Having an eye-catching, cohesive Instagram aesthetic is key to turning your visitors into followers and followers into leads for your business!

Nowadays, most people turn to Instagram first to search for their favorite businesses, which means your Instagram profile is now just as important (if not more important!) as your website’s homepage. 

By having a cohesive Instagram, you will not only grow your audience organically but establish your online presence by looking legitimate, clean, and professional through unique and specific branding. 

The best part is, achieving a cohesive and professional feed is simpler than you think! Many brands and influencers don’t have — or need — professional photography skills or expensive editing software to nail their aesthetic, and you don’t either!

Let’s dive into our top four tips for achieving a cohesive Instagram aesthetic.

1. Establish Goals for Your Feed

Choosing an aesthetic for your brand from scratch can feel intimidating and like somewhat of a commitment. That’s why it’s essential to determine your goals for the look and feel of your feed before getting started! A few ways to establish the future of your feed are:

Grabbing inspiration from some of your favorite Instagram feeds that resonate/align with your brand. Are they light and happy? Moody and dark? Do they use graphics or follow a design pattern? These are all aspects to consider for inspiration!

Create mood boards, colors, and fonts. Pinterest is a great tool to create mood boards, establish colors, and choose fonts for your brand (fonts are important if you’re planning to incorporate graphics with words!).

Consider the type of photos you will post. You may fall in love with someone else's aesthetic, but remember, one size does not fit all! If you love the look of a bright, warm, and light feed, but all of your photos are taken in a cloudier area or lean towards dark and moody – it may be hard for you to achieve that look consistently. If this is the case, be sure to think about what and where you’ll be shooting. Choosing an easily manageable aesthetic based on the specific photos you want to post is key to staying consistent and successful!

2. Edit Your Photos

Now that you’ve determined the aesthetic you want to have for your feed, it’s time to execute! The best time to do this is during the editing process. Choosing the same filter, a set of a few filters, or editing guidelines is what will ultimately keep your feed consistent, uniquely branded, and cohesive. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all option when it comes to filters and photo editing. It’s crucial that you take the time to play around and see what works best for your specific photos! There are many tools and free editing platforms that you can use depending on your goals. Check out some of our favorites:

• Lightroom and Lightroom Mobile: If you’re looking to give your photos a polished and professional look, Lightroom is up for the task! Although it may take some practice and exploration, it is relatively user-friendly for beginners, and you can choose between using pre-made presets or creating your own from scratch! Lightroom also has a free mobile app to help you achieve the same look on your phone.

VSCO: VSCO is a free mobile app that has incredible filter options to browse. It is less hands-on than Lightroom and allows you to easily achieve a cohesive filter for your feed with little effort!

Canva: If you want to incorporate graphics into your feed but aren’t a pro graphic designer, Canva is the tool for you. It is a free website that allows you to choose from a plethora of pre-made graphic templates that are customizable and easy to edit!

3. Balance Your Feed

 Once you’ve edited your photos and you are ready to put them on Instagram, it’s important to consider how they’ll all look next to each other. Instagram is a balance between how individual photos look and how they all look as a collective feed. Creating balance on your feed ensures it won’t look too busy or cluttered! 

 The simplest way to achieve a balanced feed is by using an Instagram preview app to see how your photos will look in grid form — this allows you to rearrange your photos as needed before posting them. For example, arranging them so that busy images are placed next to cleaner, more minimal images will help break things up and ensure it's easy on the eyes!

Note: If you plan to incorporate graphics, choose how they’ll be placed on your grid, too. There are many different approaches to this — including eye-catching design patterns. See some pattern examples below!

4. Stay Consistent!

Now that you’ve determined your aesthetic, edited your photos, and optimized the arrangement of your feed, it’s time to start posting — and staying consistent with your newfound branding! This means keeping all fonts, colors, and feed arrangements that you’ve decided on as consistent as possible!

In addition to keeping things cohesive visually, we’ve got a few more tips to share to help build your brand’s presence on Instagram:

• Stick to your posting schedule.

• Engage with your new followers.

• Stay authentic to your unique brand!

• Take your branding further by expanding beyond your feed to branded Instagram Stories! (Save them as highlights, too!)

• Branch out into all other tools Instagram has to offer; IGTV, Reels, IG Shop!

• HAVE FUN! Instagram is all about being social and engaging, don’t forget that essential element!

There you have it — our top tips for creating a stellar Instagram aesthetic!

Now that we’ve established how to curate the perfect Instagram feed for your brand, you’re ready to get creative and show off your new and improved profile. All it takes is planning and commitment! Now get out there and spread your wings!