CREATING A BRANDED LOOK ON YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED
The most successful Instagram accounts have a clearly defined aesthetic that applies to every photograph they share. If you use your Instagram feed as a purely personal account, you might not want to curate it at all; if you are using it for business, Instagram is a useful tool that can be used to create impact with your brand and introduce it to new audiences and prospective clients.
Plan Content
Think about what you want to share and clear time in your schedule to plan and take specific photographs. Take photographs of behind the scenes, work in progress, and finished product shots to share online. Much like using an editorial calendar for your blog, planning content for Instagram means your account stays active with consistent updates.
Define An Aesthetic
Make sure your aesthetic aligns with your branding and vice versa – never share anything that doesn’t fit into your brand’s ethos. Edit your photographs in a similar way; use the same tones and familiar shots to help define your aesthetic. Focus on developing a specific theme, color, and/or common composition. Utilize photography apps to enhance your photographs and produce high-quality images.
Make Decisions
Decide on the type of content you want to share and the way in which you want to share it. Remember when someone finds your account, the first thing they will probably do is scroll through your feed in grid view (rather than viewing individual photographs) to see, at a glance, what your content looks like altogether. This means it’s important to express a clear representation of what kind of account it is and what content they can expect to see – having a clearly defined, consistent feed means people are more likely to hit “follow.”
For your business, you might want to share finished products but also behind the scenes, work in progress, and a few candid personal moments. You don’t have to completely omit personal content, just remember to keep it within your established aesthetic boundaries.
Consider Separate Accounts
If your personal style doesn’t align with your business aesthetic, consider setting up separate accounts. You can be as free as you want with your personal account while curating a very specific aesthetic for your business resulting in the best of both worlds.
Schedule Posts
To remain consistent with Instagram it’s important to post regularly without being spammy, withholding photographs to post later makes it easy to forget to post them altogether. There are several apps that allow you to schedule photographs and even post content for you – or you can hire Sandy Hibbard Creative and we will do the work for you!
