5 tips to create a killer instagram feed

How can you increase your audience on instagram? In this blog post I will list up 5 tips, which will help you to create that amazing killer instagram feed.

As an instagram content creator I often get questions such as how are you able to grow your instagram account? How can you increase your audience?The answer to that is very simple. You have to have a killer instagram feed. Instagram is an app that is mainly used on a smartphone, so you have less than a couple of seconds to convince viewers to follow you. Your feed is the showpiece of your instagram account. So it needs to be perfect!

5 tips to create a killer instagram feed

1 – Niche

When you start an instagram account you have to have an idea of what you want to achieve with your account. Do you want to use it as a social tool or do you want to enable it for business?If you use instagram as a social tool to share pictures with your family and friends, then picking a niche is less important. Are you a brand that wants to create more visibility, or are you a blogger that wishes to drive more traffic to your website, or are you dreaming of becoming a successful influencer, then it all starts with picking a niche!

What is a niche?

First of all, what do I mean by picking a niche? A niche is the topic of your instagram account that will determine what type of content you post. It can be something you are passionate about or a hobby or even your pet. Here are some exaples.

Picking a niche is not easy. We are all people and we have multiple interests, so narrowing ourselves down to just one topic is very difficult. But it is very important because if you have a niche your followers know what to expect from you.

How to choose the right niche that fits you?

Well how do you start with picking the right niche? First of all pick a topic you are very passionate about. I decided to pick travel, because first of all I love traveling and secondly I want to share my travel adventures with you.

Go through instagram and find inspiration on other accounts. It isn’t the intention to copy these accounts. You can take out certain aspects you like and give them your own twist. Above all, stay true to yourself; pick a niche that you feel comfortable doing. After all it is your personality and individuality that make your instagram account unique.

Don’t forget you can always decide to change your niche or even expand it. I did that too, so mine is mainly travel with a touch of fashion 😉

2 – Create quality content

After you decided on your niche it’s time to create quality content. What does quality content exactly mean and why is this so important?

By quality content I mean successful content. Content that evokes an action, such as a like, a comment, a link click, …

How to create quality content

To create quality content you need a plan. Many of you think they need good equipment such as a full frame camera, tripod, … But honestly a plan is the most import to begin with. You can buy the equipment later if you really need it. By the way in the meantime you already have great smartphones with the most amazing cameras.

Plan what your photos are going to look like. Ask yourself some key questions. What am I going to photograph? Where, on what location, am I going to organise this photoshoot? When can I shoot there? Why do I think this will be quality content?

Search for inspiration! Instagram and pinterest are awesome tools for that. Create your own inspiration boards. Think about different perspectives to shoot. Think about what compositions are the most appealing. Play with the light. Experiment with your position in relation to the camera. In short, be creative! Check your pictures in between and try to make them even better. Take as many pictures as possible and select only the best pictures afterwards.

Why is quality content so important?

Because of the new algorithm quality content is even more important then ever. In the good old days when you posted a new picture this was shown chronologically in the timeline of your followers. Today this isn’t the case anymore. Instagram won’t even show your new picture in the timeline of your all your followers. Only followers who ‘like’ your photos will see the new post appear in their timeline. So if they don’t ‘like’ your photos, the new post won’t show up in their timeline at all. What means they don’t even know you have a new post! The point of quality content is get as many followers to push that like button under your post so you show up in their timeline.

3 – Format

Something really important that you have to take in consideration when creating content is the format.

Whether it is a picture or video, always keep in mind that it will be cropped to a square in your feed. So if you shoot or film horizontal check if your focus point is in the middle. So if it’s cropped in a square your focus point is still fully in the square and is not cut in half. This also applies if you shoot vertical. A vertical shot may be more appealing in the timeline, but these will also be cropped into a square on your feed. So for example, if you want to shoot a building think ‘square’ and leave enough space above and below the building so the building fits in the square.

This is how it looks in your feed:

This is how it looks in your timeline:

4 – Harmony

If you look up the most successful influencers you will see that their  feeds are like a dream. The pictures all match color-wise and it looks harmonious.That is what they call a killer instagram feed. And that is what you need to achieve as well. But how can you do that?

After creating and selecting your quality content it is time to edit. You can edit directly when posting on instagram, but you can also use apps.

The best free app for editing pictures (according to me) is lightroom for smartphones. If you are not that good in editing photos you can buy presets for lightroom. A lot of influencers today sell their presets. You can download a couple of my favorite presets right here for free.

A preset is a kind of filter you can apply to your picture before posting it. Don’t apply the same preset to all your pictures, or at least adapt the light, color, … so your feed doesn’t look too monotone.

You also have different apps such as later, preview and plann. These apps allow you to plan your posts for instagram. There you can also see how your feed will look when you will post these pictures in that order. If you see that one photo doesn’t match that well in your feed, you can still edit it.

Here are some of my favorites:

5 – Be consistent

Last but not least is being consistent in posting new content. This is very important so your followers know what to expect. If you post too much it can come across as spammy and if you post too few they can lose their interest. The trick is finding the right balance between the amount of posts per week and keeping your followers excited.

I think it’s best to post multiple times a week with a maximum of once a day. Pick quality over quantity! Only post your best quality content. Don’t post anything because you need to post.

You can also pick themes for the days that you are posting, such as Motivation Monday, Transformation Tuesday, Waterfall Wednesday, Work Out Wednesday, Freaky Friday… and post of course content related to that theme.

So these are the 5 basics to create a killer instagram feed. Follow these and you will be able to create that gorgeous feed you are dreaming of. Do you have any questions regarding this topic, please leave a comment below or contact me via the contact form. If you have questions about other instagram topics that you would like know more of let me know as well.

Thanks for reading!

Yours truly,

Sarah

Go and take a look on my instagram as well

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Would you like to plan an unforgettable trip? Then be sure to check out this useful overview of my personal travel tips!

Skyscanner is the place-to-be to book flights. This useful travel comparison website helps you find great deals for numerous destinations. Because I travel a lot, I often use airport parking. I already had good experiences with Parkos and Quickparking.

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When you're planning to rent a car during your trip, you should definitely opt for Sunny Cars. This transparent company collaborates with local car rental companies and ensures that all insurances ares already included when you book the car. So you don't have to worry about extra costs when picking up your car.

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Would you like to travel with public transport from one destination to another? Then 12togo is the place to be. Here you can easily find transfers in several countries.

Being a travel blogger I get a lot of questions about which photography equipment I use to photograph my travels.

I shoot with full-frame system camera: Nikon Z6II. I have a few lenses, but these 3 are my absolute favorites when traveling:

• All-round lens: NIKKOR Z 24-70 mm f/2.8. (I shoot almost everything with this. Are you just starting to shoot? Then I would recommend this lens)
• Wide-angle lens: NIKKOR Z 14-24 mm f/2.8. (Architecture, interior, landscapes,...)
• Zoom lens: Nikkor NIKKOR Z 70-200 mm f/2.8. (Wildlife,...)

A tripod is also important if you want to take pictures of yourself, or if you want to photograph with a low shutter speed (dark space, night photography, waterfall,...). I use one from Sirui. For videos to post on  my social media channels with I use my iPhone. When I travel alone I take my Joby GripTight GorillaPod PRO 2 with me. It's a small, useful tripod that I can attach to anything. Do you want to learn more about how to take the best vacation photos? Then take a look at my e-book where I share all my photography tips. Would you like to be able to edit your holiday photos quickly and beautifully? Then my Lightroom presets are an absolute must-have.

I wish you an unforgettable time on your next vacation!