Do you ever browse through Instagram and stumble across a cool photo, decide to look at the profile and find that their feed is so considered and beautiful that you have to follow?
Yeah, this happens a lot. It's also why I personally favour these more than the traditional 'influencers' who are plugging products all over their profile. These are the true content creators. The ones who secure major brand partnerships and work with some of the top beauty, travel and lifestyle companies in the world.
But why is this relevant to you? It's a fact that over 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business, and that two-thirds of profile visits to businesses come from people who aren’t following that business. That's two in three people visiting your business Instagram and making a decision on whether to follow you or browse or click away and forever forget you. Are they loving what they see? Judging from the statistics, yes. 30% of users have bought something they saw on Instagram. If you aren't taking Instagram seriously as a branding and marketing tool, it's time to start.
Ideally, your brand guidelines are robust enough that you can see the Instagram theme jumping off the page, but if they aren't or you are reading this thinking "what the hell are brand guidelines..." Don't worry, that's where I can help.
My top advice is to simply plan and be consistent. There are endless accounts full of inspiration that you can follow, but the success of your content will be entirely dependant on quality. "Less is more" as they say. Don't overcrowd your feed with badly composed and badly lit photos. If you're any type of business selling a physical product, you must make sure your photography skills are on point and if not, engage a freelance professional photographer.
Here are some of my favourite Instagram feeds to browse;
Tara Milk Tea - I’m always blown away by the content she creates. Based in Sydney but dotted around the world, she is so dedicated to her craft she’s recently begun dying her hair to keep up with her feed! If you take a look, you’ll see the progression between colours which I think is so creative and extremely hard to plan! Her 1.2m followers and verified badge speak for themselves.
Victoria Magrath - Okay, so it’s slightly unfair that her fiancé is a professional photographer and cinematographer, but this UK based duo constantly go above and beyond for brands they partner with. The video they created for a recent Bentley campaign looks like a sleek TV advert. I have a huge amount of respect for her work as it’s so far beyond the normal ‘influencer’ pose with products.
Female Entrepreneur Association - Proof you don’t need a product or a face to make it big! A very popular motivational quotes feed aimed at females in business, I love the colour palette and how this is easily identifiable in their feed. A lot of brands use the image-colour altering trick on their grid, and here it really works.
Mister Zimi - I’ve got to include a retail account and this is one of my favourites. In fact if you know me personally you’ll know I’m a walking advert for Mister Zimi… however their Instagram feed is full of delightful, colourful, sunny pictures that are in part thanks to their wonderful campaign photoshoots. However, their strategy also recycles inspirational images and holiday photos, which help the theme of their brand.
Developing an Instagram theme might be tricky at first, but I hope this inspires you. Start with the right content strategy, followed up by applying the right posting tactics and using the right planning and analytics tools. If you’d like to chat about how I can take all of this off your hands and produce a powerful feed for you, send me an email!
