As Instagram continues to advance its stories feature and increase its ability to direct people to make purchases, it is smart to put more focus on this social platform. If you are seeking to market to millennials, don't ignore Instagram. Yes, we believe its becoming that important.

The typical Instagram user is under the age of 35, and adds content 2-3 times per day. They are posting high quality slice-of-life style photography and videography here.

To use Instagram as an effective marketing tool for your business, however, you must invest consistent time on it. You must build a following, post consistently, and curate content that engages your target audiences.

Sometimes coming up with creative ways to post is the hardest part of using Instagram, you might sit there for hours and not think of anything worthy of posting. To help you curate effective content quickly, we have selected seven tools (apps). Most of these apps are free and all are easy to use.

1. Layout 

Layout helps you to make collages to post on Instagram. One reason we really like this app is that it doesn’t leave a watermark on your images like a lot of other apps do to force you to buy their pro versions. Layout is sleek and user friendly, which is always a win.You can find out more about the app here: http://blog.instagram.com/post/114416360957/layout-from-instagram 

2. Afterlight

If you are looking for something more advanced than the standard filters, Check out Afterlight. They offer over 74 unique filters, 78 new textures, and over 100 frames. (A frame is the frequency at which frames in a film or video sequence are displayed) Afterlight is continuously adding new features to their app. It is available on Apple and Android devices for $.99. To find out more visit Afterlight’s website: http://afterlight.us/ 

3. Vintago 

Vintago Is a video and photo editing app that allows you to place filters that would represent time periods, from the 1920s to the 1970s. Ragtime, anyone? The creators have had 200+ positive reviews, but have not added updates for the last several years. That's the only downside we see with the app. Vintago is available for IOS.

 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vintagio/id335148458?mt=8   

4. Lapse it 

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Lapse It Allows you to make time-lapse videos (an accelerated version of slowly changing events). One of the best features is that you have the ability to add time-lapse effects to videos you import. Also, you can shoot video directly from the app itself. Lapse it is a free app in both the App Store and Google Play. There is a free and pro version for $2.99. http://www.lapseit.com/ 

5. Boomerang 

Both a photo and video app, Boomerang allows you to shoot short, continuous videos. Each short video will loop forward and backward in a never-ending cycle. Want to see examples of what the loops look like? Google #boomerang. Pretty cool, right? Boomerang was created by Instagram, so you know the app will preform well on its own platform. And it's free! 

http://blog.instagram.com/post/131684343987/boomerang-from-instagram 

6. DSCO  

DISCO Allows you to create GIF’s exclusively on IOS with high quality imagery. No grainy GIFS here!  With DSCO you get a clean, crisp look and feel. You can publish directly to DSCO or other platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

 https://vsco.co/dsco/collection/1 

7. Slow Shutter Cam 

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Slow Shutter Cam allows you to capture amazing moments by either slowing down or speeding up the shutter for your phone camera. Think about those cool subway pictures in New York City where the subway is going fast that all you see is a blur of lights. That's what this app does. Users of Slow shutter cam have said that the low-light quality of images are just one reason to purchase the app. To date, there have been more than a million downloads of the app. Slow shutter cam is currently available on the App store.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slow-shutter-cam/id357404131?mt=8 

We are not affiliates for these apps, but we have tried them and know they work. The great thing about these apps is that they are little to no cost to try out. So try a few! Then leave a comment below to let us know if and how they helped you grow your business.