7 Tips For Designers To Build Irresistible Content On Instagram

Have you been thinking about how to build your personal brand on Instagram? You're not alone. 

Many people are looking for ways to take their business or creative endeavours from the digital world and into real life, and vice versa. 

But how? There are hundreds of influencers, and millions of users with various levels of engagement. 

? How can you stand out from the crowd? 

? How do you develop your own unique style and voice while still staying true to yourself? 

? How would you be able to control the way other people perceive your online presence? 

Just like any social media platform, there are right, wrong, and clever ways to use your Instagram profile. In this blog post, we will show you how to brand yourself on Instagram, grow your Instagram profile and increase organic engagement from people who truly follow you, for you. 

Let’s get started!

1. Understand Your Goals 

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and invest your time on Instagram. Great! But before you do anything else, ask yourself: “What do I want to achieve?” 

Common goals businesses and individuals can achieve on Instagram: 

• Increase brand awareness
• Establish yourself as expert 
• Grow your network 
• Share your stories 
• Sell your products and/or services 
• Build relationships and increase credibility 

PLUS...so much more!

Instead of just letting your goals float around in the dark, write them down and monitor yourself. A written goal serves as a formalized gut check to ensure you are being intentional with what content is posted on Instagram.

2. Optimize Your Profile 

Think of your Instagram profile as a public billboard. Why should people care about you or remember your brand? 

You get 150 characters, one link, and a few action buttons to win over someone ‘passing by’ —so be sure your profile makes a good impression. Your profile should include

• A killer bio that describes you and what you do clearly 
• Your category/ industry 
• A tone that shows off your personality 
• Contact information 
• A LinkTree or relevant links in your bio 

Here’s an example:

3. Plan Your Content 

To build a brand on Instagram, you need to be clear about the content you post. 

Choose 1 to 5 topics you wish your account to be about. And yes, you can totally just choose 1! We call these topics “content pillars”. 

Here’s an example:

Lettering Artist 

? Goal: To enhance brand visibility, sell lettering classes and workbooks. 

3 topics: 

A) Tips and tricks: Demonstrate how to do oval drills with different pen

B) Results: Show your interaction with students 

C) Inspiration: Show photos of your masterpieces

Now it’s your turn: What do you want your followers to see?  

4. Play Around with Different Instagram Features 

Instagram has added many features that benefit you and I, especially for those who are diving right into growing their Instagram followings. Let’s look at some of the trendiest features you can play around with: 

A) IG Reels

The stage is set for your video to go viral on Instagram's global platform. This latest Instagram feature let you to create 15-second video clips set to music and share to your story, Explore Feed, and the new Reels tab on a user’s profile. You can be easily discovered by millions of users with this!  

B) IG Story

You can add clips of video to a story which is viewable by your followers for 24 hours before it disappears. People see massive results with Instagram Stories as they give you incredible data on your audience. You can see who’s viewing and who’s viewing to the end. This is also a great way to showcase yourself in live-action or in user-generated content (all the @mentions). 

C) IG Guide 

This is a brand new way for you to share content on Instagram. It is great to curate a flow of posts with commentary – works best for step-by-step guides, tips, recommendations that are easy-to-digest for readers. Here’s one that we really like: 

5. Post Consistently 

If you are serious about branding yourself on Instagram, the key thing here is consistency. While there's no hard and fast rule on how often, once a day is usually the best way to strike that balance of sharing without being overly repetitive or spammy.

Nisa, an online watercolour designer who is also a mum of three kids has garnered close to 30k followers by using this as one of her strategies to grow her Instagram profile. 

Read here to see how she plan and hit the KPI she set for herself

6. Use Geotags

Let people know where you are. Instagram may give you the freedom to reach people all around the world, but the ideal approach is to reach a more specific target audience. Whether you’re a local entrepreneur, creative or influencer trying to reach your ideal audiences, geotagging can be a useful tool!

With the Instagram algorithm changing how content is displayed by users on their feed constantly, it's more important than ever before to find new and innovative ways of reaching as many people as possible - without just targeting everyone. 

You can add on your location when you post in your stories and feed.  

7. Use Hashtags

Hashtags can elevate even some mundane photos when being used creatively. You can use them anywhere from your bio to the location of where you’re at and see a huge boost in visibility. 

But be sure to use your hashtags strategically. 

You can use top trending hashtags on Instagram such as #love #fashion #instagood as much as you like and will probably get additional engagement and likes BUT! This most likely won’t lead to increased long-term engagement or new interested followers. 

The best tags are the ones that are relevant to your brand. This means researching make sure your hashtags not only describe your brand but are also being searched for on Instagram.
 

Conclusion

Instagram is an excellent way to grow your online presence and make your audiences see and feel about you the way you want them to.

But as you are first starting out, mistakes will happen and that’s just part of the process! Breakthroughs come from figuring things out along the way which means those mishaps won't be in vain - they'll teach us what we need to know for success on Instagram.

Now go get ready to brand yourself on IG and get your stories heard by millions of people.