Social media is hyped as a great way to connect with your target audience, but have you ever found meeting your engagement goals on Instagram to be a little more elusive than you’d hoped? Check out these Instagram marketing tips and start making some headway.
The Visual Medium
The main thing you have to keep reminding yourself about Instagram is that it is a highly visual channel, which means you’re not going to see the numbers you want until you cover all the bases that the human eye accounts for when finding something visually striking.
There are key visual elements to account for, the first of which is color. Take it from the experts who actually studied this: a group of researchers from Saunders College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, published their findings in a report titled “Simplicity is not key: Understanding firm-generated social media images and consumer linking.”
They said posts do well when the color is rich and correctly distributed, but that colors in the middle of the spectrum do the best. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to jump on the black and white train and stay there. The sweet spot seems to be using images that have a few colors that can be easily identified, but that doesn’t mean bold – rather, the best colors tend to be a bit muted.
Some studies have found that using blue is often the best option, as it performs roughly 25% better than images that use orange or red colors. Furthermore, brighter images also perform around 25% better than dark images.
The Importance of Symmetry
The less symmetry an image has, the fewer likes it gains. Your Instagram marketing should include a focus on creating images that have strong vertical lines balanced by centered horizontal attributes.
Symmetry is a long-held rule that photographers follow because in its most simplified explanation, the human eye is drawn to visual perfection and symmetry is a big component of that.
You can practice this in your Instagram photos by working with leading lines. This often includes visual elements that enter one corner of the frame and move inward. Again, you’re looking for vertical and horizontal symmetry, but there is also such a thing as radial symmetry, which is a mesmerizing effect that occurs in rippled water.
Reflective symmetry also works in Instagram marketing. This is using a mirrored effect, which can happen when an image is duplicated in glass or water. Think of a sunset in the top half of a photo, and then the mirror image of it reflected in a puddle on the beach.
The more you study how the human brain is impacted by visual elements, luminance, design complexity, edge density and object regularity, the more impact your Instagram posts will have on followers.
Looking for more tips to improve your outreach? Contact us at SJC. We can help you get more eyes on your brand with effective social media strategies.