Instagram has more than 500 million daily active users and over 95 million photos and videos are posted on the image-sharing platform every day. Over six in 10 Instagram users log in at least once every day, making it the second most logged in to social media platform after Facebook. Brands that take advantage of Instagram’s reach are able to connect with new customers and improve their sales by several folds.
But creating a successful brand Instagram account requires more than just beautiful images. You need the right strategy and Instagram brand aesthetic that makes people want to hit the follow button as soon as they land on your account.
Here are the top tips to create a winning Instagram brand account:
1- Create a brand identity (if you still haven’t)
A big part of your Instagram aesthetic will be derived from your brand identity, which is why you need to create a definitive brand identity even before you officially launch your Instagram page.
Creating an Instagram feed that directly reflects your brand’s purpose and values will allow people to understand your brand in a better way and create uniformity. On the other hand, posting random content on your Instagram with no direct connection to your brand identity will make the entire feed seem out of place and create disconnect as well as confusion among your audience.
When you post a new picture on Instagram and it lands on your followers’ feeds, they should automatically know it was posted by you even before they check the user handle.
For instance, the famous Magnolia Bakery in New York uses its Instagram account to share pictures of things that its customers live -- delicious baked goods. With over 750k+ followers, it is one of the most popular bakery outlet pages on Instagram
2- Determine your target audience
Since your Instagram feed is primarily meant to attract both existing and future customers, it's important to create content that engages them and makes them interested in what your brand has to offer.
While you might already know the main demographics of your target audience, you need to dig deeper to get a better understanding of their behavior and interests.
Does your audience prefer a minimal aesthetic?
Do bright colors connect more with your target audience?
Are there certain filters and color choices that perform better than the others?
Does the audience prefer a more personal and conversational tone over a formal messaging?
3- Create a color palette
If your brand still does not have a color palette, it is about time you got one. You need to have six or fewer colors for your brand’s color palette that you can commit to. Color psychology can affect brand marketing immensely, which is why you should pick colors that align with your products, services, and company website to maintain uniformity.
Once you have picked your colors, you can start incorporating them into your Instagram posts. Though, it doesn’t have to be very obvious. You can just make sure that at least one or two of the colors from your established color palette are being used in your posts to establish a consistent Instagram aesthetic.
For instance, Evernote, the famous note-taking app uses a leafy shade of green as its main branding color. You will find this green shade on Evernote’s app, its website, and even the Instagram account.
Even if the content you are posting is not all identical, a uniform color palette can make it naturally pleasing and really bring your entire Instagram feed together.
4- Create a mood board
Take some time to think about the kind of images and videos you want to post on your Instagram account that can best represent your brand
The best way to do that is by creating a mood board with all the things that align with your aesthetic and brand values. You can use tools like Pinterest to quickly create a mood board and put all of your ideas in one place. Start by picking out anything and everything that aligns with your brand and then slowly refine your mood board.
While creating your mood board, make sure to include a combination of patterns, quotes, textures, and quotes in order to better visualize your Instagram feed. When you are done, take a step back and look at your mood board as a whole -- you will find certain colors and patterns popping up more than others. Take a note of the colors and use your mood board as a reference for your Instagram feed.
5- Edit your photos uniformly
Creating a uniform Instagram feed with just six or fewer colors can be a huge challenge and often restrict your best ideas. An even better way of creating a cohesive and uniform Instagram aesthetic is by choosing the same set of filters for all your posts.
You can decide on one filter or set of editing rules for your images to ensure they look consistent and fit together on your feed. Editing all the posts, in the same way, can also make sure that you don’t end up with pictures that just don’t work together. Whether your images are too bright or too dark, you can fix them through editing and then apply the same filter to ensure they complement each other on your Instagram feed.
Starbucks, for instance, posts pictures of numerous coffee drinks on its Instagram page -- most of which might clash each other in terms of colors and aesthetic. But since Starbucks uses the same filter for its image, it makes the entire feed look way more uniform.
6- Incorporate your Instagram aesthetic in Stories
When you are creating your Instagram aesthetic, you also need to ensure that your Instagram Stories follow the aesthetic as well. By creating cohesive Instagram Stories that follow the same color palette and theme as your Instagram posts, it makes your brand more recognizable on the platform. You can also add the same fonts as your posts to maintain uniformity.
Instagram Stories are a great way to build your brand and keep your followers coming back for more. While Stories disappear after 24 hours, you can save your best Stories on your Instagram profile as highlights for maximum engagement.
Final words
After you have decided on your colors, filters, and aesthetics, it's time to plan your Instagram feed. It's always a good idea to schedule your posts in advance to make sure you have the right captions and the right order of images. You can see how your posts look next to each other to create symmetry and keep your feed neater.
Of course planning your Instagram aesthetic, creating images, applying filters, and scheduling posts that look good can be both time-consuming and incredibly overwhelming. If you are more focused on running your business and don’t have enough time for Instagram, you can partner with Prrowess which offers unlimited graphic design services for social media, website design, product labels, merchandise, stationery and so much more. The designers at Prrowess can ensure that your brand’s visual identity stays uniform across the different platforms while saving your time.
Ready to give Prrowess a try? Sign up for a 10-day risk-free trial today.