Happy First Day of Summer Y’all! I hope you had an awesome weekend. Ours was full of sand, seafood, champagne, and laughs– a great getaway with our good friends.

Today I’m sharing a few Instagram tips. Have you ever wondered how some people create beautiful Instagram feeds with content that just always seems pretty? Wonder no more. You can do it too. I have a few tips I’d love to share with you to create a cohesive Instagram feed.

Why is this important? Who cares about a pretty feed? Let me tell you something you might have already heard- as a consumer or producer, YOU do. In the marketing world, and especially on a visual tool like Instagram, cohesive feeds and styled pictures sell. If you’re trying to build a business or engage different users, feeds that have a purpose or story to tell attract new followers. Instagram is an incredible tool for brands, attracting all different clientele through simple hashtags. Over the past 8 months since I’ve started my blog, I’ve noticed the more effort I put into creating great images and using clever hashtags for my Instagram, the more people I engage with and the greater following I build. It’s been a roller coaster amazing ride and I want to share some of these strategies with you.

Create a Bio– It’s the first thing your followers will engage with on your homepage- WHO is this person? WHAT is their brand? I’ve changed my bio several times since I started my blog. I try to make it short, sweet, and to the point. I like to include emojis to spice it up and because I can’t help myself. They’re just too fun!

Define your Look– Trust me, this isn’t the easy part. Trying to figure out your style is a process. And I’m still working on mine! Right now I consider my feed to be bright with lots of inserted photos with white backdrops. I’ll include pops of colors every 9 photos or so to keep my feed matching & styled. Whether you use the same filters for every photo or colors in your pictures, try and define your look.

Buy a white poster board– If you’re creating a bright feed like I am, make sure to have a white poster board handy. This is the easiest way to style pictures. Not everyone has that gorgeous white desk or beautiful marble counter tops to create their images. So you have to think outside the box! By the way, if marble is your style, there are posters for that too :)

I have lovely casual china that is ivory white and perfect for displaying food pictures. I photographed this plate on top of a white poster board because my pine table didn’t serve the image well. In addition to a white poster board, see if you have a white wall nearby your home for styled pictures. We have white stucco on our deck and I’ve used the walls as a backdrop in many of my pictures.

Use a Camera– We live in a world with excellent phone cameras (thank you advance technology!). So we can take pretty neat pictures with our mobiles. It’s pretty cool. But technology has yet to create phones that create better images than a good camera, so if you own one, try using that to take your pictures instead of your phone!  I understand lugging around a camera can be a pain, but you will create much clearer and detailed pictures with it. I promise you it will be worth it! Every blogger I know is studying a little bit about photography because they realize how important it is for their business.

Zoom- I don’t like my photos to look all the same. If you’re going for a sameness feel, that’s totally fine! It’s just not for me. So sometimes I like to break up my photos by how close the subjects are to the camera. I’ll have a flatlay or close up and then try and use a zoomed out photo the next day. This breaks up that linear feel.

Use an organizational App– this is my favorite one! You GUYS. My friend told me about Planoly a few months ago and it has been a life saver! You can upload to the app and it paints a picture of what your Instagram will look like without actually posting photos. This has been so helpful for me in not only planning the look of my feed, but deciding when to launch my blog posts! I don’t use this particular function, but if it interests you, planoly will launch your Instagrams for you! If you’re on a trip or don’t want to be on social media, this takes care of that issue. You can still post without actually logging in. Neat, right?!

Remember, your Instagram is a work in progress. Though I’m sure these tips will be useful for you, I understand that finding and owning your style takes a bit of time and practice. Trust me, I’m still working on it every day! Get creative and don’t stress out! And have fun. Because that’s what it is really about :)

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