Even though I’ve been blogging long before Instagram came on the scene (I know can you believe it?!) since it began, Instagram has steadily become one of the most important social media platforms out there, particularly for the world of content marketing.

Now don’t get me wrong, Instagram can still simply be a creative expression or a way to share photos with friends and family, but if you are in the business of social media, I have a few tips for upping your game.

1. Quality Photos 

This might seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how many accounts I’ve stumbled upon that have really poor quallty photos and instead of following, I just click out. This is a visual platform…good photos are everything.  Nowadays smart phones take beautiful pictures so you really want to make sure you are only posting those that are worthy.

I can do a separate post just on how to take good pictures, but the biggest tip is make sure you have good lighting. Day light is best, but if that isn’t an option find a quality light source. I recently got this LuMee selfie light up cell phone case (I have an iPhone X) and I am loving it because it lights up both in the front and the back. You can also adjust the brightness so it definitely comes in handy when the sun isn’t an option.

2. Creative Cohesiveness

Another thing to keep in mind, is that just the look of your feed as a whole is as important, if not more important than the individual photo itself. Choose the vibe that suits your content or brand the best, then find a filter formula that works to achieve the look. It’s important to have this down so that you can make sure all the photos in your feed flow seemlessly. For this I use the VSCO and Snapseed apps.

In addition, be mindful of the composition of the layout. Make sure there is enough negative space between photos to keep things visually pleasing, otherwise things can look really cluttered and it will turn people off.

3. Niche Down

Finding your niche and sticking to that, is an important way to grow your following. If you are a fitness blogger, and you are posting about cars, that doesn’t really mesh. The audience you are trying to attract are lovers of fitness, so if your posting about cars, then it’s a bit counter productive. Honing your niche will draw in your target audience.

4. Plan Ahead

When you have an Instagram for business, posting on the fly is not an option. Personally, I think this is where you can post things that may not fit later and you can risk making your feed look sloppy. I recommend planning at least 4 tiles ahead so you always know how things are looking. You can switch things up if something comes up, like a campaign or collab, but this will make sure you know it all fits. I use the app Unum for this.

5. Promote

You may be thinking, isn’t the promoting done ON instagram? Yes. But. With Instagram’s new algorithm, it has gotten increasingly harder to get your followers to see your content. A great way to help with that is to use insta-stories to promote new posts. I do recommend doing this in a creative way because if you just post the actual photo, then people have no reason to actually visit your page. But letting them know there’s something new is a good way to get them to come over and give you a like.

So those are my 5 tips for upping your instagram game. Let me know any tips you have in the comments below!

XO,