How to Up Your Instagram Game with Consistent Theme and Grid?

While you’ve learned how to make a perfect first impression with your pimped out brand Instagram bio (here are 7 things to keep in mind while writing Instagram, bio) here is the time to rethink your content strategy. Because you have one, right? You should.

Instagram could affect the bottom line of your business. To do that, you need to increase your Instagram reach. Having a consistent theme and grid will certainly help with that.

After a very first sight at the profile’s bio people look at the first 9 pictures on the Instagram account. Technically, those are 9 most recent photographs you added. Those photos decide if you earn people’s attention and their scrolls through your profile or not.

People go to social media to get to know you, your brand, your employees, products, and mission. They choose a platform which they enjoy most and now, Instagram is one of the most popular. Pictures are the thing which catches an eye quickly. Your visitors make a snap judgment after seeing these few pictures, whether they think they like what they see and want to start following.

In this article, I share some tips on how to get most out of your brand Instagram profile with a consistent grid.

The grid

The grid is a layout of photos on your profile. It’s all about what all your photos look like together. Don’t hesitate to say that’s the most important aspect of Instagram.

Are photographs on your grid cohesive as someone scrolls through them? Or they are mixed matched, completely different, and unstructured? Take a look at your brand profile and check if it gives a cohesive flow or not. It tells about the profile and the brand.
People follow because they love a certain type of content. So how to attract them?

Theme

First of all, you need to find your theme. Decide what you want to show, and define what will make you stand out and make your content consistent.

Here are few examples from different companies, industries, in different sizes to inspire you.

You can stick to the specific color scheme:

• People Footwear

or just one color, let’s say your brand color, and use it as an accent on your miscellaneous photos still giving a sense of homogeneity, just like HubSpot recently does:

You can tie to very bright, well-lit shots or, on the contrary, make photos with dominant dark colors your specialty.

• The muggiest 
• Dennis The Prescott 

Another idea is to design a special graphics with the help of a graphic designer to add a artistic touch to all photos in the grid.

• The Icon Agency
• Matsuda Eyewear 

Also, the way of editing photographs and using specific filters and applications is a good idea to add cohesion to multi-thematic photographs.

A lot depends on the theme and strategy you choose for your Instagram brand profile. But remember, even if it will be a product profile with products pictures it doesn’t mean you need to do the same shots over and over again. Reach out to your brand personality and mission.

Here’s a great example of how to place a product, share a mission, and provide beautiful content. Seacoast landscape photography and watches could work together and attract your audience.
Shoreprojects 

Also, you can play a creative game with everyday products you sell.
Lidl Poland

Whatever your choice will be, the specific area, aesthetic, style, or colors,
tie to those strengths so you will be able to maximize and get most out of the Instagram game.

I already mentioned that people follow because they love the type of content. So when you suddenly post something totally different to what they are used to it, people are not going to like that photo as much because simply it’d be not what they expected. To get engagement and likes make sure you provide the type of content they are used to.

OK, now when you choose a theme for your profile and how it will stand out, there is the time to consider how to be consistent but don’t become boring.

The content plan

First of all, whether you decide to stick to one creative idea for your grid, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick the same kind of photos. As you can see on some examples above, you can show multiple sides of your brand and company still being consistent.

Moreover, choosing color scheme or filter makes it easier to unify mixed-theme photographs. You can show backstage of your company, introduce employees, show CSR activities, live coverage from events, products, and user-generated content. And still, the grid would be consistent if you think how you wanna post photos instead of just posting them.

A very important tip here is to avoid publishing similar photos in a row. If you have prepared few photographs, it’s a good idea to mix them a little by using chessboard layout, or another key you set.
For example, if you run a coffee shop mix photographs of coffee mugs, desserts, people working there, guests, and interiors. A great help here would be a tool which allows you to plan your grid visually.

Keeping in mind that all tools we use and connect to Instagram should be safe and approved, my recommendation would be Planoly. It shows previous pictures from your profile, allows you to upload new ones and by using drag and drop you can compose your future feed.
It’s a great way to ensure that your grid will look really good.

Instagram gives us so many new options and features which we can and should use. It will also provide variety while staying in our brand personality mood.

To sum up

People mostly follow accounts which are committed to what they are known for and used to the type of content they publish. Remember these steps:

1. Choose your strength and tie to it.
2. Plan your grid visually and curate your Instagram account.
3. By thinking how you wanna post photos instead of just posting them, you can leverage the power of Instagram without really even doing anything extra.

A characteristic theme, consistent grid, and content plan will help take your account to the next level.

Speaking about, the next article in the series would be focused on words.
You’ll learn how to communicate with your audience by writing good photo descriptions which engage people. You will also learn which hashtags to choose to leverage your profile and which could get you in trouble.

Stay tuned!