Instagram was created to bring you closer to the people and things you love which feels so aligned with my mission for CL Designs: where I help lifestyle businesses realize their vision and connect with the people most important to them.
It was an absolute treat to visit the Facebook headquarters thanks to Make Lemonade. The walls to the floors were dreamy and instagrammable. The community was unwavering and ready to learn. No duh! But let’s dive into the juicy stuff.
THINGS TO CONSIDER…
1.) QUICK CAPTURE
Let’s be real: no one’s got time for long, drawn out and boring content. Think about if your CTA or main message of your content is exciting, branded and delivers within 15 seconds or less. Make sure that your video cuts are delivered at the beginning to ensure visibility. Use speed to your advantage to cater to people’s short attention spans. When planning content, keep storytelling at the forefront. Having fast paced narratives through short scenes and photos can help deliver your content in a digestible manner.
2.) BRANDED DESIGN
First impressions count! Think about the way that your design elements from sound to typography is delivered in order to drive awareness, consideration and conversion. Consider the use of delivering your message textually to add another layer of accessibility. However 80% of stories with voice-over of music drove better funnel results than ads without sound at all. Be mindful of where you’re including your text overlays or interactive stickers. Avoid unnecessary stickers that distract rather than compliment your core piece of content. By including bold typography, you’re emphasizing your message loud and clear. In terms of composition, ensure that you’re thinking mobile first as that’s where most people will be consuming. Catering to a vertical format will drive better conversions. Ensure quality of your designs and that your brand is represented through its colour palette, font pairings and more. Designs can inspire your audience to take action.
3.) CLEAR CTA (Call To Action)
Get intentional about what your objective is. Think about if you want to build through brand objectives or conversion objectives. If you’re looking to drive brand objectives, designs perform better with people-focused content. If you’re looking to drive conversion objectives, aim to deliver product-focused content. By being intentional with one clear CTA for each scene, you can emphasize the action you want your audience to take (ex. swipe up). Showcase hierarchy with your design elements and typography by having your main CTA as the largest textual element. Compositionally, consider where your brand placements for logo and price/promos will be added in order to make it feel authentic and not always sales oriented.
WHAT SHOULD YOU POST ON YOUR STORY VS. YOUR FEED?
Based on performance, here is what the Instagram team suggests for performs best on each medium.
STORY: See what friends are doing, see unfiltered/authentic content, see playful/funny content
FEED: Find information, discover a product, discover a brand
At the end of the day, every brand is unique and different. We all build community by delivering value in our own way. EXPERIMENT! You’ll need to test and learn what works for YOUR specific brand. “There is no guaranteed formula for creative success on mobile…” but you can definitely have fun creating content along the way.
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