Imagine a casual Instagrammer who wants to be thought of as adventurous.
They post photos of themselves traveling to exotic locations, trying foreign foods, and living a life that seems extraordinary.
Even if they actually spend the majority of their time at home watching Netflix, their audience will view them as an adventurer.
Successful businesses do the same.
They use Instagram as an outlet to craft and show the personality of their company, also known as their brand identity.
A well-developed brand identity resonates with your audience, encouraging them to become customers. It also pushes one-time customers to become regulars, by giving them an emotional connection with your brand.
Building a brand identity on Instagram requires consistency. Follow these four steps to ensure your Instagram channel is cohesive and representative of your brand.
1. Consistent Messaging
All of your Instagram content should reaffirm your brand.
So what do you want to be known for, and what do you want to gain?
If you are currently recruiting young talent, you may want potential employees to know that your company is a fun place to work. For content, you’ll want to feature pictures of your workers doing actually interesting activities.
Hint: sitting at their desks with a forced smile does not count.
No matter the image type, your followers should be able to look at any of your posts and instantly recognize it as one of yours (without even seeing your logo.)
In other words, your visual content should be its own watermark.
When posting photos, use the same filter to give them all a similar feel.
If you’re creating images yourself, make sure the art style is consistent even when the images are different. Try to use the same color pallet that is found throughout your brand.
On a visual medium like Instagram, using words in your pictures can either make or break you.
It is good practice to rely on one or two main fonts across all channels of your brand.
If your business doesn’t yet have a set of fonts it uses, try to pick a couple that match the tone of your industry.
4. Consistent timing
You want your audience to look forward to your posts. So, be predictable by being consistent.
Remember, the bulk of exposure your posts receive happens shortly after posting. By consistently posting on the same days and times, your followers begin to expect and look forward to your content.
So what now?
With these tips, you’re ready to craft your brand identity on Instagram, a social media platform with 500 million active monthly users.
But don’t stop at just your Instagram channel. Look for ways to extend the reach of these brand-boosting images by sharing the best ones on your other social channels, your website, and in your marketing emails.
Constant Contact integrates with Instagram so you can easily upload images from your Instagram channel into your email newsletter and visa versa.
As your audience sees your consistent brand coming through on multiple channels, your brand identity will shine through even stronger and you’ll have confidence in the images you’re sharing.
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