Creating high-quality, engaging Instagram content has become more important than ever before. This is mainly due to the fact that there’s increased competition on the platform, making it even harder for brands to stand out.

This leaves us with just one option to capture our audience’s attention – thumb-stopping content. Are you ready to create some great content? Here's a list of our best practices:

🗓️ Plan

It’s very easy to get side-tracked when you don’t have a proper plan in place. When this happens, your audience is likely to disengage with your content.

What is your page about?

Niche pages will engage niche followers, which can be engaged and retained with consistent niche content. A very broad page will convert a much smaller proportion of visitors into followers.

What sort of content does your target audience engage with the most?

Reviewing which of your posts are more liked/watched will give you an indication of what your audience wants to see. Give them more of what they love!

Learn from the leaders (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

Researching the content of the most successful accounts in your niche is likely to inspire you. You can also learn from their mistakes to see which posts bought them the most engagement.

📸 Shoot your own content

Using stock imagery can be very tempting and could seem like a good time-saving option. However, most of the time, they can't represent your page on their own.

You don’t need a fancy camera or runway lighting to take good pictures. The content and composition of your pictures are more important than anything else. So, use your phone, and play around with natural light and camera angles.

Tip - Don’t be afraid to take pictures of the same thing at different angles to re-use in the future.

🔑 Consistency is key

It takes an average of 3 seconds for someone to decide whether they want to follow you or not. They will decide this by scanning over your profile pic, bio and grid.

Having a consistent look and feel all throughout your content is key to delivering your brand and overall aesthetic. Using a filter consistently will give all of your pics a similar vibe.

You can achieve this by focusing on certain colour palettes, such as desert, tropical, pastel, neon etc..

Tip – Edit your images using apps like Lightroom and VSCO to maintain consistency

😊 Faces

Pictures that include a visible face get much higher engagement than any other type of post. Don't believe us? Check out this study of over 1 million posts, which showed images including a face that got 38% more likes and 32% more comments!

If you're not comfortable featuring your own face in your content, you could incorporate your friends, family, clients, customers, etc..

🚫 The Graphic Trap

Graphic images featuring text normally receive very poor engagement (With the exception of memes). Whilst a well designed graphic image (Design/text/quote) can be highly engaging, it's important to mix it up with plenty of photos.

🎤 What’s your story?

Content is nothing without storytelling, fact!

Tell your audience a story to keep them engaged – it could be a story, a fact, a tip or even a quote. Whatever you choose to create, make sure it’s shareable and valuable to your audience. Think about why they would pause on scrolling to read what you’re saying or watch what you’re teaching.

That’s it, folks! The better your content, the better the results we can get for you at Social Boost. If you're ready to grow your Instagram, sign up for a plan.

Feel free to reach out to our team at any time. We're online 24/7 🙌