5 Steps to Make Your Instagram Feed Absolutely Swoon-Worthy
I have a confession to make
Photo: Unsplash/@alexbracken
I have a confession to make. I suffer from design envy, from time to time. Yes, even as an awesome brand strategist with over 15 years of design experience I still get green eyes of envy when I see an Instagram profile that makes me swoon.
Instagram is like no other place online or in real life. It’s where you can go to shop, get inspired, and connect with other cool people. It’s also a place where you can easily feel insecure about your brand and business. Instagram is our highlight reel and some people have serious editing skills when they’re highlighting their curated life and business.
Here are five ways you can bring your brand hustle game to the next level on Instagram.
Know thy self.
What is your brand voice, message, and story? We all have a story and when you look at the Instagram profiles that you’re secretly obsessed with, you’ll notice that there is a pattern to their content. Quotes, photos of the beach, feathers dipped in paint, glitter magically floating in the air – all of these design elements are crafted to amplify whatever story that brand is telling.
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Organize your color story.
Once you know what your voice, message, and story is identify the design graphics and photos that will help you express it. Keep your postings consistent with your brand color palette. Try not to deviate from your color palette when sharing your visual story. The key thing about branding is consistency and Instagram is a great place to show that consistency.
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Get quality photos and graphics.
You don’t need to be a professional photographer to capture great photos. However, if you find that taking good pictures is not your cup of tea then use royalty-free stock photos that are relevant for your brand’s voice and style. You can get photos and graphics from websites such as Creative Market, Death to the Stock Photo, Boss Latina, and Create Her Stock.
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Use apps.
There are a ton of mobile apps that will help you add a creative spin to your visuals for Instagram. Apps like WordSwag, A Beautiful Mess, Color Story, PicsArt and VSCO help you add personality to your photos. You can do things like crop, add text overlays, or creative funky effects to your photos without having to learn advanced Photoshop skills.
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Organize and batch.
Swoon-worthy Instagram profiles don’t just look pretty because they’re magic. They look awesome because they’re consistent and intentional with how photos are shared. Batch your visuals for Instagram so that you can use apps like Planoly or Latergram and see how your beautiful new visuals play together. You don’t want to create pretty graphics independently. You want to factor in how that graphic will look on the Instagram grid.
Finally, don’t be afraid to delete posts that don’t work with your overall brand story. Just because you shared it once, it doesn’t mean that post is eternal. If there’s a post that suddenly doesn’t look like it goes with your overall visual story, drop it like it’s hot.[tps_footer][article_ad][/tps_footer]
