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Finding Your IG Aesthetic

KEVIN MULLINS

VP of Brand & Creative Strategy

INSIGHTS

We sat down with Kevin Mullins, VP of Brand & Creative Strategy at CM, to chat about elevating your social media presence — specifically through your Instagram feed. Over the last few months, we’ve taken a deep dive into our own social media platforms to create and elevate our space on the internet with creative and intentional content.

Why is it so important to make sure that your Instagram feed looks good?
Your Instagram feed is an extension of your brand’s visual identity; a well-kept appearance makes a good first impression. Now more than ever, people are searching for businesses and products on social channels before they ever visit a company’s website. Think of a brand you truly love and are passionate about. When you’re looking for the inspiration to buy the product or to gather a sense of who they are, do you visit their website first or scroll through their Instagram?
What do you feel are the most important attributes of a good feed and why?
Personally, I look at planning aesthetics of our overall Instagram feed three posts at a time. This allows me to see how thumbnails will interact with previous posts and how they will look as part of a row or stacked in columns. Doing this gives me a clear sense of the edges. I like to give each thumbnail a clear edge, or visual break from the post that lives to its right, left, above, or below. This helps avoid having images that bleed together by being similar in subject, color, and/or tone.

What are some of the aspects that you consider as you are selecting individual thumbnails for a feed?

I always look for a way to tell more of the post’s story beyond a still frame. The thumbnails that make up your feed are a collection of static images, literally the size of your thumbnail. Finding a way to make up those tiny images more engaging gives you a better chance of intriguing the viewer and getting them to click on your post.
What advice would you give to a business owner who might be trying to improve the aesthetic of their social media?
A curated feed with attention to detail means that you care. You not only care about the visual representation of your product or service, but also about giving your followers a sense of pride in belonging to your brand’s tribe. If you can make them feel that, they will handle the heavy lifting of sharing your posts, tagging others, and being a true champion of your brand.
How important is it, in your opinion to create consistency from one social media platform to another? Do all platforms need to be as aesthetically focused as Instagram?

Each social platform has its own audience and how people come to find you on that platform varies. I believe I staying true to who you are and your brand vision. Proudly put all your effort into crafting your message, then tell it again and again. Never lose sight of your “why.” This form of consistency will organically show across each platform.

 

Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn do not need to be centered on the visual feed. They provide news, information, and real time updates mixed together with images and video. That means those channels will never be viewed the same way as Instagram which is 100% aesthetic.

I always look for a way to tell more of the post’s story beyond a still frame.

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