Branding for Beginners: Building Your Personal Brand on Instagram

It’s no secret that the first thing people do when hiring potential employees (or meeting someone new in general) is scope out their social media. So, a platform like Instagram now goes far beyond just posting random photos here and there. For many users, it has turned into a curated gallery that represents your personal brand, your interests, and your personality. A quick look at someone’s page can often tell you a lot about them; perhaps this is why we are spending more and more time designing our feeds to best represent ourselves and who we want to be. 

Luckily, you don’t need to be a professional social media marketer to have the feed of your dreams. There are tons of simple tips for turning your page into a useful resource. If you’re a branding beginner or are just looking for quick ways to design a better feed, keep reading for some of my easiest go-to tricks for building your personal brand on Instagram. 

Introduce Yourself

Ah - the instagram bio. It’s always been there, but how much thought do we really put into it? Users tend to go classic and include their age, name, occupation, location, and maybe a favourite quote or a catchy tagline. The platform even recently added a feature to display preferred pronouns next to your name. But how can you optimize your instagram bio to make it an asset to your personal brand?

First and foremost, make sure that your name is set to the one that people would typically search for if looking for your page; whether that be a business name, full name, or nickname. If you want to use your Instagram as a resource instead of just for occasional posting, you want to be easy to find! Keep the rest of your bio simple, succinct, and in line with the type of content you typically share. What is your page all about? What are YOU all about? These are key questions to think about when you decide on a bio. Less is more, so be sure to include only the main things that you want people to know about you. 

Most people will also recommend using Linktree to keep your page uncluttered while including all the relevant links to your other content. It’s a great tool if you are hoping to direct clients, employers, or even friends to other platforms or components of your personal brand without overwhelming your bio. 

Presets, Presets, Presets

Using a theme on your Instagram can make all the difference in its overall appeal - you can’t deny the aesthetic value of cohesiveness throughout a feed. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by using presets on your photos. These are essentially custom filters that can be saved and applied to multiple photos to achieve that sought after level of consistency on your page. They can convey a theme that is reflective of your personal brand (are you bright and fun, or dark and cinematic?). Here are some examples of beautifully curated feeds that use specific presets to keep a distinct flow:

You can create your own presets through the editing app Lightroom or you can purchase packs of them online. These give you several different versions of similar presets so you’ll have the perfect one for each unique photo. Then, all you have to do is run your pics through your preset on the Lightroom app, and you’ll have a cohesive page in no time! 

Check out some of the presets available on Etsy; they have every theme and vibe you could imagine, plus they're quick + easy to download!

Highlight Covers - Decorate Your Page

Instagram introduced their highlights feature in 2017, allowing users to save their favourite stories to their page for later viewing. Since then, the platform has added ways to customize these highlights both by name and by cover photo. The way I see it, the highlights section is just another area that you can tailor to your own personal vibe. Some accounts rock actual photos as cover images, and some go for custom graphics to add a personal twist or display their skills if they’re into digital design. 

The best approach is to choose what fits best with the overall purpose of your account. If you’re looking to establish a specific personal brand, I would always recommend creating your own highlight covers using a design app like Canva. If you prefer to keep things simple and use photos, presetting them first (as discussed above!) can make all the difference and keep things from looking too busy. The decision is yours, so play around with it and find what works best for you!

Grid Posting

The concept of grid posting is often used by companies and influencers on Instagram, but more and more accounts are starting to employ some form of this strategy to make their pages aesthetically pleasing. Essentially, grid posting just refers to sharing images and content on the platform in some sort of pattern. This might include posting three similar photos in a row, alternating between graphics and photos, or alternating between specific presets with each post. This is a trick for someone who is really looking to change their Instagram game and is committed to a semi-regular posting schedule. It’s a bit of a time commitment, but definitely works for the person who is looking to display a personal brand and maybe even build more of a following.

No matter what, your Instagram is truly your personal platform for portraying and sharing whatever aspects of your life that you wish to share. There are no real rules - you should always post whatever makes you feel good! These tips are just suggestions for anyone looking to turn their Instagram into a tool to represent their personal brand. If you're interested in talking more about Instagram or using social media to build your brand, reach out to me through my contact page and let's get the conversation started!