Crafting your perfect Instagram feed is a hot topic. A question I regularly get asked is “Georgie, how did you build your following on Instagram?” And “how have you continued to grow your following after the algorithm change?”
Well, I have spent A LOT of time, obsessing analysing what works and what doesn’t. For me. That’s the important bit here – which I’ll get to in a minute.
There is a WEALTH of information on building your Instagram following out there. I’ve listed some of my tried and tested Instagram resources in this recent post.
I’ll be honest with you though. I feel there’s a ‘one size fits all’ approach to some of the advice.
Your One Size Fits All Guide to Growing Your Instagram Presence
Content – the picture, video, boomerang or slide show you share needs to be top notch. Pucker. The best of your best.
Caption – tell a story related to your picture, video, boomerang or slide show. Use no more than 30 relevant hashtags. Be funny, warm, cool or minimalist.
Customer – know your target market. Post relevant content.
Call to Action – tell your audience what to do. For example, click your bio link to read a blog post, check out your Insta Story, join in with your hashtag challenge etc.
Clock – post at a consistent time everyday.
Colour – have a visual theme in your feed and stick to it.
Composition – apply the rules of negative space, rule of thirds, golden ratio to your imagery.
Consistency – do all the above and you’ll be free riding on the Instagram wave.
The advice above is good. You might not set the Insta world on fire but your account will do OK.
My Big But
But – the needs of a B2B web design company will have different needs to an organic skin care producer. The goals of an artist like me are very different to a lifestyle brand trying to sell a designer lamp.
The key to crafting your perfect Instagram feed, one that really gets attention and achieves your Instagram goals, lies in the last 3 points in my list:
Focus on Colour, Composition & Consistency
Instagram, after all is all about the visuals.
Your Instagram feed is like an artist’s portfolio – you need to share the best of your best, coherently and consistently with a story that threads through your gallery.
Examples
If you look at the popular Instagram feeds out there, you’ll notice their feeds are beautiful and coherent, in colour, composition and consistency.
Colour
Swedish stationary brand @kikki.k use a cohesive colour palette consistently through their feed. Just like the interior design in their shops, everything is on brand in terms of colour.
Composition
Someone in a very different Instagram space @allthatisshe, uses beautiful compositions throughout her feed – I could analyse her feed for hours!
Notice Dominique centres her subject matter, drawing your eye into the centre of picture. Another of her composition tricks is using sets of 3, such as people and props. She also uses ‘diagonals’ taking your eye through a picture, from left to right.
Consistency
A recent account I’ve discovered takes consistency in their gallery to a whole new level @handsandcolor.
Jesuso is an artist and illustrator who uses this account (he also has hugely popular personal account) to showcase his creativity simply using hands. He doesn’t need to show us his desk, products, dog etc. His intriguing and fun feed makes me want to follow the links in his profile to find out more about him and his work.
Achieving the Perfect Instagram Feed Through User Generated Content (UGC)
I’d also like to include social scheduling tool @Buffer, in my round-up, who feature user-generated content (UGC) in their Instagram feed.
Their aim is to communicate the digital nomad lifestyle along with scheduling and productivity in their posts. Buffer achieves this using other people’s photos of consistently beautiful destinations next to images of tech, desks and coffee cups. Using user-generated imagery also encourages a sense of Buffer as a community. Perfect for a social media focused company.
Your Visual Voice
As you would define your target market and your brand voice if you’re a business, or what inspires you if you’re an individual, it’s just as important to define your visual voice. Through the use of colour and composition and applying it consistently.
Great artists knew the importance of colour and composition to communicate their message through their work. You can take these principles into your Instagram feed too.
I receive 80% of my enquiries through Instagram. My images don’t always relate to my products. But my gallery as a whole communicates a mood and a sense of creativity that appeals to the type of people I want to attract.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be delving into this subject further. Like an informal Instagram art class. I hope you’ll join me on this creative journey.
And Finally…
Leave a comment with your questions about your visual style or connect with me on Instagram or Twitter.
Have an inspired day
Georgie x
The post Tips for Crafting Your Perfect Instagram Feed appeared first on Georgie St Clair.