7 Creative Instagram Feeds to Draw Inspiration from
Are you looking for ways to spruce up your Instagram feed?
If you are a marketer or brand manager in need of inspiration, this article is for you.
Here are 8 creative Instagram feeds you will love and be inspired by:
1. Elsie+Emma A Beautiful Mess
@abeautifulmess
Elsie and Emma are two sisters in love with everything involving home decor. On their Instagram account they share home decor projects, homemade decorations and themed food recipes. Their feed is visually pleasing by using photos with the same soft colours, shades and tones which give their account unity.
2. Pantone
@pantone
Since 2000, the Pantone Color Institute declares a particular color “Color of the Year”. For 2018, the institute chose Ultra Violet, which was described by Leatrice Eiseman, the director of the institute, as “a dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade” which “communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future”.
The Pantone Instagram account crafts its beautiful feed through user-generated content.
3. Venture Onward
@christianwtsn
Venture Onward is the Instagram account of a small branding agency dedicated to preserving the practices of early 1900′ in relevant fields of expertise: photography, branding, writing, design, and archiving. The agency was founded by Christian Watson, talented illustrator and gifted photographer.
Their Instagram feed is a mix of Christian’s illustrations and beautiful landscapes, portraits and still life photographies. The feed has a lot of dark, brown and grey tones balanced by whites.
4. Soulminimalist
@soulminimalist
Soulminimalist features artists whose images illustrate minimalism, a concept in the art world. Minimalist photography is a simple but dramatic way to capture images. This Instagram feed is certainly very different than the exuberant and vivid colored feeds of other creators.
5. Lana Dumitru
@LANADUMITRU
Lana Dumitru is a Romanian digital artist and fashion designer who creates surreal futuristic clothing. Lana is an innovative designer experimenting with camouflage, modern technology and traditional patterns. She describes her clothes as “wearable opinions”.
Lana’s Instagram feed stands out by using the puzzle effect.
6. Carolina F.
@cart0lina
Carolina Fragapane is an Italian graphic designer with a stunning Instagram account. She combines the puzzle grid with moving photos (cinemagraphs) like this one:
Her feed is one never-ending still life photograph with unexpected visual surprises!
7. Subway Doodle
@subwaydoodle
The Subway Doodle account features illustrations drawn on photographs taken in the subway. The illustrations depict blue monsters living among the people riding the subway. The author of these original illustrations has maintained his anonymity. His work has been featured in publications and digital media around the world.
Storytelling through Instagram feed
How can you do storytelling on your Instagram’s feed?
Storytelling in marketing is about using digital means to tell your brand’s story and emotionally connect with your audience.
Let’s discover how to use your Instagram feed to tell your brand’s story!
Here is our list of recommendations to get you inspired and get you started:
1. Quotes
Whether it’s Dwayne The Rock Johnson or Richard Branson, Maya Angelou or Oprah Winfrey, everyone can find a quote that rings true to them!
Quotes encapsulate a person’s wisdom and are tiny vehicles of our collective knowledge. Quotes and sayings are expressions of insight put into memorable wording.
People come to Instagram to look for inspiration and motivation so quotes can be a powerful tool you can use to tell your story.
LinkedIn is a great example of using quotes.
2. Video
A picture tells a thousand words, but video tells a story.
Instagram started as an image based social media channel, but later it allowed its users to load and post videos.
If you are just starting out, you don’t need to invest money in expensive video equipments to record video, you only need your smartphone’s camera and good lighting. It’s easier than writing a blog post or editing an image: just push the record button on your camera, point it at yourself or your product and tell your story.
Watch how seblester uses video on his Instagram account:
3. One theme+one filter
To catch everyone’s attention you need to invest in your account’s aesthetics. After all, Instagram is the most visually pleasing social media platform by excellence! It’s about what you say but also how you say it.
Think about your story and choose one theme that best illustrates it and one filter that helps your theme stand out.
Some accounts are colourful (erinsummer_), others turn to the dark side, using brown, grey or black tones (maria_solovey), while others love the many shades of white (she.turns.pages). Browse Preview app to find your theme.
4. Write the story of the image
Instagram is all about visuals, but it also offers its users 2200 characters to write the caption of the image or video.
It is a great opportunity to have a double impact on your visitor: a great image and a great text.
National Geographic is an excellent example of storytelling using the photo and text combo:
5. User-generated content
Apple’s Instagram strategy relies exclusively on user-generated content: Apple posts photographs taken by Apple users. Instead of saying “look how great we are”, Apple is showcasing their users’ photographing skills and creativity, creating a culture built around customer values and aspirations.
6. Branded hashtag
User-generated content strategy cannot be accomplished without branded hashtag. The branded hashtag can illustrate brand’s core values, goals or story.
It is also a tool to find the content generated by its users.
Here are 3 examples of branded hashtags:
#ShotonIphone (Apple),
#LiveinLevis (Levi’s),
#justdoit (Nike)
7. Show your work
Ultimately, Instagram is a place to show your expertise, your talents or abilities, your brand’s values, your customers’ goals and aspirations.
Use various photo editing apps to make your images stand out and attract followers to your Instagram account, such as Instagrid, Snapseed or Prisma.
Here are 3 examples of Instagram accounts that can inspire you: christianwtsn, subwaydoodle, lingvistov.
