Getting that Instagram Aesthetic that everyone is in Awe of! AKA: YOUR BRANDING

Your Instagram aesthetic is the first thing people will notice when they discover your

feed. It may have even been the reason they chose to click onto your profile in the first

place. The profile picture, bio, story highlights and your first 6 squares (depending on

what device you are on) are what makes people stop their scroll.

Your Instagram profile is your resume, with the goal to engage, communicate and

inspire via eye capturing images. But to get those friends to follow you, and for you

to stand out from the million other ‘follower hungry’ pages. How do you catch their

attention? Answer, strong branding emulated onto a thoroughly curated Instagram

aesthetic. This is soo important for growth, so you need to get it right from the get-

go.

Here's a snapshot of my Instagram feed! As you can see we stick to a colour palette, high quality content, fonts, etc.

What do you mean by ‘Instagram Aesthetic?’

Instagram aesthetic is the underlying creative principle that guides all your digital

branding. Basically, the look and feel of a feed. The colours, fonts, logos, layouts,

tones, filters and the images you use all contribute to this Instagram aesthetic and

are part of your visual identity – aka how you display your business to customers. A

strong visual identity can help strengthen your brands message, conveys your brands

personality, makes you look more professional, helps your followers instantly recognise

your content when it appears on the feed and converts visitors to your profile into

lifelong followers.

*Side bar: creating a strong visual identity is an important first step across all

marketing, not just for Instagram.

I’m not talking just about a logo and a couple of colours. It also includes shades,

tones, story designs, feed layouts, fonts, the colours you use in your gifs and emojis

and even your captions... EVERYTHING!

If your feed is dull, non-cohesive or displays poor quality imagery, do you think

people want to stay on it? The harsh reality is NO. You need to be able to tell your

story and sell it through your feed. You just need to land on the right strategy for creating consistently beautiful photos that matches the personality of your brand and design a well-curated feed. A feed that is consistent but unique……..right Teneal, that doesn’t sound too complicated at all!

Well yes, the perfect Instagram aesthetic can be challenging, but a successful visual

identity is your key to differentiation and will help connect you with your

future fans. Here are my tips to building that captivating Instagram aesthetic:

✨ Define your brand.

Before you start planning your posts, you need to define your overarching goal to

understand why you're posting in the first place. Is your goal conversions, is it

engagement, is it visual communication? Once you’ve established this, then ask

yourself, how you describe your brand, what are your unique brand values and what

feelings do you want to evoke through your Instagram feed. This is an imperative

step as your answers sets the foundation for all the creative happenings that are to

follow! Once you understand your business inside and out, it’s time to get creative.

✨ Choose a colour palette

Good colour palette choices are a real ‘mood’... Literally it creates the mood of your

Instagram profile. You need to make sure it matches your brands identity (which you

have defined above) as the colour palette visually communicates the essence of

your brand. You also need to ensure that you LOVE it, as you will be seeing the

colours A LOT and for a LONG time. A good place to start is to create an imagery

mood board for some inspiration (my go to is Pinterest!).

I’d recommend beginning by choosing two colours. Your primary colour will be used

across all of your imagery, while your secondary colour is used for accent colours or

highlights. You can then choose 1 – 2 more that work harmoniously, that you can

incorporate across aesthetic. Not only will you create graphics based of these

colours, you can incorporate these colours into your filters, stickers and stories (we

will get to that!). The colours you choose create a personality and sticking to your

palette is huge reason people remember your brand (aka creating strong brand

recall).

✨ Choosing your Font

Much like your colour palette, the fonts you use on Instagram tell an instant story and

help build your alluring Instagram aesthetic, so it’s worthwhile taking the time to find

the right one for your brand. I’d recommend having one font that you use for

headings and one that you use for the body copy. Instagram stories having limited

fronts, but if your creating in the app, choose 1-2 fronts and use them religiously.

✨ The Logo

Once you have fonts and colours; you can start putting together the most

recognisable bit of your brand. The goal of your logo is to paint an instant picture of

your brand’s values, tone, and style and to bring cohesion across all your marketing

facets (not just IG!). No pressure or anything! My recommendation is to get a professional to do this, trust me it's worth it in the long run.

✨ Pick a Theme (and stick to it)

Call it a vibe, mood, your soul in the social media sphere. An Instagram theme is how

your Instagram feed looks like overall. It is how your visual personality comes

together! From the type of imagery, you choose to the filters and editing techniques

you apply, every tiny detail builds a stronger story for your audience to follow.

First step is to decide on a grid layout for your gram. An Instagram grid layout helps

you visualise the overall look of your feed based on how the individual squares of

photos put together. This also helps to organise a cohesive look and feel, serving as

a guide when you need to decide on which photo to post next. Next, similar to your colours, the filters you choose to use on your photos should reflect your overall brand style and essence. You can add blue tones, hues or increase the saturation to make them brighter! Just make sure it’s always the same. Or opt for the ‘el-natural’ look, just as long as it’s the same. When it comes to showcasing your brand and encouraging brand familiarity, the best place to do this is through Instagram Stories and Reels. I’d recommend sticking to

between 2 to 3 templates and throwing in a logo once in a while. You don’t want to

forget about your branding when it comes to your highlights! Using branded

highlights keeps the look and feel of your Instagram profile and the help complement

the overall look of your Instagram aesthetic.

✨ Use HIGH QUALITY Content

It sounds silly to include this tip, but it will make a difference to the engagement you get. A blurry photo can be seen from miles away. A high-quality photo looks sharp and inviting. It makes us want to DOUBLE TAP and look at the rest of your Instagram feed.

✨ Be Unique (and have fun)

Having a strong visual brand identity can give an instant impression of your brand’s

personality and values, without saying a single word. But it’s important to be unique!

You have built such an amazing product, with strong values that you need to show to

the rest of the Instagram universe. Don’t just then go mimic what someone else is

doing. Be unapologetically yourself and your audience will really take a shine (as

long as everything matches your theme of course!)

✨ Create your Brand Kit! AKA Your holy brand bible.

This is a visual representation of your brand identity and Is the template to

everything you would include in all marketing and advertising. It’ always handy to

have and refer back to, or if you start growing and need to outsource, your brand kit

is your marketing ‘bible’ when it comes to content creation so people know how you

like it done! If you have Canva Pro you can create this in there and have easy access to it at all times.

Ok sorry that is a lot of words! Didn’t mean to get so carried away. But all of it is

important and will be definitive to your growth success on the gram! To sum up here

are the steps.

Tips to creating your brand

- Define your brands essence

- Choose your core colour palette

- Choose your fonts

- Pick a theme and use it across all of your Instagram

- Choose and stick to one or no image filter

- Use quality content

- Be unique and authentic

With your Instagram feed, stories, reels and highlights all branded cohesively on

your profile, you’ll soon start to see your follower and engagement count rise as

people start to recognise your brand. And that’s it, you’re now ready to take your

visual branding to the next level.

x Teneal