How to Start an Instagram Feed
If you are a brand or anyone that wants to showcase your life or company, then you might want to think about how your Instagram layout is and the way it reflects your lifestyle. Building a consistent theme for your feed is definitely not an easy task to do and it is very important to get it right for any brand out there on the lookout to become Insta-known. People’s first instincts when looking up a brand or person is Instagram, so it only makes sense that you use it as an advantage, as a segment of your portfolio.
Let’s take a look at these stats:
Almost 50% of Instagram users do product research on social media
Over 80% of Instagram users follow a business platform
30% of users have bought something they saw on Instagram
Based on these stats it is clear that people are turning to social media as a way to review and look up a business compared to Google. The whole goal of Instagram is to keep the audience engaged in hopes they will click the follow button. Having a cohesive Instagram aesthetic is one of the best ways to grow a large and loyal following while also showing off your brand’s unique style and tone.
There are many different ways to start a well thought out feed but first, you must decide how your grid is going to look like. Meaning, are you posting just photos, a video on every other post and a quote on the other, a rainbow grid, etc. This is one of the most important steps of starting your Instagram feed because it will set the foundation of how your overall feed will look like to the audience.
After deciding the grid layout, it’s time to decide on the type of mood you are trying to convey to the audience. To decide this it often reflects how you or your brand is. Does it showcase something colourful and tropical, vintage, clean and white, warm, etc? It is easy to look at another account and try to copy what they have because it looks good but you need to see if it reflects your own lifestyle and if it makes sense to have that theme. For example, if you are a business selling a travel service, it does not make sense to have a dark and vintage theme. It is important that the theme you choose has a direct correlation to the overall message you are trying to get across.
Now that you have decided on the type of theme you want now you can really get down to business. The editing style you have is going to make or break your feed. Staying consistent with the filters will help a lot. There are even preset filters you can purchase online that will give you some sort of guidance depending on the direction you want to towards. Yes, you can take the easy way out and purchase a preset filter or you can make a preset that is uniquely yours. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to stick to it!
It is so easy to take a good picture and just post it but the hard part is keeping in mind the background and the colour scheme of the picture already. You should try to keep it clean and not let the background distract from the main subject - unless that is the purpose like a sculpture or feature wall. This simple tip will transform your feed so keep that in mind the next time you go out and shoot the content for your Instagram.
Last but not least, keep those photos high quality! Nothing is worse than having a great Instagram feed and plan and the photos are not high res. A blurry photo can be spotted from miles away whereas a high-quality photo can be inviting and makes someone want to double-tap.
Now that you have all the basics of starting an Instagram feed, just have fun with it! It is all about trial and error and if one method doesn’t work try another. Instagram gives everyone a chance to be creative so use that as your advantage to turn it into something beautiful that you are proud to show off.