How to Brand Your Instagram Account
You can use Instagram to authentically connect with your audience, build trust and improve your traffic—Which is why branding your Instagram account is so important. Despite being one of the most popular social media platforms that you can use to promote your business, it is one of the most underutilized channels by small businesses.
Business owners know there is a lot of competition on social media and having a presence online can be overwhelming and time consuming. For small businesses, there’s the added pressure of limited resources or expertise needed to maintain an online presence.
Instagram can be ideal for any business, no matter its size or niche. Its all about finding out where you fit in. Over 70% of brands on Instagram today, admit they don't know how to brand their account properly.
They might not be driving results (yet!) but they are definitely picking up some valuable experience, market research, and analytics data through their unbranded account.
Define your focus and theme
To succeed on Instagram, you want to have a strong sense of who your audience is and what your brand is to them.
The easiest way to do this is to create a brand on Instagram that matches your original brand. The more in tune your Instagram account is with your main brand, the easier it will be to grow—people value authenticity online.
Username
A good Instagram username should be as close to your brand name as possible. This makes it easier for people to find you on Instagram, remembering the details of your company, and following you. Ideally, you should strive for a username that includes your business name or an abbreviation of it, along with your name. For example, if my
Bio
You’ll also want to use relevant hashtags – these are the keyword tags that allow users to find posts – and be sure to segment your bio into two parts. The first part should quickly explain who you are, who you’re for, what you do, and how those things connect with those hashtags. The second part of your bio should be used as a resource guide for those people who find you with those hashtags. Your profile bio should focus on your target customer and how your Instagram profile will help them.
Highlights & Profile Photo
You will learn how important images and graphics are to your brand, and how they can most effectively be used to make your Instagram account more appealing, and ultimately more likeable. I’ll also show you my own style palette, and how it has evolved over time. You’ll learn why, and how to develop your own style palette. You’ll then learn a step-by-step guide on how I set up my Instagram profile. I’ll even show you how to create a logo for your profile image. By the end of this post you should have a good idea of how you can brand your Instagram account effectively.
You need to find your own style. You can do this by creating a brand board with images that relate to your brand or theme. Are you outdoorsy or into neutral tones, extreme sports or extreme relaxing? Select colours that most represent your brand or product. It doesn't have to be a lot of colours, but picking a solid palette of 5 (at least) will be very helpful in the long term.
You also want some assets or imagery to be used time and time again to represent your brand. What symbols or textures do you associate with? Create a mood board with these and use as inspiration for your highlight covers. For your profile picture, make use of a logo, if you have one. If not, use one of your brand assets that fits your theme.
Speak to Your Audience
The best way to fine tune your tone of voice is to continually post to your story and feed. Once you have a history of interaction with your audience you can start to analyze what pieces perform well, what hashtags attracted the most people that don’t follow you, and what their interests are!
Stories express your personality and you can use stickers to get people to interact with you. Ask questions about your brand and offerings, about their preferences, or polls (2-4 options) for more concrete survey results.
Keep Loose and Keep Up
Remember its social media. Have fun while you do it and try and make friends. Tag people in posts and stories, repost things, and comment below their posts. The algorithm is always being changed and trends are always evolving; try and get on sounds and trends quick before they phase out.
