Recently, Instagram announced the arrival of web profiles and started rolling them out to all users. The profiles, with a Facebook Timeline type design, are a great way to brand yourself or your company, and with any social network page you own on the internet, it is important to get all the components right to create the perfect brand.
Here are my top 3 tips to keeping your Instagram web profile in brilliant condition:
1. Quality
In an age where the highest megapixel cameras ever are available on phones, image quality is crucial when posting to Instagram. If you have a choice between, for example, using a 3G iPhone and an iPhone 4s with HD camera – choose the 4s. Users will like to see high quality photos that show every detail (unlike the example photo to the right) – so using a non-phone HQ camera, and importing the photo into Instagram is an even better idea!
When viewing photos, there is nothing more off-putting than a pixelated image – especially when an image is maximised and becomes pixelated at a larger size. Quality is crucial on Instagram – and can reflect greatly on the quality of your brand.
2. Quantity
When choosing photos and images to post, don’t post everything – that’s what Twitter is for. Highlight the best parts of your business – awards, special events, celebrity visits etc, however ensure you are selective with these too – users don’t want to come onto your profile and find you posting about every highlight your company has ever had – they want to be able to scan the page and know what you/your company is about in a matter of seconds. However, if you do register for an account (even just as a holder account for the username) – try and use it!
eBay have 600 followers and haven’t yet posted anything – and their account looks empty. Don’t post too little or too much, you need to get the amount just right for the perfect branding.
3. Filters
The true-selling point of Instagram is the filters system. The app allows users to take a photo on their phone, add a filter, edit the contrast, and share the photo onto social networks all within one application.
It is important to pick the correct filters for your photos. You don’t want to ruin the shot or take away any of the character, so take time making sure you pick the correct one to get the full image. However, filters aren’t always important. You can share a photo through Instagram without a filter – and sometimes this works best. Don’t over-use the filters – they are there to improve some photos, not change every single photo.
What do you think of Instagram’s web profiles? Are they a good idea or do they hinder the point of it being a photo application? Let us know in the comments.
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