VP of Brand & Creative Strategy
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.
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?
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.