How to Start an Instagram Page

Instagram is a popular social media platform that is heavily used by your middle and high school students. If we’re honest, even many of your elementary students may be using it too.

So how do you start up an Instagram page for your school? It’s easy!

You must set up your Instagram account from your mobile device. It cannot be done from your desktop. The first step is to download the app.
Once you have the app on your device, you’ll need to create your username. Try to use the same Twitter handle you use for your school.
Upload your profile photo. For branding consistency, you’ll want to use the same profile image that you use on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. You need to have access to your image on your mobile device, so you may need to e-mail the image to yourself so that you can get the image onto your camera roll.
Complete the remaining profile information. This includes your website, a short bio and a contact phone number. Your bio can include your mission statement, or simply a “Welcome to the official Instagram page for the ABC School. #Hashtag.” You obviously fill in your school name and customized school hashtag!

The Instagram app makes it very easy to switch between accounts. If you have a personal Instagram account and an account for school, just hit the profile name near the top and you’ll get a drop down menu of the various accounts that you are logged into. You can be logged in to five accounts at once.

Start Sharing!

With your student audience in mind, start sharing images, quotes, and artwork! You can certainly post a few times a day, but I would say you at least will want to post twice per week.

And beyond images, don’t forget to share videos! You don’t have to get super descriptive with your posts. You’ll see fewer comments on Instagram versus on Facebook, but people will throw out some love by “hearting” your posts.

For some great inspiration on what to post, check out these schools:

Randolph School in Huntsville, AL	Klein ISD in Texas
Cumberland School District – WI	Amery Schools in Amery, WI

Cross Posting

Many people think adding Instagram is just adding another platform to manage, but Instagram actually makes it very easy to post once and hit other channels like Facebook and Twitter with one click! It is easy to hit your gear icon and link your school accounts to the Instagram account you just created.