack.

To use the eraser tool for Instagram Stories effects, you’ll need to do this:

1. Upload an image to your Story
2. Select the draw tool, and draw all over your image

3) Select the eraser tool, and use it to erase certain parts of your drawing. This can create a 3D effect

17. Use a Green Screen in Your Instagram Story

You can totally change up your social media game by using a green screen in your Instagram Story.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to the filters in your Instagram Story and scroll right through them until you get to the search magnifying glass icon
2. Search “green screen” and choose Instagram’s green screen filter
3. Tap ‘Add Media’ and choose your video or photo from your phone’s gallery. This will be your backdrop
4. Now you can take a photo or video in front of this new backdrop

18. Stop Seeing Posts or Stories From Certain Accounts

You can change your Instagram settings to only show you content from the people you actually care about.

If there are some accounts that you follow but don’t want to actually see content from, you can simply mute them.

Here’s what you do:

1. Find the account you want to mute
2. Tap the Following button
3. Tap Mute
4. Now you can choose if you want to mute posts, or mute posts and Stories

If you’re swiping through Instagram feed posts and see an account you’ve had enough of, you can also mute them by doing this:

1. Go to the post of the person you want to mute and tap on the three dots at the top right-hand corner of the post
2. Tap Mute
3. Now you can choose if you want to mute posts, or mute posts and Stories

19. Get Notifications for Your Favorite Accounts

Just like you can mute people you don’t want to stay up top date with, you can also add alerts for your favorite accounts. This means you’ll never miss a post from them!

Here’s how you do it:

1. Go to the profile of the account you want alerts for
2. Tap the Following button
3. Choose Notifications
4. Now select the content you want to receive notifications for

20. Add Music to Your Instagram Story

Adding music to your Instagram stories makes them far more fun and engaging. Not to mention trending music clips play a big role in creating viral video content (think TikTok videos and Reels).

To add music to your Instagram Story, just do the following:

1. Open the Instagram Story camera and record a video clip for your Story
2. Choose the music sticker at the top of the screen
3. The music library will now open. You can search for thousands of different songs. This includes a suggested music library for you, song categories, or specific songs
4. Choose the song you want

5) Now you can drag the song to find the exact part you want to be included in your Story. Remember, your Instagram Story has to be a maximum of 15 seconds in length.

6) Finally, you can change the way the music sticker looks by tapping on the text. There are 6 options available

7) Now you can publish your Instagram Story with music

21. Post at the Right Time

You might have amazing Instagram content, but if you’re posting it when your Instagram followers are asleep, nobody will see it.

By posting at the right time, you’ll get a lot more engagement. This is important for showing the algorithm that people like your content, which will help you go viral.

Here’s an easy way to find the best time to post:

• Create an Instagram Business account and go to Insights
• Tap on Total Followers
• Now you can see a breakdown of your followers, including the countries and cities they’re from
• Figure out the time zone where most of your audience is located, and post in the early morning

Interestingly, content posted in the early morning seems to perform better on Instagram.

Read our guide on the best time to post Reels on Instagram for more details.

22: Change the Background Color of Your Instagram Story

A simple, but fun, Instagram Story hack. It’s possible to change the background color of Instagram Stories that you share from feed posts. Doing this adds that extra bit of pizazz to make your stories stand out.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Open the Instagram Story screen
2. Tap the draw tool at the top right corner
3. Select the color dropper tool at the bottom left side of the screen and find a color on your Instagram post
4. Tap and hold the screen for a few seconds
5. One of two things will happen. If you’ve created a new Instagram Story, the entire screen will fill with the selected color on top of your post or video. If you’re sharing a feed post in your Instagram Story, the background color will fill up with your chosen color.

23. Create a Dramatic Reveal for Posts in Your Stories

You can use the Instagram hack above to cover your Story for a dramatic reveal of a feed post. When doing this, you won’t just want to post a plain block of color, so try this trick with the eraser tool.

Do this:

1. follow the steps in the Instagram hack above to cover your Story in color
2. Once the screen is covered in your color, tap the eraser icon at the top right corner
3. Erase the area of the screen you want to reveal
4. Now you can add text or stickers inviting your followers to ‘tap to see more’

Doing this will help you build up excitement around your Instagram Stories and entice your followers to stay engaged with what you’re posting.

24. Change Your Instagram Story Background to an Image

Here’s another Instagram hack for changing the background of your Story when you share a feed post. Instead of changing the background to a color, you can change it to an image.

Here’s what you do:

1. Choose your post and tap ‘Add Post to Story’
2. Tap the Sticker tray
3. Choose the ‘Add from Camera Roll’ sticker
4. Choose the image you want to use
5. Move your feed post to one side of your Instagram Story screen and expand the added image with two fingers. At the same time, tap and hold the feed post with your thumb.
6. The Story post will come to the front, while the new image will stretch over the entire background

Top Tip: If you position your smaller Instagram Story image on the right side of the screen, there’s a better chance that people will tap the image (as this is where most taps through stories happen).

25. Add an Effect to Emojis

This is a fun and simple Instagram idea to help make your emojis stand out. It’s great for using in Stories.

Here’s what you do:

1. Open your Instagram Story
2. Tap the text tool
3. Add an emoji
4. Change the font options and find a font you like the look of

The different font options will add a unique background glow to your emoji.

26. Make a Rainbow Effect on Your Instagram Story Text

If you want to customize the text color of your Instagram Stories, you can create a rainbow effect with the colors.

Here’s what you do:

1. Open Instagram Stories
2. Type some text
3. Tap on the text and tap ‘Select All’ to highlight it
4. Tap and hold a finger on a color until you get custom color options
5. Hold one finger on the highlighted text and one on the color slider. Slide both fingers at the same time towards the left side of the screen.
6. The text will change color, letter by letter, as you drag the colors and highlighted text. You can drag this in different directions and over different colors for unique rainbow effects

27. Add Your Exact Brand Color to Your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a great place to show off your branding, but this can be tricky with such a limited color palette. With this Instagram hack, you can include your exact brand colors in your stories.

Here’s what you do:

1) Set up your Instagram Story with the image you want to share

2) Use the ‘Add from Camera Roll’ sticker and choose an image with your brand’s color in it

3) Choose the color picker tool in the left corner of the screen

4) Use the color picker tool to take a sample from your sticker image upload

5) Now you can use this special color in your Story

6) Remove the sticker image you chose by moving it to the bottom of the screen until the trash can icon appears to delete it

28. Layer Text for a Shadow Effect

Here’s a simple trick to make any text you add to your Instagram Stories really stand out.

1. Create your Story and type your text over it
2. Select this text and copy it
3. Start a new text box and paste in this text
4. Choose a different color for the copied text while it’s still selected (white is always a good option for the second text)
5. Move the text over the original and overlap them very slightly. Layer the copied text under the original, and you’ll have a perfect shadow

Top Tip: This works best with bold fonts and minimal writing

29. Create Stories That Build on the Same Image

Progressive Stories are when you post a single image over multiple stories, and each new Story has additional elements – like writing or music. It’s a fun way to build up drama and interest or tell a story over a few segments.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Start by making a regular Instagram Story with some text or a sticker
2. Download the image before you upload it. The download icon is the small arrow pointing down to a line at the top. If you’ve added GIFs or music, it will save as a video
3. Upload your Story
4. Start a new Story
5. Select the first image you downloaded when you create the next Story
6. Now add something on top of that, like more text or a new sticker
7. Download this image to your camera roll and post it to your Stories
8. Rinse and repeat

30. Pin Your Top Posts to Your Grid

With this popular Instagram hack, you can pin your favorite posts to the top of your grid. This means these posts will always hold the top spots. This is a great Instagram hack for businesses or creators wanting to highlight their most important content.

Here’s how to pin posts on Instagram:

1. Find the post you want to pin
2. Tap the three dots in the right-hand corner
3. Select Pin to your profile. You can pin up to three posts.

Want to learn more about what you can do on Instagram? Check out these Instagram new features you should try.

Using These Hacks to Be Better at Instagram

Ok, so you’ve got a whole bunch of cool Instagram hacks. How do you use them to improve your social media marketing?

With Instagram, it’s the small details that can make your story or post really stand out. Each of these hacks can go a long way in improving your Instagram marketing efforts.

Instagram marketing could take many forms. Maybe you’re running a social media promotion, focusing on Reels, running paid promotions, or pushing a selfie contest.

Whatever it is, using these hacks to improve your profile can make a big difference in how many Instagram users end up following and engaging with your content.

Have you got your account looking good, but now you’re wondering how to market on Instagram effectively? Check out this guide to help you with some ideas.

Wrapping Up

And there you have it, 30 of the most useful Instagram hacks that you can use to take your social media game a level up.

These tips and tricks are pretty simple, but they offer something special that most Instagram users don’t know about. When you use these hacks consistently, you’ll make a huge difference to your social media efforts.

Try these Instagram hacks out for your personal or business account, and let us know what you think. When it comes to Instagram, it’s the small things that go a long way.

Want more cool things to do on Insta? Check out our list of 33 Instagram Story hacks.

Related Topics

• 33 Instagram Stories Hacks You Wish You Knew Sooner
• How to Make Money on Instagram
• How the Instagram Algorithm Works in 2021
• 25 Awesome Instagram Reels Ideas for Small Businesses
• 19 Instagram New Features That You Need to Know About

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