Once upon a time, Instagram was all about pretty pictures, unrealistic societal expectations and creating the ultimate highlights reel at the envy of your friends. Thankfully, we’ve moved away from that time with consumers of social content now expecting brands and individuals to drop the filters in exchange for authentic connections and conversation. There is still a way to go but it’s a great sign we are headed in the right direction to making social media more user friendly, accessible and inclusive.
The shift so far is one that is welcome by many, including businesses as the pressure to perform and show up consistently and perfectly 100% of the time has drifted. And while we’ve moved to a more achievable and realistic approach, there is still room for creating a beautiful, branded social aesthetic for your business.
We speak to a lot of business owners who are craving consistency. They want their posts to reflect the level of professionalism that their business exudes, but they’re unsure how to approach it without coming across as fake or trying too hard.
The reality is, your social profiles will often generate more traffic than your website. Which means in this new wave of real and raw, it’s still important to put your best foot forward aesthetically.
We’ve got 6 easy ways to help level up your Instagram presence, creating consistency, flow and overall good vibes.
Create a branded colour palette
If you’ve got a business, chances are you’ve got a logo and at least one go-to colour that you use in your marketing and sales collateral. This is a good place to start. Ideally, it’s great to have a couple of hero colours and then some shade variations of each to us as overlays or, on branded templates.
If you’re unsure of what colours to choose then check out Pinterest for some inspiration. Start by searching for images with your hero colours and then look at what other complimentary colours are also featured in your favourite images. Image Colour Picker is a fab tool you can use to upload images and find the exact HEX or RGB colour code to then be used in Canva, inDesign or your favourite content creation software.
Pick two go-to fonts
Once you’ve nailed your colour palette, it’s a great idea to have a couple of fonts up your sleeve that can be used consistently across your branded social posts. If you’ve already got beautiful branding and a style guide, you should have a font or two already that can be easily used. It’s a good idea to have two fonts – one for body copy text that is simple and easy to read and another that is more bold, perhaps a cursive or something a little louder that can be used as a heading or a statement element in your graphics.
If you’re planning on using Canva to create your content, it’s important to make sure the font you want to use is available from their list of fonts, otherwise if you have the Pro version, you can upload your font files directly to Canva.
Consider using presets or filter on your photos
Filters can be controversial but in this context, we’re not referring to Facetune or blurring your images to fit into unrealistic societal expectations. When we suggest using a filter or preset, it’s for the purpose of creating consistency in colour, saturation and brightness across your photos. This creates a really sophisticated flow and content style unique to your brand. Filters can be applied directly in the Instagram app or in editing apps such as Lightroom or Canva. Just remember to jot down and save which filters and presets you use so you don’t forget each time you need to edit your images.
Create (or invest in) some branded social media templates
In my opinion, branded social media templates are the best way to create a beautiful social grid. They allow for consistency, colour and flow to be added to your online presence. Branded social templates come in all shapes and sizes. You can find different versions and options in Canva, and then easily update to your brand colours and fonts. I always recommend having 4-6 different templates up your sleeve that can be used consistently. While Canva is great, everyone has access to the same content which means sometimes you can see a sea of the same from your competitors. If you’re looking for something a little more customised to your business, we can create a suite of branded templates for you. This is a great option if you still want to DIY your social presence but just need a little assistance leveling up! If you’re interested, I’ve got a special deal for you at the end of this post.
Update your bio
Your Instagram bio is your first initial opportunity to share who you are with your audience. It is the only place on Instagram where links are accepted so it’s also an important place to share more information about your business so users can click through to become a lead or even better, a customer! When it comes to your bio, short and sweet is key. You need your content to be ‘snackable’, to the point and easy to digest. A good rule to follow is:
- Who you are
- What you do
- How you can help
- Contact details
Don’t forget to use emojis too!
Brand your highlight cover images
Instagram highlights are a great way of organising and archiving content shown on Instagram Stories. They create an additional branded element on your profile and help your users locate content previously shared. There are loads of different, creative ways to update your highlights to make your profile stand out a little more. My favourites are:
- Cover images in your brand colour palette
- Cover images with your primary colour and illustrated icons
- Cover images of photos relevant to your industry & content pillars.
If you’re not sure how to update your Instagram highlight cover image, a quick Google will sort you out.
Pretty simple right? If you’re ready to embark on making some changes to your Instagram aesthetic tag us and let us now when you’re done – we’d love to check it out.
And as promised a special deal for anyone wanting some help with Canva templates. We’re offering 6 x unique, custom branded Canva templates for the special price of $150 + GST. We’ll provide a guide on how they can be used and edited too. Send an email to hello@recessdigital.com.au with the subject line – CANVA TEMPLATES – if you’re interested.
