Life

How To Use Quotes On Instagram

by Megan Grant

I'm terrible at Instagramming. Other girls can take a picture of their big toe and get 4,000 likes. I take a selfie on my best hair day, and I lose 10 followers. I still have yet to understand it, but there's one kind of image we can all post like a pro: Quotes! If you haven't figured out how to use quotes on Instagram yet, fear not: There are a number of ways to accomplish this feat with just a few clicks.

One of the cool things about posting quotes is the versatility. They can be funny, serious, motivational, inspirational. They can be about life, love, fitness, pizza. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza...

Sorry. Got distracted.

Anyway, a number of websites, apps, and photo editors have made it so that you can generally suck at Instagramming like me, but still post a top-notch quote picture that totes looks like a graphic designer might've made it. (All right, they're not that good. But you get the idea.) They allow you the opportunity to personalize your quotes and add your own unique touch — and in social media, where everything is stolen and reposted (not OK!), having something unique to you is like having the keys to the kingdom.

So, how exactly can you use quotes on Instagram? Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Use An Instagram Quote Maker App

There are so many options here. Free apps for your smartphone make it so easy to create a cool quote photo for your social media in a matter of less than a minute, if you want. With a variety of fonts, colors, backgrounds, and themes to choose from, you can get as creative or keep it as simple as you'd like. I created this quote in InstaQuote in seconds.

2. Use A Desktop Quote Maker

If you prefer your computer to your phone, there are a few free websites that you can play with on desktop, for the particular purpose of making quote images. I personally like Behappy. It's pretty user-friendly and lets you get creative.

3. Brush Up On Your Photoshop Skills

On the opposite end of the spectrum from easy-to-use apps and websites is more complicated image editing software like Photoshop. The possibilities are endless with Photoshop, and you can create serious works of art. But here's your official heads up: The software is neither fast nor easy if you don't know what you're doing. In fact, you might not get anywhere at all. If you want a similar (and free) option, you can download Adobe Photoshop Express to your smartphone.

4. Use A Free Photo Editor

While these photo editors weren't created to make quotes specifically, they're simple and straightforward enough that just about anyone can handle them — and most of them have the ability to add text to images in just a few clicks. PicMonkey and Pixlr are both great options. They give you a little more freedom to experiment, but they're no so in-depth that you'll feel totally clueless.

5. Share Other People's Quotes Quickly And Easily

Finally, if you have no interest in making your own quotes (which is totally OK), there's a hassle-free way to share someone else's post on Instagram. My go-to app for sharing Instagram pictures is Repost. Repost makes it easy to credit image with a simple copy/paste, or you can always credit the photo manually. (Image credits are nice. Credit the people you borrow from!) Here's one I shared from Beyond Words Magazine.

Images: Megan Grant/Bustle; Megan Grant/Instagram