5 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Instagram
Instagram is the best known for beautifully-edited photos. Recently, the platform has evolved to include rawer visual content by embracing new trends such as social stories and live video. At its heart, however, Instagram is still all about visual presentation. By keeping this in mind and applying these five tips to your Instagram marketing strategy, you’ll get results you can see.
Stick with a Consistent Style and Theme.
Start your Instagram makeover by getting an overview of your profile. Is it a jumble of different types of photos or is there some consistency? If your profile lacks consistency, it’s a quick (enough) fix.
· Start by identifying your brand’s focus or theme. What kind of content does your audience look to your for? If your business’s aim is to share the latest obscure reads with hipster bookworms, then your feed should include images of book covers, a person fitting your audience engaging with those books, swanky over-stacked bookshelves, and similar posts.
· Evaluate the filters you apply to your content. Are some posts dark and underexposed while others are bright and citrusy? If the answer is yes, then you need to pick a style and stick to it. Consistency with your filters and lighting style are important.
Another tip is to visit your profile and to reorganize the content’s placement for maximum aesthetic appeal. Instead of showing three book covers in a row, mix it up with posts of shelves, of cool kids reading, etc.
Go with Brand Colors.
Just as you’ve picked a style and theme for your Instagram content, you need to choose the colors that fit your brand and work with those. Importantly:
· Don’t go overboard with your color palate. Three or four colors are more than enough to set the scene.
· Pick colors that work well together and that have evoke similar emotions or images. For example, for a rare hipster book brand, olive, umber, and ochre hues are suitable.
Personalize with Emoji.
While no one recommends going overboard with the emoji, including one or two on your profile page can help audiences quickly clue into what your brand is about. Books, Harry Potter glasses, and an Edison light bulb would be great for the rare book brand. Emoji can also be peppered into your posts for personality.
Embrace Instagram Stories & Live.
Obviously, not all content can be planned nor should it. Embrace the moment, too, when the timing is right. This is where Instagram Stories and the new Live feature comes into play.
· Social stories consist of content that disappears within 24 hours. Stories are less edited. Use stories to promote a quick sale or to share a behind-the-scenes look at one of your formal shoots.
· Live video is great for embracing the moment. Did you run into someone your audience would love to see you with or are you traveling in a cool locale? Go live with it.
Plan & Time Your Posts.
As with all marketing, an Instagram strategy is important. Use analytics to figure out the best times to post for you audience, then plan what photos you need and want for that month or week.
· Take photos in advance and edit them.
· Figure out what narrative content you want to include
· Evaluate which hashtags work best for your content.
· Speaking of hashtags, create a hashtag unique to your brand (ex: #hipstareads).
Live and social stories content are going to be rawer, but these are great engagement tools that—along with finding a theme and focus for your content and style—will instantly improve your Instagram. Is your brand ready for its close-up?
As you can see, anyone can have a stellar presence on Instagram. Contact The Storyteller Agency’s team of passionate storytellers and explore how we can step up all of your social media marketing efforts (easy as 1, 2, 3!).
