Do you use Instagram?
Firstly, are you using social media? And if you are, are you making the most of this free marketing tool? Here are a few simple ways to up your game and make your grid work for you!
Grid patterns
Your grid is the perfect tool to impress potential customers, they can see what you do at a glance and then, if they’re interested, they can click onto each image to find out more, or head over to your website from the link you can include in your bio. Instagram is such a visual platform, you need to take advantage of this. If viewers are impressed, they’ll follow you; once they’re following you and get to know you and your brand, you’ll have new customers!
A popular way to draw followers in is to use a grid layout. These look slick and professional, a well thought out and planned grid shows your potential customers your organisation and foresight, as well as showing off your service or product. There are so many options to create a pattern on your grid, you need to find the one that works best for you and your brand. Here are a few examples:
Tiles
This grid pattern involves posting an image/photo, and then a piece of text/quote. If you alternate between the two you will soon see a pattern across your grid. Your followers will know what to expect next on your feed and you can easily link two things that you’ve posted together, for example a photo and quote which promote the same product. Your quote could be on a coloured background or a white background, whatever works best for your brand, remember that your branding and being recognisable is so important, you want your customers to see a post and know it’s from you.
Rows
This pattern involves posting in a pattern of groups of three. Each row on your Instagram grid contains three squares, so if you post three similar images and then three quotes, your grid will work to tell a story. You could separate the rows by colour for example, using three similar coloured images to create one row, and then moving onto another colour for the next row of three images. You could use this pattern to display products that you sell or create, posting three product shots in a row, then a row of three text based images or quotes.
Borders
This is a really simple way to add a classy look to your feed. Rather than using full images to complete each square of your grid, you can add a white border to your photos/images, which creates a gorgeous white space between each image, giving them the breathing space they needs to be fully appreciated. This can be especially beneficial to photographers.
Puzzle
This is a trickier grid pattern and involves you splitting images into sections so that they only make sense when the whole image has been shared across several posts. It also means the images break up as you post and only fit together when the grid is in a certain position. This can look very effective, but is definitely one to test out which brings me onto my next piece of advice!
Preview
Using an app, like ‘Preview’, for example, allows you to play around with your grid BEFORE you post it onto Instagram! This is a fantastic way of checking that you’re happy with the look and style of your grid before posting any images! Or if you want to change things up you can try it here first. You can add images and drag them around to choose the best order and pattern and find something that really works for you, without making the commitment of sharing them with your followers!
Filters
Filters are another way you can ensure consistency across your grid. Instagram has a range of filters you can add to your images to give them all the same tone and ‘feeling’ across your feed. You can also do this yourself by choosing images that work well together with similar colours and tones. Be sure to make use of your brand colours too, if your logo just has one colour, maybe pick a second colour to complement it or make it pop to give your grid that bit of extra spark.
Templates
One way to ensure consistency is to use a template, or a set of templates. These can be used to frame your own images, or products, or can be a background to add text onto. The beauty of using a template is that the consistency is already done for you, your individual images will already be branded with your logo or sub logo, and your customers will recognise your posts when they pop up in their feed. I can help with this, I offer bespoke as well as standard social media templates which can be adapted to fit your brand.
Balance
You also need to remember to show a balance on your grid. Don’t make it all ‘sell sell sell’, your followers want to see who YOU are, not just what you do. Make sure to show the face behind the business, remember that people buy from people. You want to build a relationship with your customers and show them who you are. Advice I’ve been given is that your social media feed should be 80% you and 20% sales, so that’s something to think about if you haven’t heard that before. Lastly, make sure to have fun! Your social media should be fun and interesting, people will choose to follow or unfollow you, to buy from you or not. You won’t be right for everyone, but your true followers will find you and they’re what’s important!
If you need any help with social media templates or adverts, or if I can help with anything else I’ve shared in this blog, just get in touch, I’d love to help!
