With over 1 billion active users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. So having curated, professional and visually cohesive content is imperative for any brand that wants to stand above the rest.
There are lots of different types of content you can post on Instagram but today’s video will be focused on regular static images or photography. The reason for this is that the majority of the platform is composed of and because it’s the easiest to start with!
So let’s get started with 4 specific steps you can take to get started:
1.
Set your intention
The most important part of making a good looking Instagram page is intention. Acknowledge that it is going to take effort, this will make starting out, a lot easier.
If you’re motivated to have your content be seen and stand out, it’s important to acknowledge that it takes time to learn photography, design and storytelling. Give yourself permission to learn and don’t expect to be able to apply the methods as seamlessly as professionals in the beginning. It does take time to get to professional levels!
2.
Gain perspective and honour your critical eye
A great way to be a better photographer is to first understand what you’re looking at in the first place and how you’d describe it. Honing your critical eye begins with being able to ask and answer questions of yourself using simple adjectives and descriptors like:
Light/Bright – Dark
Fun – Sad/Thoughtful
Bold – Understated
Balanced – Unbalanced
Calm – Exciting
Brilliant/Shiny – Dull
Warm – Cool
Loud – Muted
Interesting – Boring
Being able to compare good posts to bad ones will speed up your creative process. Ask yourself, is your post as exciting, vibrant, or intriguing as similar examples you’d like to imitate?
Learning how to break down posts that garner high engagement will turn you from an amateur to a real art director, marketing expert or photo editor extraordinaire. If your content isn’t telling a story or grabbing people’s attention it doesn’t use it! Simple.
3.
Gain perspective and honour your critical eye
Some artists insist that you can’t teach good design and in some cases that may be true. On the other hand, there are fundamentals everyone can easily learn so don’t be worried if you aren’t a great artist
Knowing what doesn’t work is sometimes even more important than being creative. Instagram is focused mostly on good photography, so it’s important to decipher, “what makes a photograph good?”
This is a tricky and subjective topic which I elaborate much more on in my latest video that you can watch here.
4.
Apply everything you have learnt!
One of the secrets is using stock photography and not only using it picking really good, high-quality stock photography. To do this you not only need a good eye, but you also need to know where to look.
Be sure to check out my latest video where I go into much more detail sharing all the resources, tips and cameras I recommend doing so.