How to Use Your Brand Strategically on Instagram

After you’ve invested in professional branding, it's important to apply your brand to all aspects of your online presence. A lot of follow-up questions I receive from clients relate to using their new brand on Instagram. (This is why one of the deliverables included for all brand design clients is a set of Instagram templates you can edit yourself using Canva.)

If you’re using Instagram to promote your business or share about your offerings, consider all the ways you can strategically position your brand using this platform.

Today I want to share my thoughts on implementing your brand design and keeping your brand strategy in mind as you plan your Instagram feed and prepare social media marketing content. Here are a few tips for making sure your Instagram profile is as streamlined as your website!

Tip #1: Keep your feed cohesive

Using imagery and graphics that evoke the emotion and visuals your brand embodies is a great way to carry your brand message and strategy from one platform to another. When you plan your Instagram feed, make sure you’re choosing images that carry your brand colors and create graphics using your branded color palette and font options. Visually, this consistency will present a more cohesive, united front that establishes your brand as quality and high-value.

Tip #2: Promote brand recognition

Not only do we want your feed to be cohesive within itself, but the other goal is to make sure that your messaging and graphics provide your audience with consistency so that your brand recognition is improved. If they can pick out your posts quickly while scrolling their feed of accounts they follow, you’ll be better positioned to make a lasting impression.

This is especially important for Instagram, a platform that doesn’t allow for easy links back and forth between your content and other offerings. Online, you can make sure that links take your audience directly to your website, but your Instagram has to act as a sort of extension of your website on an island, so making sure that the brand consistency is there is crucial.

Tip #3: Present high-quality materials

You’ve put all this effort and investment into developing a really solid brand, and the worst thing you can do is end your winning streak there. Continue to prioritize high-quality design work, either by purchasing assets that you can use yourself to create brand-cohesive designs or by hiring a designer or team to develop this content for you.

Use high-quality graphics to increase the perceived value of your offerings on both your feed posts as well as your Stories, where your audience can see you show up on a daily basis and to help you stand apart from the crowd.

Tip #4: Post intentionally

Not only should you plan your posts in advance so you can schedule them out on a consistent basis, but giving yourself the time and freedom to plan your materials with a bird’s eye view of the upcoming calendar, without the time crunch of posting on the fly, allows you to be attentive to the language and voice; aka how your brand is coming across to your audience.

Use your planning and preparation time as a chance to cater your message deliberately to your target audience. You’ve developed this brand strategy to appeal just to them, so make sure you have the time to implement it by getting organized and posting intentionally.

Tip #5: Dress up your profile

Last, but not least, make sure your profile really sells your brand. As mentioned before, you don’t have a lot of opportunities to bring people into your website from Instagram, as it’s kind of just out there on its own. However, your profile link is your one powerful tool to channel that audience to your website.

Make sure your profile sets a lasting impression by dressing it up with a custom profile picture (either of your brand mark or your face), lots of keywords, and a full body of resources in your IG Stories Highlights. This is also a great place to show off your brand color palette!

Using your brand strategically on Instagram is a great use of your new brand that you’ve designed. If you’re needing a little guidance on your brand or looking for someone to help you develop a brand strategy, I’d love to chat with you!