There’s no better way to improve on social media than take a look at what other people and brands are doing.
Instagram is a highly visual channel, and to stand out you really need to be doing something special. You need to think about each individual shot as well as the impact the grid of 9 photos. This is a quick round-up of some techniques to stand out on Instagram and some of the accounts that I think are really nailing it.
Use of Colour
If your brand is aligned with a colour, it should be really easy to present a beautiful feed based around shades of that colour. It’s not surprising that Pinkster gin and the White Company use colour well. But it is interesting to see how they sustain the colour theme, in video as well as photography.
If your brand isn’t linked to a colour, this is still a great technique to use. Green Ginger Design is a web design company and uses colour brilliantly on its Instagram account. They use bold colourful shots of everything from fruit and flowers to architecture and clothing, opting for a week of red-themed images or a succession of posts to make a rainbow – not at all what you might expect for a tech company. This approach leads to great engagement with their material.
Use of Black and White
If you have beautiful photography, you can use it in black and white too. Tutu School San Dimas is a ballet school for children, and all their photography appears to be professionally shot. They intersperse beautiful pastel toned shots with black and white images.
Newborn Art by SJ Baldock also uses black and white beautifully – she’s a professional photographer so you’d expect great images, but her planning of colour and black and white images pays off. (And she’s a client of mine, so I’d love to take credit, but this is all her!)
Use of Quotes
Quotes are becoming more and more a feature of Instagram. They are really easy to like as you scroll through your feed quickly, so lead to good engagement rates. To stand out though, you need to keep them simple, stylish and really relevant to your brand. Momentum Coaching Consulting posts quote every third post, always in the same style and colour and relevant to the coaching business. It’s a simple technique, but the feed really stands out, and it doesn’t matter what they post between the quotes.
Post One Thing
Posting one beautiful thing, again and again, leads to a really impactful account. If you can keep finding a way to present beautiful examples of your core product, you develop a reputation as a specialist and an artisan. Two of my favourite single subject accounts are Door_jadore (lots of beautiful doors!) and David Austin Roses.
And anyone who posts fabulous photos of cake will always catch my eye. I like Leamington business Sweet As and Diana’s Bakes.
So these are a few of my favourite Instagram accounts – let me know what has caught your eye.
