My Must Have Apps for Books, Blogging and Social Media

As somebody that spends an awful lot of time dealing with a variety of blogging tasks, you can only begin to imagine just important having my phone handy is, especially when I'm in a pickle, out and about, or just not close to a computer of any kind. Being able to make tweaks to posts, or schedule social media on the go is always something I appreciate, and there are certain apps that I cannot live without on my phone, both book and all-round blogging related, and I wanted to share with you what those are, why I have them, and what makes them so worth having. Oh, and did I mention they're all free? Can I get a woop woop?

Books/Book Blogging

1 | Kindle/Adobe Digital Editions - I don't actually spend an awful lot of time reading on my phone, only merely because phone battery lives these days suck more than anything, but if I'm on a particularly long bus journey alone (which is rare) and I've forgotten some music or a physical book, I will tend to turn to my digital collection for something to get started with or continue. For people who spend A LOT of time away from home and can't take physical books with them, these apps, both on phones and on other pieces of tech like tablets, these apps are a GODSEND.

2 | Overdrive - For those who don't know, Overdrive is a digital library within the actual libraries that a certain area of the country has access to or can share books through. For example, I live in a small county and in that county we have around 8 libraries varying in size, but the overdrive puts all those libraries together into a county, and all the digital books those libraries have are available through that one combined library. It's pretty awesome, and is super helpful for having more book on the go. I can check out books, reserve them, and download them to my phone, audio and digital, and even do so on the desktop too.

3 | Goodreads - I do find myself in bookstores and libraries quite often, and sometimes I'll need to have a quick nosey on Goodreads to check a books details such as if it's part of a series, and if so, what number, or what some of my trusted friends have thought of the book in question. Sometimes I'll use it's scanning feature to add it to my shelves right away, and sometimes I'll do more of the mellifluous things such as friend requests and updating my reading status on books on the go or right before bed rather than logging online. They're not my most used apps by a long shot, but I always appreciate having them there when I need them most.

The Juicy Details Behind My May Bookstagram Challenge

Instagram is my new favourite social media home, evident only by all the Instagram posts I've shared on the blog lately, and by getting a good grip on my optimal social media posting times, I've learnt how to get the most out of using it to share my love of books every day, and I love it. I love it so much, last month I unveiled my first Instagram book challenge, complete with graphic, prompts and how to get involved, and to my surprise it went down really well.

After much encouragement I decided to give it another shot and came up with a new #bookstagram photo challenge for the month of May, and I'm super excited to be sharing it with you today. Unlike the last challenge, I'll be hosting this one myself, however, there are a few things to cover first..

Like, what's the heck is a monthly book challenge?

You've probably all heard of #photoaday, you share a photo of something, every single day. A monthly book challenge is just that, except it's specifically about and for books, rather than just every day experiences and adventures. Every month, there's a collection of book challenges released by numerous other bloggers, photographers and creatives alike, and people take in them, following the prompts, getting clever with their photos and sharing them with other likeminded book creatives through specific hashtags

Okay, so what made you want to create your own challenge?

There's actually a few reasons I bit the bullet and wanted to start working with book challenges, however, there are two main reasons, each with their own reasons, and these are the ones that made the most impact.

1. I wanted to create a community. You hear it all the time around the blogging space - 'you need to create a community' - and usually, that takes place in your email list. HOWEVER, I tend to find to more you pressure yourself into doing something you don't enjoy (like trying to grow your email list, hard!) rather than focusing your efforts on something you love (like Instagram), you're more likely to fail.
   
   It was important for me to hone my focus and efforts into something I love, and Instagram made sense. It's definitely the fastest growing social media, and it's without a doubt one of the most creative, which suits my current place and time right now. The kind of community I want to create and be a part of is creative, positive and exciting, full of people who like and appreciate pretty things, and love to experiment, develop their skills, and be proud what they do, and Instagram is the place to do that.


2. I wanted to teach the old dogs some new tricks. I love teaching others how they can develop their skills, progress ahead of others and use their creativity, their style, their knowledge to achieve great things. I tend to find that a lot of book challenge reuse the same prompts, and their not the most exciting of prompts either. I wanted to create a challenge that pushed people to try something new, rather than more of the same.
   
   I also wanted to bring back some of the more forgotten about book tags. When I first joined bookstagram, there were a lot of classy, clever and creative tags floating around, and it's extremely rare that people used them, let alone bring them back into the spotlight, so I really wanted to shine a light on some of these old favorites and give them the attention the rightly deserve.

So what is the challenge like? What are the prompts? How do I take part?

50 Beautiful Bookstagram Accounts You Need In Your Feed

I tend to find that for all the information the various blogging communities have, and all the tutorials, experiences, variety and awesome content users create, there's one stand out feature I love more than anything, and that's the bloggers themselves. The commitment to creating content, the social life they destroy just to stay alive on social media, there isn't enough praise and pride for them. I've shared various bloggers you should check out and follow, actually, I've done it twice, but there's another platform that expects the same level of commitment that I love just as equally, and that's Instagram.

Instagram is probably my favourite of the social medias, not from a promoting and marketing aspect, but from a personal joy and fulfillment aspect. I enjoy photography and I enjoy socialising and interacting with other users, but along the way, I've found many accounts I love, everything from their set-up to their props, to their shoots to themselves. Today, I wanted to share 50 (yes, 50!) #bookstagram accounts I love to follow on Instagram that you should seriously have in your feed too.

How To Find Your Best Social Media Posting Times (For Free!)

A few months ago, I shared the secret behind when to post your content and social media updates, and following that, I've been constantly asked how the heck to I find out my optimal posting times? There are so many paid options around the internet offering you this data at eye-watering prices, and rightly so, their detailed accounts, their online support, their tips and tricks and hand-holding along the way can easily make the price justified.

If you're anything like me, you'd rather not shell out and want to get a little bit of something for nothing, and that's exactly what I'm going to make available to you today. I'm going to share with you how to find your optimal posting times both on Twitter and Instagram, with options for them both, completely for free, so you can get back to doing what you do best, creating new content.

First though, is having optimal social posting scheduling plan really worth it?

Short answer, yes. Knowing when your content is going to been seen by the most people is all well and good, but you, your blog and your social media accounts are not like everyone else's. Your following is unique to you, and if you post when everyone else does, not only is that A LOT of competition, but it's also not benefiting you or your blog. Alas, if you create a personal social media schedule, based on when your followers interact most with your updates and when they're online, you're much more likely to get results.

An Epic Guide To My Favourite Free Iconosquare Alternative: Squarelovin'

I don't know if you've noticed at all lately, but Instagram has become a total social media game changer for me lately. Not only has it become my favourite of the medias, but it communicates my creativity, is fun for experimenting and learning, and has seen interaction and pageviews increase through Nellie and Co. too, so it's well worth your time and effort.

I recently shared how you can schedule your Instagram content with Latergram.me, but if you're serious in wanting to make Instagram one of your go-to social medias, you're going to want to make sure you know what's working and what isn't, and how you can improve, and that's where Squarelovin' comes in. Latergram.me and Squarelovin' have totally changed how I use Instagram, and where Latergram.me helps me prepare, Squarelovin' helps me track my stats.

But what really makes Squarelovin' such an awesome tool?

1 | It's absolutely, totally, completely and utterly free

In comparison to a lot of other services, this is a BIG selling point. Chances are, you are not a business, and you probably don't want to be, but that doesn't mean you don't want to take your Instagram marketing and content sharing seriously. You might want to know what people like most, and what they shake their heads at, and Squarelovin' allows you to do that, for free. If you're looking for a cheaper, less in depth alternative to Iconosquare's $28.80 price tag, look no further.

2 | Your stats are collected every day, without fail

I find I don't have to login each day to get my stats, although I would recommend it, which is an absolute godsend in terms of keeping up without the constant need to clock in and get the ball rolling, however, some people have reported that they have had to, but those reports are a few years old. The only time I've ever suffered a problem collecting statistics is when they suffered a small issue with their systems, but it was only down for around 5 days, and they worked super hard to get it back up and running as quickly as possible, which was pretty excellent in terms of customer service, and even better when you remember that they do it all for nadah in their back pocket.

3 | You can view your feed in grid form

This is without a doubt one of my favourite features, and although you can still view it in a listed format, the grid format allows for a better viewing experience, more content to be seen, enables you to like the photo with a simple click, all without hindering the entire user experience at all. It's definitely made checking out other content and seeing my feed a better feeling overall.

4 | It calculates your optimal posting times

Once again, it's worth remembering that they does this for free, without any of the sending to your email address Websta.me uses, and doesn't have the hefty price tag either. There a few downsides to the optimal posting times (I talk about this a little further in the post), but generally, I've never had any problems with this area, in fact, it's one of my favourite areas on the whole site and has totally changed how I post my content, when, and how I prepare it all with Latergram.me.

These points don't do Squarelovin' justice though, so I've thrown together an in-depth guide to Squarelovin' covering most of the areas you'll ever need to use and know about, how you can understand all the information, and how it can help you in the long run.

The first thing you're going to want to do use your Instagram account to log in, using pretty much the same idea as Buffer in that respect. Once you're in, you'll be hit with the homepage featuring a lot of content from your followers, and that wonderful grid view that I absolutely love, and a lot of different options and places to explore with it, all of which we're about to get into.

7 Reasons You Need To Use Later.com (nee Latergram.me!)

I've mentioned quite a few times in passing that Latergram.me is one of my new favourite tools. If I had a blog belt strapped around my waist, Latergram.me would be right there alongside Buffer, Picmonkey and Google Analytics. Since I added this, quite frankly, awesome resource to my toolbox in January, I've gained over 200+ Instagram followers, increased my engagement and interaction rates by 30%, and smashed my '100 likes' goal over and over again.

Latergram.me has complete changed how and why I use Instagram. I've since created a plan of action for the social media to cover me the next few months, and I have a firm idea of what I want from Instagram, and how it'll help me achieve my goals later in the year. Instagram has gone from being a fun and exciting social media to a solid part of my blogging future, and Latergram.me is the reason for that.

I didn't want you to miss out on this absolutely fabulous tool, and I know from experience that trying out and signing up to new resources you know very little about isn't really high on your to-do list, so to help you out, I thought I'd share 7 of my favourite Latergram.me features and how they make scheduling my posts a piece of toffee cheesecake.

The Juicy Details Behind My Exciting April Bookstagram Challenge

At this point in time, it's not an unknown fact that I really really really love Instagram. I've talked about so many different angles and aspects, from favourite tools and a bigger presence, to photo shoots and editing, and it feels like a platform that encourages you to try new things, go outside the box, and experiment, big time. I already experiment a lot with Instagram and always have, my journey with the platform has been quite varied, but I'm always open to new and exciting adventures. The next one? A month-long book challenge.

First things first, what's the heck is a monthly book challenge?

You've probably all heard of #photoaday, you share a photo of something, every single day. A monthly book challenge is just that, except it's specifically about and for books, rather than just every day experiences and adventures. Every month, there's a collection of book challenges released by numerous other bloggers, photographers and creatives alike, and people take in them, following the prompts, getting clever with their photos and sharing them with other likeminded book creatives through specific hashtags

Okay, so what made you want to create your own challenge?

There's actually a few reasons I bit the bullet and wanted to experiment with a book challenge, however, there are two main reasons, each with their own reasons, and these are the ones that made the most impact.

1. I wanted to create a community. You hear it all the time around the blogging space - 'you need to create a community' - and usually, that takes place in your email list. HOWEVER, I tend to find to more you pressure yourself into doing something you don't enjoy (like trying to grow your email list, hard!) rather than focusing your efforts on something you love (like Instagram), you're more likely to fail.
   
   It was important for me to hone my focus and efforts into something I love, and Instagram made sense. It's definitely the fastest growing social media, and it's without a doubt one of the most creative, which suits my current place and time right now. The kind of community I want to create and be a part of is creative, positive and exciting, full of people who like and appreciate pretty things, and love to experiment, develop their skills, and be proud what they do, and Instagram is the place to do that.
2. I wanted to teach the old dogs some new tricks. I love teaching others how they can develop their skills, progress ahead of others and use their creativity, their style, their knowledge to achieve great things. I tend to find that a lot of book challenge reuse the same prompts, and their not the most exciting of prompts either. I wanted to create a challenge that pushed people to try something new, rather than more of the same.
   
   I also wanted to bring back some of the more forgotten about book tags. When I first joined bookstagram, there were a lot of classy, clever and creative tags floating around, and it's extremely rare that people used them, let alone bring them back into the spotlight, so I really wanted to shine a light on some of these old favorites and give them the attention the rightly deserve.

So what is the challenge like? What are the prompts? How do I take part?

How To Simply and Successfully Increase Your Instagram Presence

Instagram might not the biggest of the social medias, the daddy title of that does indeed go to Facebook, but that doesn't mean it's time to put the camera down and never look back. Instagram is the fastest growing social network of 2015, and if the millions of post centred around it, mine included, have anything to say about it, it won't be slowing down in it's growth either.

Did you know there are over 75 million people on Instagram every single day, each of them more engaged, more excited and more interested in your content than say, users on Twitter and Facebook? Did you know that we process information 94% times quicker if it's in the form of an image? Did you know that, user for user, Instagram actually has MORE than Twitter, and they're 100% focused on your content when they check it out, rather than overwhelmed with information from numerous angles like they are on Twitter.

Instagram is my most favoured of the social medias, and here's why..

Over the last 10 weeks, I've grown my following by 35%. I didn't use any gimmicks or quick and easy solutions, I worked hard, I put in the time, and the effort, researched the best tools to help me along the way, and have now broken the benchmark of the illusive 100 likes.

Along the way, I've taken over 600 photos, and used a mere 10% of them, I've found and used hashtags that really do put your content in front of more users, and I've learnt how to fall in love with using Instagram every single day. You can do it too, and I'm going to show you how.

1. Good-looking, attractive photos are a must

Bah, I know you're thinking. No, seriously, I really do. You're not a professional photographer. You don't have fancy equipment, or a degree in photoshop wizardry. Hell, you don't even know where to start when it comes to your cameras settings, you just shoot manual and hope it works out okay.

I know it. I've been there. I also know you don't need any of that. No magic tricks. No $3k equipment.

My Instagram and Photography Story: How I Stopped Striving For Perfection

For those who may not have noticed lately, I've been cooking up a storm on Instagram lately, hitting the ground running with #bookstagram again, and even started taking scheduling my posts seriously with Latergram.me, but I haven't always been the photographer I am now, and I've made a lot of mistakes. Today, I wanted to get a little more personal than usually, share my journey and give you a few important pieces of advice on your own photography too.

Let's be honest, past me didn't have a clue what she was doing. She was, all they call it, 'winging it'.

I mean, sure, she knew how to open her camera app on her phone, how to use Instagram and how to get the photo from A to B, but she knew absolutely nothing about lighting, and that resulted in some pretty shady (get it?) photography. (oh shush, it made me laugh..) In terms of style, let's be real here, she didn't have any whatsoever, and her photos varied from bright to dim to 1960's called and wants their bad colour tv's back.


Of course, over time, I actually learnt a few things, like actually putting the camera in focus for a start, but the most magical part came from hastags and taking part in book challenges, the first being a major player when it comes to actually getting traffic to your photo, the latter helping you find your place in communities. Holly recently shared how to use hashtags to get big results, and I only wish I'd known about them sooner, as they've drastically improved my Instagram game.

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.

How To Code Windows 8 Style Social Media Icons

Font Awesome is an online program that can be easily installed within your blog that allows you to use icons and brand logos as fonts, allowing for easy customisation, clearer, crisper social media icons for your blog, and lots of room for experimentation. During one of my many experiments with Font Awesome, I came across to ability to create social icons in the same style that you'd find on the Windows 8 interface, similar to 'Flat Design', a very popular trend in current blog design. If you're a fan of vivid, bright colours and like the idea of having Windows 8 Style Social Media Icons, then you've come to the right place.

First Step: Installation

Install is a scary word, but I can assure you, the process is really easy and really simple.
You're going to need to go into your blogs template and enter the following code just below the <head> tag.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.3.0/css/font-awesome.min.css" />

Be sure to click save, and the icons should become available to use afterwards.