Instagram is by far my favorite social media outlet to use. I could scroll through my feed for hours (which I regularly do–usually at night when I should be going to sleep). As a student in the field of communication, it has become pretty clear how important social media has become, as our profiles are a direct representation of who we are. I regularly come across profiles that could use a face-lift of sorts. Think of it as a minimally-invasive procedure in order to make your page look its absolute best. By no means does this mean that you can’t post whatever you want, or that all of the pictures have to be amazing digital quality, but follow these tips and your insta will surely be dressed to impress.
Pick a color palette
The color scheme you choose should be something that you can duplicate based on the kinds of photos you tend to post. Liza Koshy is a great example for how a unified color throughout your feed can make it look pleasing and put together. (Ex: @lizakoshy on instagram)
Space out photos with similar content:
Don’t post four back-to-back pictures of food (unless you’re running a food-stagram). Variety is the key to keeping your followers interested and engaged. Some people have a feed that is all pictures of themselves, and while this is completely up to the individual, I would recommend that you don’t post selfie after selfie. Instead, post pictures with friends or ask friends to take pictures of you out and about. It makes for a much more interesting feed when you show yourself having fun and not simply sitting in your bedroom.
Post often, but not multiple times a day.
If you over-share, then your followers may get annoyed and unfollow, or similarly, if you rarely post, then your followers might grow uninterested and also unfollow you. A good schedule would be to post 2-5 times a week, depending on how much content you have. The draft feature is a good tool to utilize, not only can you use it to plan posts if you don’t think you’ll have time on the day you want to post, but you can add as many photos as you like, which will give you a sneak peek to how your feed will look once they’ve all been posted.
Create highlights
If you post to your Instagram story, the app keeps an archive of all of your posts that you can use to create “highlights” which show up at the top of your profile. This is a great way to display memories or nice photos that you like, but that you may not want to make into an actual post on your page. I love this feature because you can create multiple highlight bubbles, so you can choose to do themed ones. (Ex. one for food, one for concerts/events, one for traveling)
Don’t go crazy with the filters
While a little filter here and there can add a nice effect, I don’t recommend using a filter at 100% opacity. A better alternative to the filters is actually Instagram’s own editing tools. Try experimenting with the options under “edit” (brightness, contrast, saturation etc.) Trust me, they’ll become your new best friend. These tools can also aid you in maintaining a consistent color scheme, and can take an underexposed or crooked photo and make it postable. You can use a combination of the tools to help your photos reach their greatest potential.
Go out and do things worth sharing
Ultimately, the key to a good instagram is having interesting pictures and experiences to share, so go out and have fun with it, your feed needs you.