We’re all looking for ways to improve our Instagram feed and with constant algorithm and server changes sometimes, it can be super tough! Here are 5 super easy ways to improve your Instagram Feed, boost your engagement and convert more loyal fans!
– EDITING
EDIT. YOUR. PICTURES. You’d be surprised how many feeds I scroll through that clearly looked unedited – call it vain/unreal/unauthentic.. whatever you want! Instagram is a VISUAL platform first.. don’t ever lose sight of that. You should ask yourself, before you post, does this look VISUALLY appealing?
* Can you decrease the shadows to enhance your dark hair?
* Can you whiten your teeth so make your smile brighter?
* Can you emphasize the details on your lashes and eyeliner to make it pop?
* Can you decrease the highlights so that the sunset can be more vivid?
& on the flip side, take high quality pics (high res JPEGs, if not RAW) so that you have the best canvas to edit your pictures.. also, like Plastic Surgery – don’t go too far! When pictures are edited so much that the original quality begins to suffer.. peel it back!
Some of my favourite apps to edit are… VSCO, Snapseed, Facetune (the original not the 2nd one) and Muse Cam
– BE CONSISTENT
This was confirmed to me via a former Facebook/Instagram employee that one of the many algorithm hacks IS consistency! Both in amount of uploads and timing – which is always crucial for developing a loyal base. People want to see your content, not an overload (which you’ll have to decide) but once you create a schedule – STICK TO IT. This goes for your blog as well (Google also prefers consistency and that helps with SEO).
Whether you want to post once a week on Wednesdays or everyday at 12:30pm – stick to it and it’ll reap benefits.
– IN REAL LIFE
If most of your content involves only you – try making it reflect your real life. I have a theory that throwing in photos of your family, friends and even pets can shake up your feed in a real beneficial way.
Grab your girlfriends and coordinate your style – it could be something simple like everyone wear a dress, or white denim or red lipstick and take a couple of snaps together before brunch or after drinks!
Your followers want to know the REAL you – so let your feed reflect a pretty version of your real life.
– USE YOUR WORDS
As Instagram continues to grow it’s readership, people are scrolling quickly and a lot of times their not stopping on your picture thus results in less likes. Keep in mind, IG is not showing your picture to as many people, it’s YOUR job to ensure that you do anything in your power to make people stop and spend as long on your pictures (or video) as possible.
MAXIMIZE YOUR CAPTIONS, people. Pre-algorithm change and when IG was a lot smaller.. it wasn’t necessary but now its arsenal that you have and can use. I’ve heard people say that “no one reads long captions” and thats simply not true. If you’re not used to usually writing long captions, then yeah initially your audience may stop or they may not – but I’m a big beleiver in the quote “if you build it, they will come”. Simply put, you need to train your audience. Enhancing your caption and writing something interesting can take an average picture and make it extraordinary! There are a TON of peeps on the ‘gram that have loyal following not necessairly off of their pictures but they’re captions.
It’s another opportunity to S T O R Y T E L L, which is the name of the game and a great way to stand apart from other creators. Try telling the BTS story of the picture, what you’re happy/sad/grateful about, what you’re working on, or ask your community for help, advice or an interesting question to get them thinking – it’s a great way to get people talking!
– CONTENT IS QUEEN
This is the final point but above all, the most important one. You’ve heard it a million times and that’s because it’s essential and crucial to your growth.
You have to post interesting pictures/videos, lol. Good quality and beautiful pictures that your audience has come to love OR what you are getting them to love. Also, if you’ve been at this for a while.. it’s CRITICAL to review your content I’d say every 6-12 months to ensure that it’s still hot, still fresh and you’re growing!
I had a conversation the other day with a blogger friend and we were discussing some OG bloggers that we’ve been following for a while and they’re growth.. we stumbled upon one blogger whom we both love and my friend was genuinely shocked that she hadn’t grown as much as her peers in the exact same space and I wasn’t at all. I sent her two screenshots of her feed – one from 2015 and one from 2018 and VERY LITTLE had changed. The feeds were eerily similar and that, my dear friends, is a problem.
Your audience is growing and their feeds are also every changing – while trends come in go, its important to have your ear to the streets, so to speak and stay relevant/current within your industry. Try new things.. explore new locations.. work with new photographers.. try in-studio shots if you’re always shooting in the street.. travel and grab content that look different than the content you create at home..experiment with props.. add/remove accessories etc etc.
As soon who is equally a creator and consumer, it’s painfully boring when someone has been creating the saaaaame stuff past its interesting date. Make no mistake, you shouldn’t alienate your base or do something that isn’t you – but you also wont know what is you without trying. Big risk, Big reward!
Do you guys like these more business type of posts? Either way, let me know!
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