So try to keep the sales talk on the down-lo. Aside from promoting your products, try to sell your brand and the lifestyle that it fits into. Use your content to engage your audience, while giving them insight into what your brand is all about.
5. Curate Your Grid
Coming up with amazing content goes beyond thinking about your individual posts. You’ve got to pay attention to the overall look of your page, too.
One way you can make your content grid more stunning is to try adding borders to your posts. Borders can add some space or breathing room between the images on your page. And depending on which borders you use, they can even unify the look and feel of your content.
What’s great about adding borders is that it’s as easy as slapping on a filter on your images. Simply download a photo-editing app of your choice — or if you’ve already downloaded it, try the border packs available on Instasize. Play around with a few and see which ones fit your brand’s visual identity.
6. Play Around with Carousel Posts
A carousel post is basically an album or a slideshow where you can share as many as ten photos all in one post. What’s great about this format is that you’re no longer limited to having to post several times, or worse, cram everything you want to share all in one image.
So if you’ve got a ton of information you want to post about, try breaking it down into several images on Instagram … in a Carousel.
You can even use an infographic maker to create informative yet visually arresting carousel posts to appeal to both the artist and data whiz.
If you’re planning on highlighting a new product, you can also share a carousel post that allows people to swipe right to see all its details up close.
Got before and pictures you wanna share and show off? Carousel posts are perfect for this purpose as well. You can also use them to show tutorials or step-by-step processes.
7. Get Creative with Your Stories
If there’s any place on Instagram where you can truly flex your creativity, it’s through your Stories.
Unlike the posts you share on your page, the 24-hour lifespan of your Stories allows you to be a little more candid. It also has several features that allow you to be even more engaging: you can add stickers to ask your audience questions or invite them to vote between options.
It also comes with its own text tool, which comes in various fonts and editing options. You can choose from an array of colors — and if those aren’t enough, you can press on a swatch and swipe through a spectrum to find a hue that suits your need.
Another trick you can try is tapping on the eyedropper icon, which then allows you to change the color of your text depending on where you place your cursor.
You can use this to complement the color of your text with your image of choice, or if you’re trying to hide a bunch of hashtags, perfectly match it.
8. Create Cover Photos for Your Highlights
So as mentioned above, Instagram Stories last 24 hours — until, at least, you decide to add them to your Highlights.
Story Highlights go below your bio on your Instagram page, and in essence, become part of your content. And because of this, it’s always best practice to make sure that the cover photos of your Highlights are cohesive with the look of your entire page. A great way to address this is to create and add your own cover photos.
Need a quick and easy cover photo? Simply choose an image that best represents the category of your Highlights. Run it through the same filters you use for the rest of your content, then add your cover.
Got a bit more time to spare? You can use a photo-editing app to design a photo with some icons and labels.
Once you’ve got your cover photos ready, add them to your Highlights by tapping on the preview. Tap on More ( ⠇) on the lower right of your screen then choose “Edit Highlight.” Tap on “Edit Cover” then upload your cover of choice.
Wrapping It Up
When it comes to getting creative with your visuals or images on Instagram, you honestly need just two things: inspiration and practice. So aside from reading up on the best tips and tricks to try, you could also keep browsing through your feed or visiting various accounts.
See what your competitors are up to — and learn from what they’re doing right and what they can possibly improve on.
You could also check out the accounts of other creative content creators like artists and photographers. See if there’s anything about the composition and layout of their posts that you like and could possibly even use.
After scrolling through all the inspiration you can find, try things out for your own content. See what works for your brand, and keep building up from there.
Over to You
What works for your brand for engagement and images on Instagram? What tips from this post will you use to boost your engagement and results? Let us know in the comments below!