Capsule Wardrobe Expert, Maria Swann was both excited and overwhelmed by her rapidly growing Instagram account. Fashion stylish, Maria had previously been focused on Facebook, where she has a enthusiastic audience and regular fashion-focused Facebook Lives.

Maria explains how we helped her make the most of her Instagram feed. Just like her client’s wardrobe’s she now has a stylish Instagram feed planned and consistent with her brand. She no longer has to feel stressed and overwhelmed with planning and creating content on social media, and she is getting the results she wants.

Like many Solopreneurs, Maria is working on growing her audience, getting new clients, as well as what she wants to be doing most, helping ladies get dressed without the stress!  There’s never enough hours in the day when you are running a business, so organisation is key.  Maria wants to be helping her clients with her passion and skill in fashion, not worrying about producing content and maintaining a consistent brand image.

Knowing the many differences between the social platforms and how to get the best results from your social media marketing efforts saves time, stress and money.

Top tips to create your own no-stress stylish Instagram feed:

1. Decide on your goals  and what do you want to achieve with your content. Is your aim to gain new customers? Do you have a product or launch to share? Are you wanting to demonstrate excellent customer service?
2. Knowing your Buyer Persona is incredibly important. I’m really passionate about helping businesses really understand who they are talking to, which means you can connect emotionally as humans rather than as a business entity. Knowing who you are talking to, combined with a little strategic planning will ensure you share you message to the right people which really clarifies who you are and what you do as a business. People buy from people, at the end of the day, and you need to show them who you really are.
3. Research, research, research! Check out what’s going on in your industry, what are people talking about and what hashtags are being used? what are other successful accounts doing? Knowing what is happening around you is vital to your success. Reflect on your own work too. What went well or not so well?
4. Create a mood board. I love creating mood boards, and before any logo design, social feed or website design, I will pull together all the elements including the colour scheme, photography (stock or personal) which shares the same mood and tone and fonts and graphics which complement the overall aesthetic.
5. Get organised and plan ahead for both the long term and short term. Maria is launching a YouTube channel and has regular live events on Facebook, so she wanted to make sure that her posts corresponded with the same themes as she would be discussing in those events. She also wanted to be promoting those events across platforms to get the most visibility for them. Know what you you want to say and when and link to your social media goals.
6. # hashtags. I always get asked about which ones to use and how to use hashtags correctly. Once upon a time you could just copy and paste a whole bunch of your favourites into your posts, but the latest advice is be careful with using the same ol’ hashtags. The algorithm looks for a link between what’s in the post and what hashtags are being used, you have up to 30 hashtags to use, but try to make them relevant and do your research into what hashtags people are searching for and be a part of that.
7. I’m a big fan of Canva, it’s super awesome, quick and easy to use for everyone. It’s great to quick and easy social posting. Trouble is, everyone is using it and a quick scroll of the ‘gram or Facebook and you will see countless victims of Canva Template Syndrome . An affliction, in which people use the same post templates, the same ol’ fonts, images and colour schemes and even Canva’s own inspirational quotes – whilst claiming individuality?! eek! Surely you want to stand out from the crowd? Create your own templates (or get them created for you, p.s we can help with that) to ensure you really are the individual you want to be.
8. It’s okay to repost, but give credit where credit is due. If your work was being passed off as someone else’s you’d be a little grumpy about it, so make sure you tag the originating person or at least credit the photo. It can be a great way to forge relationships with other brands if you show them appreciation of their work. Who doesn’t love a bit of recognition, eh?
9. Get your audience to share their photos of your products or sharing testimonials of your services. The stats show that people are more likely to buy from a recommendation from another person (other than the company themselves) promoting the product or service.
10. Stories are a great way to interact and get engagement with your audience. Think polls, questions and commenting directly into your stories, ask questions that will get your audience talking. Stories a perfect place for those photos, which might not be in keeping with the aesthetic of the main feed too. Of course, stories disappear after 24 hours, but when they are so good, why not use them again? All you need to do is go to your ‘Stories Archive’ and you’ll find them all saved ready to be used again.

What next? If your Instagram feed isn’t looking as hot as it should and you’re not getting the engagement you deserve, get in touch for a free consultation, we can chat strategy, audit your social accounts and find a way to make the changes you need. Book a call now.