Instagram is a great platform to promote your brand online because, according to the latest statistics, 90% of people on Instagram follow a business and 2 out of 3 business profile visits are from people who don’t follow them yet. With that many visits, it’s easy to see how you can expand your business’ reach and engagement with lots of potential customers and clients on Instagram.
But with so many other brands already on the platform, it can become tricky to stand out from the crowd. This is why your brand needs to be exceptional and by extension, memorable if you want to capture the attention of clients and customers on Instagram. But how do you do this? With a visually stunning Instagram aesthetic that will knock their socks off!
1. Decide on your brand personality
The first, and perhaps the most important, step to creating an eye-catching Instagram profile is deciding on your brand’s personality. Customers and clients don’t just buy, like and adopt brands, they actually feel connected to them. Some brands are so embedded in people’s lives that they show them genuine affection, loyalty and in some cases love. Brand personality is made up of a selection of human characteristics that represent your brand and it’s important to get clear on what yours are.
Examples of these characteristics include:
- Exciting
- Sophisticated
- Sincere
- Competent
- Friendly
- Innovative
- Whimsical
- Relaxed
- Feisty
- Fun
- Fresh
- Energetic
Deciding on your brand’s personality will help you to create a ‘put-together’ Instagram aesthetic that will accurately represent your brand and resonate with your audience. And if you possess the traits and characteristics that your audience is attracted to you’ll most likely be welcomed in with open arms.
2. Decide on what to post
So you’ve settled on your brand personality, now it’s time to decide on what to post. Your Instagram profile is one of the first things a visitor sees when they land on your business page. So if you want to stop them in their tracks, think about more than just your individual Instagram posts and consider your profile as a whole. By taking the time to plan your Instagram posts in advance, you can create cohesive, on-brand content that aligns with your business and turns clicks into customers.
Creating a social media content calendar can be extremely helpful for this. It’s great for planning ahead, batching your work, avoiding multitasking and making notes of all your creative ideas for later. It’s also the best way to ensure that you create a consistent and cohesive look. And prevents situations where you might find yourself desperately scrolling through generic content in hopes of finding something to quickly post.
When creating your social media content calendar, decide on what your audience would like to see on their Instagram feed and what type of content accurately reflects your brand’s personality. It could be helpful and informative bite-sized posts, user-generated content or inspirational quotes and images.
Decide on at least 3 types of content to share and then post that of content all the time!
3. Choose an aesthetic
Next, choose an Instagram aesthetic for your profile. Having an Instagram aesthetic will give your feed a particular look and feel that will make your profile more memorable to users. If you are stuck, try looking at other accounts for ideas and inspiration. What do some of your favourite feeds look like? Are they bright and airy? Dark and moody? Clean and minimalistic? Vintage or Tropical? Do they follow some sort of pattern in their composition?
You also have the option to choose one featured colour to tie everything together. Choosing your brand/logo colour to create your Instagram aesthetic is a great way to build brand recognition. In fact, the University of Loyola, Maryland conducted a study about the use of colour and found that it increased brand recognition by up to 80%!
4. Consider your grid layout
Firstly, what is a grid layout? It’s how you position your posts in your feed. Having a particular grid layout will influence your aesthetic and a good grid layout will visually organise your feed and help to create a consistent look overall.
Examples of grid layouts include:
- Tile (these are alternating images and quotes complete with solid backgrounds)
- Row by row (each row of your Instagram feed tells a story)
- Rainbow (the colour of your Instagram feed changes as you scroll)
5. Pick a filter
This step is optional, but if you are going to use a filter on your photos, only pick one. Having a bunch of different filters across your profile will make for a very inconsistent look. So choose a filter that you feel would adequately express your brand and stick to it!
If you follow the above tips, you’ll be able to easily create an eye-catching Instagram profile in no time that will get you noticed on social media and turn Instagram users into clients and customers.
Need some help creating social content for your business? Reach out to us and find out how we can help you today!
