How To Create a Killer Online Presence on Instagram

I was fourteen or so when I first started sharing photographs of my outfits online. This was far before the days of Instagram, so instead I found solace in a website called Lookbook, posting ‘looks’ and trawling news feeds in order to satiate and inspire the mid 2000s emo in me that was waiting to come out. In many ways it was much like the Instagram of 2006 for fashion lovers, without the skinny tea and teeth whitening kits. It was 2009 when I crumbled and created a Tumblr under the recommendation of my best friend, a platform that soon became another avenue where I could share my ‘style photos’ and experiment. Thankfully for many of you that awkward phase won’t be shared online like it was for me, or if it is you can attempt to block it out with lots of badass photos of you now and a killer online presence.

Whilst I don’t think I am an expert by any means on how to be cool, I do think I know a thing or two about creating a successful online personal brand. I have been running my personal style Instagram (@ameliagoldie) for over a decade, completed a Masters in Digital Communication and worked for a number of different Digital Media agencies. Along the way I have picked up some pieces of advice that I now want to pass on down to you.

Create a strong brand and area of focus.

In order to have a successful online presence it is vital to have an area of focus. When explaining my area of focus, you could say “pale girl who only wears neutrals” or “goth bitch”. It is vital to have a very clear idea of what it is you are going to be posting about. Will it be vegan food, you in different bikinis, your dog dressed up in human clothes, makeup looks, landscape photography… whatever it is, it’s time to bring it down to a few key words. As much as you may want to post about all of the above on one account, it is imperative you simply focus on one main subject if you want a strong following.

This brings us to the next point…

Create a community.

Find others who are also passionate about the area of focus you are posting about. Are you a landscape photographer? Go and like hundreds of other landscape photographers by searching the appropriate hashtags and the people those people are following and soon you will find it will begin to have a snowball effect. Find popular hashtags that they are using and start to use them. Engage with your audience as much as you can. This doesn’t mean simply liking people’s posts. More often than not popular Instagrammers won’t even notice that you’ve liked their posts unless you like a lot of them in a row, so what’s more important is to comment. Be authentic, don’t sound too staged or like a five year old drunk on red cordial. It’s far better to say “this is an incredible photo, I really love the way you’ve captured this” than “AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!1!1!!ONE!1” but who am I to judge. I have probably written the latter on the @doggosdoingthings page more than once.

Take high quality images and post regularly.

“Say it with me, “sunlight” (yes I did just quote Bring It On). Natural lighting is your friend. Image quality is everything when it comes to Instagram and taking photos in good lighting is a game changer. If you’re taking flat lays, find a white table near a window or go and buy a large piece of white cardboard to use as a base for your photos. The app VSCO Cam is a godsend when it comes to editing photographs for Instagram and I recommend buying a couple of the filter packs you can get with it. A6, HB1, HB2 AND S2 are the filters I have previously used in regular rotation. Afterlight and Lightroom are also fantastic for exposure, highlights and colour balance, and Facetune is incredible for whitening the backdrops or objects in your photos that aren’t as white as you’d like them. In an ideal world, post twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Whilst it’s dependent on your analytics, a safe assumption is that travelling times and meal times are the best to post in. Think breakfast, lunch and dinner and your commute to and from work. 8-9am, 1-3pm and 5-7pm are often the best times to post but to really nail it down, try an analytics program.

Utilize Hashtags and Tagging, But Don’t Overdo It

Both hashtags and tagging can be your friend but don’t be that annoying person that hashtags half the dictionary. Use relevant terms, popular hashtags in your community and tag companies when you have used their products. By tagging #ASOS on an outfit that features ASOS clothing, I have a chance that they will see it and repost it onto their account or at least followers of ASOS may also see it and want to follow me. By hash-tagging and tagging, you are giving your content a far bigger chance of being noticed and most importantly, being noticed by the audience you are catering to. Again, I try and not use more than eleven hashtags and I put it in a comment instead of my caption to keep things tidy.

Be Authentic and Personable

Let your personality come through in your posts. Don’t be too staged or rigid. The people I love following the most are the ones who communicate like they are my best friends sharing things with me that I might like. Don’t be afraid to talk about your day or be open when things aren’t going well for you that week. Instagram surprised me by being an incredibly inspirational and heartwarming platform, allowing me to create friendships that have now come to life in the (gasp) ‘real world’. Don’t be afraid to show off your dorky side, because God knows it’s nice to remember that although you are trying to create a platform of “aesthetically pleasing” posts, life is never perfect.