1. Get to Know Your Audience

No matter how beautifully crafted they are, images and content don’t mean anything if your target audience can’t relate to them. You need to see what they react to. To find this out, read their comments on your posts. If you haven’t started posting yet, then read their comments on competitors' posts.  See their reactions, what they liked, and what not. This will provide great insight to help you cater to your niche in a much more engaging way. Having your target audience in mind and their preferences will provide a great idea pool for your future posts and images.

2. Create a Story

Once you decide on your “buyer persona”, you need to think about what you want to achieve by posting on Instagram.  Do you want more visibility or to increase blog traffic? Or perhaps to boost the sales of your product or service? Whatever the reason, creating the story around your brand will get you ahead of the others. One way to create a story is to use branded images and similar color palettes. Branded images of your company would immediately associate with your brand, which is what you want to cause.

For example, Glorify tool can help you do just that. Take a look at ourBrand Kit feature. It allows you to use your logo and brand colors and centralize them all in one place. In addition, it provides consistency and brand recognition when somebody sees your images.

3. Use Colors Wisely

Not only should you focus on your brand colors, but you should also be quite cautious about the background colors of your images. A general rule of thumb is that the background color shouldn’t be prominent because you don’t want the focus away from your product or the central part of the image. The optimal color should be white or any blend color, preferably just one background color. Glorify has a cool feature called Background Remover.  You probably know that feeling when you find just a perfect image you’d like to use, but the background gets in the way. Our Background Remover helps you get rid of any unwanted background. Once you remove it, you can choose whatever background color suits you or your your branding best.

When it comes to colors in the image itself, you should use complementary colors. However, we must admit that this “rule” really depends on what you want to achieve; it is more of a guideline. If you want to find out which colors are complementary, you might want to check this blog on 80 Eye-Catching Color Combinations.

4. Create Scroll-Stopping Photos!

We know that sounds easier said than done. Whether you use Instagram for personal or professional reasons, the fact remains that in order to be more visible, you need to grab the attention of your fellow Instagrammers. Here are some ideas for achieving just that:

Give an Ordinary Photo a New Twist.

Instead of uploading a stock photo, try posting one that piques interest. For example, take a close-up shot of some object or whatever it is you want to have in your photo. Let your followers guess what it might be, and what it is used for.  You can add some funny or slightly awkward elements in the background. Again, it depends on what you want to achieve. Try taking a photo from a slightly different angle, and give it a new perspective. Some photographers even turn the camera upside down to create a foreground element.

Use Proper Lighting

This one could be tricky if you aren’t a professional photographer but a rule of thumb is not to overexposure your photos too much and use flash all the time.  It takes away all the little intricate details in the photo making it more ordinary. Instead, use various sources of light: natural, artificial, or light patches, and play with them. It is a trial and error process. You’ll probably “blew” lots of photos till you hit the right one.

Use the Rule of Thirds

No rule is set in stone so the same applies here. We aren’t suggesting you should never break this rule, but in general, the rule of thirds helps you position the main item in your picture in the center by breaking the image in thirds ( you end up with nine pieces and four gridlines). However, it isn’t only used to centralize the object. You can use it to position any elements of the object within the grid.

You can do all of these things on your own. Most mobile phones have various filters, editing options, etc. But it takes time. It takes time to make that perfect photo, edit it, play with filters and lighting, adjust, and crop.  And you want to be time-efficient but at the same time create engaging material. 

This is why various platforms offer numerous templates, stock images, mockups, etc. To save time and to make the editing process much more hassle-free and seamless. Glorify is such a platform. We already have the Instagram Square Post templates prepared so you don’t have to worry about the proper ratio and size. You can upload the image you’ve taken or again choose something from our library.  Depending on your needs, you can incorporate images, icons, shapes, etc.  And of course, to create scroll-stopping photos and put your ideas into practice, you can use our tools like background remover, shadowing, reflections, filters, etc.  

5. Make Your Images (More) Realistic

This is very important because you should come across as credible. If you want to make your images more realistic, we suggest trying out our feature for shadows and reflections. These filters give that extra depth to your images and help them stand out. You choose the opacity, transparency, color, etc.  

6. Use Hashtags

Did you know that Instagram posts with at least one hashtag have, on average, 12.6% more engagement than the ones without?  It is also interesting that a bigger number of hashtags work better for images and carousel posts, whereas for video posts, it is the opposite. 

Why are hashtags so popular?

•  First of all, they provide heaps of information. Think of them as a door that lets you into a room where you can see the top posts, latest posts, and potential connections. 

• If you use branded hashtags that your audience is sharing, this way, you create better engagement. Not to mention you raise your brand awareness

• Hashtags are similar to SEO tools. They can provide great ideas for your future content because you can see what is currently trending.

We briefly mentioned the number of hashtags. When it comes to captions, 1-3 hashtags are enough. When we talk about the whole post, you shouldn’t exceed more than 30 hashtags per post.  It would also be great to post them in the first comment.

You should also pay attention to using only hashtags that are relevant to your industry or audience and the content you are creating.

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7. Be Generous With Emojis

When we mentioned hashtags, less was better. The tables have turned when we talk about emojis. Let’s immediately start by saying that the heart -eyes emoji is the most popular one. According to Socal Insider,  adding emojis to your post increase the engagement rate by up to 1.31%. Things even look better if you add them in the caption (2.15% to 2.72%).  It isn’t set in stone,  but in total, you should use between 20 and 25 emojis.

8. Don’t Forget the Captions

This might sound a bit odd, but it might be useful if you would try to write a caption before creating or choosing a photo. Trying to write a caption first is sort of brainstorming: you will think about the mood, theme, and message you want to convey. It will make finding that perfect photo much easier because you will have a much clearer picture of what you are looking for.

Regarding their length, the ideal captions go under ten words. Too worldly captions affect the engagement rate. These ten words don’t count for hashtags you’d be using in your captions.

Conclusion

As we already mentioned, no matter which of these steps (or some others) you will implement, the common denominator is a photo.

With 95 million photos and videos shared on Instagram every day, it seems almost impossible to create converting content topped up with engaging images.

 We have already provided a few examples of how Glorify can make creating Instagram photos a breeze. Still, to break it down even more for you, this is how it goes:

• Sign in to Glorify

• In our template library, choose the Instagram post template. These templates are set for seamless Instagram use

• Start creating:  customize images, create mockups, modify and edit with the features we mentioned earlier. You can also upload your photos or use our stock images, vectors, etc. 

• Have fun  with limitless options

• Once you think you are ready, download your design or share it with your team to upload it to your account. You can also share it directly on Instagram. It is really that easy.

But don't let the figures scare you. Focus on your audience, provide relevant content, and spice it up with great images. Start saving time, effort, and money by choosing the tools like Glorify. Start your seven-day free trial, explore, and enjoy the experience.