Three Instagram Tips

Instagram has to be one of my favourite social channels and my most highly followed therefore thought I would share some tips with you. Learn how to grow your following, keep your theme consistent and more!

1 | Have A Theme

I hate to the term 'Instagram theme' but here I am preaching about it. I have included snapshots for my Instagram from all different parts of the year and they all compliment each other (if I do say so myself). The trick is trying to stick to a certain colour palette, filter or something which brings everything together. 

My colour palette is pastel as that is something which I love and everything I own matches it. My room is pastel, my clothes are pastel and so is my Instagram! It just makes sense. That doesn't mean I only upload pictures in those colours. An example of this is the carousel in the picture above, it's an image taken in the evening which is different for me as I like them to be bright and also the shades include colours outside of my theme like red. To combat this you can surround the image with ones that fit therefore it will hopefully blend in. I have also included subtle red tones in the surrounding images to help the blending and makes the image appear less harsh.

Using the same filter on your photos is another way in which they can link. My personal favourite is Valencia - I think it really brightens images and gives them such a summery feel. This is one I have used for a while but I also edit the photo's further on the settings changing the brightness, shadows and saturation often.

When structuring my pictures I try and have and equal amount of blog photos and other things so my feed isn't just full of pictures of me and regurgitating exactly what is on my blog. I normally will post a blog picture and then a lifestyle picture and this helps to break up my posts. For fashion posts I use 2-3 images and 1-2 for beauty posts. I ensure that these show different element of the outfit or product so it's not repetitive and to keep interest.

I also try and keep my images in squares as it looks much nicer on your profile without all those borders etc. The new Instagram update has made life much easier meaning you can now add portrait and landscape pictures without it ruining your gallery, yay! My OCD is loving life right not.

2 | Use Hashtags

This is a great way to people to find your page and also if you are working with brands or sharing one of their products then it can be a good way for them to spot you. It is really important that you use hashtags that are relevant to each individual picture otherwise people won't find what they are searching for. Here are some examples:

Fashion

#fashion #fashionblogger #fblogger #instafashion #whatiwore #ootd 

#streetstyle #style #inspo #lookbook #lotd

Beauty

#beauty #bblogger #makeup #motd #cosmetics #fotd #mua #instaglam 

#review #skincare #wakeupandmakeup #blendthatshit

Lifestyle

#lifestyle #lblogger #dayinthelife #whatidid 

You don't have to use all of them and you can't also apply extra ones that are relevant to that picture. I try and use hashtags when I can as I know it's a great way to gain more exposure. I will often post them in the comment section or in the picture and then go back and delete them at a later date to have a cleaner appearance. 

3 | Make It Personal

There are so many accounts out there and you need something that makes you special. I think injecting your personality in to it is the perfect way to stand out. Things I like is high quality imagery, witty/funny captions and just someone who looks like them are enjoying life. Social media is a good way to express yourself, personal style, things you feel are important and a representation of you. Although I post mainly blogging things I like to include places I've been, my friends and family and make it a little memory board of my life. I don't share everything on there but there aren't really many limitations. 

If you do use someone else's picture make sure you credit them my writing in the caption 'Image via - ...' and you can also tag them in the picture. This has to be a pet peeve when someone steals other peoples pictures and doesn't credit them properly, often after them taking the time to take a beautiful image. To stop this you can watermark your images but I personally don't and just hope that others follow the right procedure. 

Have fun with it, Instagram can be such a great tool to market your blog or just display your creative side. These are just a few tips I've suggested and follow myself, I'm sure there are plenty of other things you can do and you don't have to follow these by any means. Hope you have enjoyed this post and share some of your tips in the comments! Would you like me to do one of these for my other social channels?

"Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else"

Autumn - Winter - Spring - Summer
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