2 Social Media Apps That Have Changed How I Instagram

I tried the whole 'professional instagramming' lark last year, and I failed. Miserably. I tried the whole white background, high contrast images, and I wasn't inspired by it. Truth is, I'm much more of a throw-it-together-and-hope-for-the-best kind of person, I always have been, and I always will be to some degree, but over the last month or two, I've found a way to keep my happy-go-instagrammer nature alive while also changing how I use Instagram, but of course, for the better.

But if I don't use Instagram to promote my blog all that much, why does it matter how I use it at all?

People that know me know I like my numbers, and I like to see them get bigger. It's a motivational, encouraging, positive look at things, because when you see you're doing something right, you're more likely to keep at it, and by including these two tools as part of my superhero social media busting belt, I've come to see what a difference posting at the right time, at the right place actually means, and seen the benefits of  little tracking here and there.

So, what are the tools?

1. Latergram.me

When I stumbled across Latergramme, (and I do mean stumbled, like woah, what is this amazing kind of stumbled) I thought it was too good to be true, and totally thought there was no way there could be a tool available to allowed me to schedule Instagram updates, on my computer, for free. Oh wow, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to be proven wrong, but Latergramme does, and is exactly that.

Forget typing up those captions and #hashtags with your small phone keyboard and feel free by typing away on your computer, hours before you post your photo. It's seriously one of my most favourite things about the app, it just takes that little annoyance away and opens up a whole more relaxed feel to Instagram caption writing, but that isn't all Lategramme does.


As you'd like to assume, from the name of the app, Lategramme allows you to schedule updates for different times in the day, week or month, aka it means you can schedule a months worth of a Instagram updates all in one day, leaving you covered and with more time to complete all those other 10 minute tasks you need time in the day for. It sadly won't actually publish them for you, there's still a little bit of leg-work needed on your side of things, like confirming the post to be published, pasting your caption into your caption box and clicking publish, but really, we're talking a few seconds and woosh, image posted.

How has it changed how I use Instagram?

Like I said before, I'm a bit of a free-flyer and go as the wind takes me, so some weeks I would post an image every day, and some months, I'd vanish into thin air, but with Latergramme, I'm posting around 3-5 posts a week, which has not only seen me interact with more people and become more social on the network, but I've seen an increase in interaction on my own posts, and an increase in followers not looking for a follow back.


Although I'm still a bit of a rookie when it comes to Lategramme, it's 100% changed how I use Instagram for the better, making me more social, more active, more organised and more planned, and has had a positive affective on my numbers too. It's actually tracking these numbers that leads me onto my second awesome Instagram tool..

2. Squarelovin'

Most of the prof' bloggers use and will encourage you to use Iconosquare to track your Instagram numbers and following, and while I can say that's not too bad during the first months free trial, paying top bucks to see my Instagram stats is not really high on my list of things to splash cash on. Enter Squarelovin', the simpler to use, less knowledgeable and fact inclusive, but complete free, and available Instagram stat checker I couldn't see myself without.

We all know I'm a big of a cheap date, so Squarelovin' is without a doubt the perfect partner to traverse my Instagram stats with, and so far, it's proven to be absolutely dashing, completely perfect and really rather full of interesting information. If Squarelovin' were a person, I'd most definitely be making oogly eyes at it from afar. It's simple to use interface, engagement tracker and optimisation features are to die for, and considering you can get them for free when Iconosquare charges for them, meh, you can see why I'm falling in love with it.


I love that I can see how much interaction each of my posts receives, and by clicking on each image, I can see who's liked the photo rather than just a number of 'likes'. I can see which themes and editing processes people like and enjoy viewing the most, and I can even see which days of the week and which times people interact with my images the most too. It's like a full on mini Google Analytics but for Instagram, and it's all there for free.

Seriously, companies pay big bucks to get the information Squarelovin' gives you complete for free, and one of the best features for me is the optimisation feature, which gives information on when the best and worst time for me to post are. The numbers are generated from my personal stats, and it means that I get to work with the information that represents me, rather than just everyone and anyone. Does it work? Damn right it works. I've seen a 15% increase in interaction with my posts since using Squarelovin's optimisation feature, and I've gained over 40+ followers in the last month since using it in conjunction with Latergramme.


While my current Instagram growth is slow and steady, my being more active and social on the site is with huge thanks to Lategramme, as is being there in front of my followers and new potential followers too, and my being able to provide content on Instagram at the perfect times for both me and my followers is all down to Squarelovin'. I couldn't imagine trying to Instagram without these tools now, both on my computer and my phone on-the-go, and I would without a doubt recommend them both to anyone looking to make using Instagram just that little bit easier and quicker.

Will you start using Latergram.me or Squarelovin' one day?