According to research by PewInternet, 35% of US adults now use Instagram, with that figure rising to 71% in the group aged 18-24. With 60% visiting the platform on a daily basis that translates to a mighty audience on Facebook’s sibling social media.
Not only is it crowded by people, but Instagram is also flooded with cool pictures and awesome videos every second. If you’re going to be a business on Instagram, you need to have a way to stand out from the millions of photos and videos uploaded every day.
There are many ways to build your reputation on Instagram and gain more audience. However, some of the most recognizable brands on Instagram have several things in common in how they do things on the platform.
In this article, we’re going to discuss how these brands are building themselves to be recognizable on Instagram even just from looking at the thumbnails of their content.
1. They develop a signature style
Visual styles are an implementation of creativeness and the brand image that you should slowly introduce to your followers – emphasis on the word slowly. It’s not something that you can generate overnight, it’s something that you build up over time.
They’re not the only one who has proven that signature visual styles like this could help shape their brand image a long way. You might be familiar with our next example – he’s dubbed the king of quick-cut videos – @ZachKing.
He started out uploading ‘magic’ videos on Vines, and nowadays he has 21.2m followers on Instagram, all of whom are familiar with his signature style, which is insanely accurate and mind-boggling quick-cut videos like this one.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_z82QAyAh/
Zach King uses Final Cut Pro from Apple to edit his videos. If you’re not an Apple user, don’t worry – there are many other video editing tools that you could choose from. Here are a few video editing tools that I’ve personally used:
Adobe Premiere
- Best for editing live-action footage.
- Steep learning curve.
- Not free.
Adobe After Effects
- Best for making animation.
- Steeper learning curve.
- Not free.
iMovie
- The budget version of Final Cut Pro.
- Work best on macOS.
- A very limited set of features.
Stop Motion Studio
- Great choice for making stop motion clips.
- Beginner-friendly.
- Can be used for free.
2. They have aesthetically pleasing photos
Whether you like it or not, Instagram is a visual-oriented platform. In order to gain more followers, you need to provide something that not only valuable content-wise, but also aesthetically pleasing.
One of the prime examples of aesthetically pleasing account is @thefrootilife – just by taking a glance at their Instagram page, you know they spent some time making those photos.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/thefrootilife/
You can create your own signature style – Thanks to mobile phone cameras getting better, you don’t need to be a professional photographer in order to create an aesthetic for your Instagram.
Since Instagram is a mobile-first platform, it’s only fair that we mention Google’s adopted mobile photo editing app Snapseed. This app is available on both iOS and Android, and it has a ton of features that you might possibly need (unless you’re a professional photographer, in which case you should probably use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom).
This is how I would use Snapseed to edit photos I take with my phone:
- Import the photo.
- Automatically tune the image using the ‘auto’ touch-up tool.
- From there, manually tune the image until I find the ‘feel’ I like.
- Toy around a bit with the structure and sharpness. As the name implies, the goal of this is to add a little bit of ‘oomph’ to your photos.
- Apply additional edits like a vignette, vintage grain, or other filters that you think are suitable for your photo.
- Export, and done.
It’s that easy. The difficult part is coming up with a style of your own that will get your followers’ attention.
Other than Snapseed, Adobe Lightroom is a great alternative if you’re already knee-deep in the Adobe environment. However, Lightroom keeps several features behind a premium paywall.
3. They have their own hashtags
If you can’t stand out in the millions of hashtags floating around on Instagram, create your own thing and start the buzz yourself.
Just be creative when creating your own hashtag, #wendysnailsalon is plain boring – why not spice it up with something like #nailartatwendys? Be ironic, comedic, witty, or anything with your hashtag – just don’t be boring.
@WeWork is quite good at making their own hashtags – and somehow make them NOT boring. They do it by throwing in a fun mix of Instagram content. Take a look at this post and tell me that it’s not going to make you want to check other posts tagged #dogsofwework.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2FlDHel7h8/
4. They cross-promote their hashtag
Cross-promoting your hashtag serves two purposes: reaching more audience and becoming influential in your field of expertise.
By cross-promoting, I mean you don’t stop at social media platforms. If you’ve got a physical store, print your hashtag on your flyers and give them out to customers along with relatable promotions. If you’ve got the budget, rent a billboard similar to what @Dove did with their #ShowUs campaign.
5. They keep their aesthetics in the ‘tagged’ tab
Not only do you need to keep the aesthetics of your profile intact, you should also pay attention to the posts you’re tagged in. This is not to censor what your followers or other users have to say about your brand – it’s just purely from the aesthetic point of view.
Fashion and lifestyle brand Converse is a good example of brands that keep their tagged tab visually appealing for their followers.
They only keep the photos where their products are visible in the frame. Because let’s face it, sometimes people tag the wrong account that has nothing to do with the photos.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/converse/?hl=en
6. They interact with followers
Instagram is a platform packed with interactive features. The basic ones such as likes, comments, and reactions are like any other platform that you’re familiar with. The secret to engaging your followers is through Instagram Stories and Instagram Live.
In Stories, you can include various stickers to engage your followers without having them to do too much. They don’t even have to type, and somehow they’ve interacted with you.
Check out this Instagram story example from @WeWork (yes, I love their Instagram).
Source: https://www.instagram.com/wework/
The simple emoji slider allows their followers to interact just by sliding their thumb across. Neat, right?
7. They’re original
Many brands try to hitch a ride onto the hype train by creating content that everyone else is creating. While this approach can be a good boost to your brand image (more on this later) – it’s not an efficient way to shape a brand personality that could make you stand out.
In fact, the logic behind jumping on the bandwagon is counterintuitive to being an account that stands out from the crowd. A great example of an original content creator on Instagram is @donte.colley.
Out of hundreds of dance genres – he picks one that nobody else has picked, a motivational dancer. It’s weird, different, entertaining, motivating, and most importantly, original.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw5IX5nh7OL/
8. They tell stories with their captions
Pictures and videos are worth thousands of words – but they could still use some textual description. The stories that you write in the captions are meant to amplify the emotional impact of your photos and videos.
National Geographic (@natgeo) is amazing at storytelling using their captions alongside their Instagram photos and videos. Natgeo is one of the few traditional media that are thriving across multiple platform – and their Instagram is being followed by 121m people
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2PtP9PjCNX/?hl=en
Closing thoughts
Remember, Instagram is a social media platform that constantly changes its algorithm. Earlier this year, a study by Quintly reported that the emojis, captions, and video length contributes significantly to how your posts will appear on Instagram’s algorithm.
The point of this is, these tricks have been proven to be effective now – but be careful to keep up with trends and changes. There will certainly be adjustments, minor or major, to Instagram’s algorithm along the way, and these may mean you need to adjust your strategy accordingly.
