In terms of marketing, Instagram is the darling of social media, especially if your brand trades on beautiful images. For interior designers, this is definitely where you want to focus your energy. 13% of people on the planet are on the platform and 80% of these people follow brands. Engagement on the platform is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest and 84 times higher than Twitter.
So you know that you know why you need an outstanding Instagram account, let’s explore how you create one.
How much is too much? Studies show that 1-2 posts a day is right on the money. This keeps your feed relevant and interesting without being overbearing.
It’s also important to know when to post to ensure maximum engagement. Use the Insights feature to discover when your followers are most active and schedule your posts accordingly.
In this social-saturated world, people don’t want to be talked at or told how to feel. They want to feel connected to something authentic that evokes real emotion. If you tell stories instead of lecturing, you’ll find your audience to be far more receptive.
The goal of Instagram is to be a ‘visual inspiration platform’, not an information board. Use micro-stories in your reels, IG stories, photo captions and profile to build an honest picture of who you are and what you want to achieve. Highlight the problem (eg. it’s tough to find considerate, quality interior designers who are also affordable) and then explain your solution (our brand ethos is proudly based on being both)
Hot tip: longer captions are perfect for storytelling as they allow you to build deeper connections with your audience. Scrollers also spend more time on your post.
Visual content is the heart of Instagram. While trends such as ethereal filters will come and go, captivating images will beguile users forever. The current trend is an authentic expression of unachievable perfection. Upload candid shots with muted tones and minimal editing instead of unreal saturation and magazine-level styling.
The key to achieving visual greatness, however, is consistency. Your feed should match your brand identity and appeal to your particular audience. To achieve a consistent look, use one photo editing app with the same set of filters on each post. Take a look at these examples of brands getting visual consistency right.
Five Minute Journal is a thoughtful brand that promotes self-reflection.
GoPro is a camera brand that tells stories from its product’s perceptive, inspiring you to imagine what you could do if you had one of your own.
USC is your holy grail. As your community creates content around your services, your followers get more involved with your brand while simultaneously reducing your marketing costs, as the content is being created and approved by your audience.
Create a hashtag for your followers to use so you can find their uploads and share them on your stories. Remember to get permission before you post them – here’s an example of how Wayfair does it.
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but Shakespeare was clearly not acquainted with video, one minute of which is worth 1.8 million words on today’s social platforms (study by Falcon.io).
Instagram Stories are best for 60 second, self-contained videos or mashups of photos and video clips. Reels are IG’s answer to TikTok and incorporate tools to cut and edit 3 to 30-second videos with music, text, special effects and stickers. IGTV is best for longer videos that can’t be cut down, including professional showreels. Don’t forget about Instagram live for a Q&A in real-time or a big project reveal.
Around 40% of IG stories are viewed with the sound off, making subtitles and captions essential for getting your point across.
You can create an auto-captioned video on Facebook which you can save and post on Instagram or if you’re more experienced, you can create your own captioning file to upload. If that feels too higher grade, stick to easy-to-generate captions on IG story videos.
Stories are the most popular feature on the platform with around 500 million users every day. They allow you to post a mix of photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, creating a sense of urgency that makes users want to engage.
Stories feel less planned than feed posts, giving your brand an approachable, relatable feel. Live stories will draw people in because they’re in the moment, while prerecorded stories are great for sharing your narrative or a more in-depth look at your services.
Use interactive elements to keep your audience watching, as done perfectly here by Airbnb.
Hot tip: if you have a business account with more than 10,000 followers, you can add a “See More” link to your story and drive Instagram traffic directly to your website.
You know those annoying videos of people with cat ears speaking in high-pitched meows? That’s an example of an Augmented Reality filter, a concept that has taken Instagram by storm. Fortunately, AR filters are not limited to talking animals. Since Instagram opened up the creation of AR filters to the public, the most popular ones are all about colour grading and enhancing your video.
Much like you would add a filter on a photo, you can now add an AR filter to make your videos sing. You can develop your own AR video effect that reflects your brand style and upload it to your profile, which then allows your followers to use it on their own content.
Here’s the emojified reality: 92% of internet users make use of emojis, and Millennials and Gen Z are so used to them that they see messages without emojis as being cold and aloof. While this might not be your target audience, you can’t underestimate the power of emojis when used correctly.
Pick one or two emojis that best evoke your brand ethos or show what you do and use them selectively in your messaging. If that feels forced, simply use emojis in place of words for common understanding, such as a camera for a photo credit or folded hands to say thank you to your project collaborators.
Next week we'll tackle Instagram ads and how to use the app to increase your website traffic.
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