Want to create a beautiful curated Instagram feed? Want to start sharing your brand story?
BUT don’t know where to start, what to post or how to make it look ‘good’?
We can help! Let’s dive right in.
What does it mean to ‘curate’ your feed?
Social Media curation is all about finding great content and presenting it to your followers in a way that adds value.
Simply put – imagine your Instagram feed as an art exhibition. As the curator you select, organise and present a collection of content – be that images or text-based posts. You’re responsible for selecting the best content to showcase your brand’s story and voice to your followers.
This is, in a nutshell, what it means to ‘curate’ your feed.
To your followers, the grid-like layout of your Instagram profile is like a digital moodboard of what your brand is all about, telling your brand’s story in a matter of seconds. That’s why, creating the right tone of your brand’s personality, values and voice through your content not only helps grow your brand following BUT also helps you to attract the right audience.
So, how do you create a perfectly curated feed?
Simply put – it can be broken down into a few of key components:
– Consistent subject matter
– Consistent color palette that fits with your brand colours
– Consistent mood and style
– Consistent voice
See a theme here? There may be a little variation of course, but for the most part, your Instagram feed should be consistent and cohesive – This is important.
So, where do you start?
Content, right? Images are everything! They are the key component telling your brand story, attracting your customers and building your aesthetic. You know the saying ‘you are what you eat’? Well, you are what you post! If what you’re posting isn’t reflecting who you are as a brand, then you are going in the wrong direction.
TOP TIP: Include some text-based posts too. Not only will it break up the images, but it will save you time if you feel stuck about what to post image wise. Text-based posts are a perfect way to add value and quite literally your ‘brand voice’ to your profile. With this, it’s important to keep consistency between your text-based posts and visual content too. Try using the same fonts and layouts when doing so.
A little overwhelmed?
Not to worry! If you’re anything like us, you’re a visual person. Let’s take you through a recent project we did with Judd Opticians and their Instagram presence.
BEFORE
Firstly (and what we believe to be the most important step!), we took a look at Judd’s current Instagram presence, along with their other marketing platforms to get an idea of their ‘brand voice’ and what kind of content they already post.
This is important to ensure that we understand their brand first, before we start creating any content for them . We want to make sure we capture who they are as a brand first.
LEFT:
@juddopticians Instagram grid before we curated it.
DURING
We built out a mini style-guide for an overarching aesthetic for Judd’s Instagram – using their logo to draw inspiration from.
It’s important to use the logo as your main influence for your Instagram aesthetic, as this is your key identifier to your audience. They already know you via your current logo and branding, therefore your Instagram should simply be an extension of this.
LEFT:
The mini style-guide for @juddopticians Instagram.
AFTER
We developed an inventory of posts to get the ball rolling on their newly ‘curated’ appearance using the mini style-guide to ensure consistency. This included 9 posts, complete with captions.
Once this was signed off by the awesome team at Judd Opticians, we went LIVE (the most exciting part!).
LEFT:
The inventory of 9 posts we created for @juddopticians Instagram grid.
What now?
For Judd’s, we created a schedule that replicated their previous posting habits to ensure that the transition to the new ‘look’ wasn’t abrupt for their followers. You can check out their profile live now @juddopticians. From here, we will continue to build their inventory of posts for them to ensure that their Instagram stays on-brand.
INSIDER SCOOP: You too can get an inventory of posts that we can design, caption and schedule for you OR for those of you that are keen to dive straight in and do it themselves we are happy to help you create a mini style-guide and some templates to help you get started!
Looking to start curating your Instagram?
We offer digital marketing advice, curation, management and strategy to help you!
We can help you curate the perfect images for your digital brand presence. Our trained eyes will help you to pull together the ultimate visuals that are not only beautiful, but reflect your brand with meaning and purpose.
