4 Reasons to Engage on Instagram

Following your favorite quilters and quilt shops on Instagram is great, but did you know that by actively engaging with them, you’re MORE likely to see and discover content you love?

Your Instagram (IG) home feed isn’t just a chronological list of recent posts from those you follow. Instead, Instagram ranks the posts in your feed and prioritizes the ones it thinks you will care about most. That way, when you open the IG app, you always see your favorite content first.

How does Instagram know what you’re most interested in? Based on your past behaviors. Whether you’ve liked or commented on something, shared or saved a post, sent a direct message (DM) to a friend, or swiped up on a story, you’re signaling to Instagram the type of content you like best. And seeing content you love is important – it’s what makes Instagram fun.

Here are four reasons why you should be engaging with your favorite quilting accounts on Instagram.

Stay in the Know

In order to ensure you always SEE the posts of people and shops you want to keep up with, you have to interact with their content. By doing so, you’re TELLING Instagram that this is the type of content and accounts that you are most interested in. Here are a few ways you can engage with your favorite accounts:

• Like: This is the easiest action you can take. Simply tap the little heart below the post image.
• Comment: Take the time to leave a comment on a post you like.
• Share: Did you know you can share content from other accounts with the people you follow? If a post really resonates with you (maybe it’s a fabric sale or some useful tips for a problem you know a fellow quilter is currently struggling with), share it by either posting it to your stories or sending it directly to a specific person to make sure your friends don’t miss it!  This is currently the best way to engage with your favorite accounts!

• Watch Stories: And watch them until the end. If you click out of a video mid-story, you’re telling Instagram that you’re not interested in it. If it’s content you want to see more of, be sure to watch the story all the way through and interact with it (send a message, swipe up, or participate in polls and surveys).
• Direct Message: When you send someone a DM, it signals to Instagram that you have a close relationship with that account and IG will remember to show you more of their content in the future.
• Turn on Notifications: If you never want to miss a post from your favorite Instagrammers, turn on notifications. You’ll get an alert on your phone whenever that account shares a new post, story, or video.

Find New Ideas

Following hashtags and saving posts helps IG learn more about the content you find most interesting so that it can ultimately show you more, SIMILAR content in the future (hello new ideas!).

• Follow Hashtags: In addition to following accounts, follow hashtags. Posts that use the hashtags you follow (regardless of whether or not you are following the person who used it) will show up in your feed. This can help you discover new Instagrammers who are talking about the stuff that you love (like #cottoneerfabrics).
• Save Posts: Ever see a post and think “this is definitely a pattern I want to make someday” or “this post has some useful tips that I want to try” or “this fabric bundle would be perfect for the quilt I’m making”. Good news is you can always SAVE a post so that you can revisit it later. Just click the little flag icon under the post image. Even better, you can organize your saved posts into folders – that way your pattern inspiration stays separate from those fabric bundles you’re currently crushing on. Follow the steps below to view all of your saves and click the little plus sign in the top right corner to add a folder.

Discover New Content

The Explore tab at the bottom of your feed (that little magnifying glass) contains recommended photos and videos from accounts BEYOND those you follow and see on your feed. Instagram uses your engagement history (all the actions previously mentioned) to help you discover similar NEW content. If a post in your Explore tab doesn’t represent the type of content you’re interested in, click it and select “See Fewer Posts Like This”. This tells IG to show you fewer posts like that from now on so that you can start seeing more of what you ACTUALLY like!

Get Seen

Following hashtags can help you discover new content. On the flip side, USING hashtags can help others find YOUR content. Follow our hashtags below and next time you post about your fabric mail from Cottoneer, be sure to use them so that other quilters on the ‘gram who also love Cottoneer can see your fabulous content!

Looking for even more hashtags? Try some of the following:

• #quiltersgonnaquilt
• #sewersgonnasew
• #igquiltingcommunity
• #quiltsofinstagram
• #quiltlife
• #quiltingfun
• #quiltylove
• #quilts
• #modernquilting
• #modernmaker
• #quiltingfabric
• #prettyfabric
• #fabricshopping
• #fatquarters
• #quiltsinthewild
• #fabriclove
• #quiltstagram
• #sewersofinstagram
• #modernfabric
• #fabricpull
• #quiltlove
• #quiltpattern
• #instasew
• #handmade
• #quiltville