Yield better results on Instagram with a little curation and cohesiveness
We all want to create those beautiful Instagram pages that bring in new followers that turn into clients and customers. We know the pages I’m talking about — the ones that have all the pictures that are so beautiful, edited well and content that is well-curated.
Mav Social recently published an article on creating a feed on Instagram that matches your brand and looks cohesive. Their helpful articles explains that while “your photos look brilliant when viewed individually, they could be a jumbled mess when seen together,” which is one reason to create a beautiful feed. Nobody wants their first impression to be a messy one. Brand recognition will also help people remember you! If you have a beautiful page, people won’t have to even look at your handle to know it’s your content, automatically knowing in their mind that this picture belongs to you!
@FACTEURPR
How do these brands do it?
Well, I wanted to share some insider tips! This blog post was inspired by FACTEUR's own Instagram feed. I am amazed by how well Reena, the founder of FACTEUR, puts together each Instagram post to tie so well into the rest. She makes sure the colors are cohesive and that everything is on-brand and is recognizable for our audience.
Knowing your audience is super important when launching a brand as well as when marketing one. I run a personal blog, and I can definitely attest to this. I run an Instagram page as well, and I know that my audience would be thrown off if I all of the sudden started posting a black and white photo when the rest of my pictures are very colorful and highly saturated. I know my audience enjoys and expects bright colors and through researching other Instagram influencers they follow, they engage with similar pages.
While it may sound boring to post content that all matches, it actually becomes very appealing to the eye of the follower.
In the Mav Social article I mentioned earlier, they shared this photo as an example from Fossil’s Instagram feed. It shows that they choose consistent colors to focus on, but so followers don’t get bored, they switch up the hue every nine photos.
@FOSSIL
While the content may not be exactly the same in each individual photo, overall it still looks cohesive and their photos are always of high quality.
A new website that I recently learned about and saw that was given also as an example in this article is the blog on Design-seeds.com. This blog offers a great way to figure out a color palette for your brand/company. Here are some examples of the ways they help inspire you:
@INSOMNIA
As you can see in this photo that @In_somnia_ used on their Instagram, they were able to pull out these beautiful six colors. Out of these six colors, they could decide to continue using a few of them in their upcoming Instagram pictures!
Imagine if this picture was randomly thrown into one of the color schemes from Fossil. It would look out of place and if a follower was looking at the Instagram page, some followers may be turned off by how out of place the picture looks and leave, meaning you would lose out on a new follower, sale or future customer.
A sense of unity, even on your Instagram feed, makes your audience feel part of your brand.
Visual Psychology
Streamlining the look and feel isn't about deceiving your audience. In fact, with so much noise on social media, it's helpful to post things that are only relevant (and save the fun, on the fly stuff for your Stories!). Photos can create an emotional response to your audience, so make sure you are helping to create the right ones!
Apps to help you edit your pictures
There are so many options out there today for you! Choosing the right one for you may take a couple of tries!
My top three suggestions for apps to help you edit your pictures:
VSCO: great for creating each picture with the same filter
Lightroom: awesome for editing details/specific colors in pictures
A Color Story: fun and creative filters as well as editing functions like Structure, Curves, and more
Now, don't forget that photos aren't the only thing you need to developing an engaging Instagram presence. Once you create eye-catching and on-brand visuals, you need relevant and powerful captions, as well!
Need help on ideas of what to post? Check out FACTEUR's Instant Resources section and get your hands on some content calendar worksheets for a year's worth of ideas to get you inspired and started!
Danie Minor is a recent graduate of Kent State University, where she studied public relations. She is passionate about all things having to do with social media and influencer relations.