8 Secrets for Creating Quality Instagram Content: Part 3 of the Instagram Growth Series

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘content is king’. In fact, it gets batted around so often that it’s easy to forget just how true it is. You can use all the hashtags in the world, write amazing captions but ain’t nobody gonna follow you if your content is lacklustre.

Creating content for Instagram can feel daunting – what if I get it wrong? What if literally nobody likes my photo (except for my mum and that weird guy from high school who definitely don’t count)?

Here are 8 tips to get you creating quality content that’s super on-brand and will get you noticed!

1. Understand Your Audience

I know, I know, you guys are sick of me saying it. But before you post anything on Instagram, you’ve got to know your audience. What is the purpose of your post? Why do your audience follow you and what do they want to see?

It can be easy to use Instagram as an online diary, posting random snaps from your day (which there definitely isn’t anything wrong with). But if you seriously want to grow online, you’re going to have to niche down. Make sure to post photos that are relevant to your niche i.e. if you’re a wedding photographer, stop posting photos of your M&S tuna sandwich on a Thursday afternoon. Give the people what they want.

2. Use Faces in Your Photos

People love people. We’re social beings and we love being able to connect with others online. Did you know that photos with faces in them are 38% more likely to receive likes and 32% more likely to receive comments?

Whatever you’re posting, try to make it appeal to the viewer’s emotions. How do you want them to feel when they see your post? Happy? Sad? Calm? Bear this in mind when creating content. The things that move us are generally the ones we’re more likely to engage with.

3. Use High Quality Stock Images

If you struggle to create enough content to be posting consistently, consider using some high quality stock images to fill out your feed. These look super professional & also take some of the pressure of you to create bespoke content.

Sites such as Canva, Pexels, or Burst by Shopify are great places to find amazing high-quality stock images.

4. Embrace User Generated Content

User generated content is content created by other Instagram users, usually your followers. If another user posts a high quality photo featuring your product, ask if you can post this to your own Instagram page. Encouraging people to tag you in related photos is a great way to post content with minimal effort.

5. Use Batch Working

Batch working is an absolute life saver and if you’re not already implementing it in your Instagram strategy, it’s time to get on it! Batch working means you take a number of photographs and edit them all in one session on a regular basis. This is opposed to taking a photograph and posting it all in the same day.

Batch working means that you’ll have a catalogue of high quality content ready to use, and won’t feel forced into posting something lacklustre just for the sake of getting something up.

6. Measure Your Performance

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

If you want to create content that does well online, it’s time to look back on what has and hasn’t worked for you in the past. If there’s a specific type of post that always gets higher engagement, it’s time to create more of that content. If certain posts never do very well, maybe it’s time to rethink them.

Be strategic about what you’re posting.

7. Use a Theme

The easiest way to make sure that your photographic content is high quality is to create a planned theme. Check out my upcoming post all about how to create an Instagram theme for more info.

8. Just Do It

Done is better than perfect.

So just do it. Like anything in life, you learn how to create quality content by actually doing it. Don’t worry if you’re not perfect at first, just focus on being consistent and improving. If you do that, the quality of your content will just keep getting better and better.

Want to take your Instagram to the next level?

Check out my Instagram Growth Series, which takes you through everything from crafting the perfect bio to curating a hashtag list that actually works: