FROM OUR FOUNDER : HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT IG THEME
ok.
FROM COLORS TO EDITING, OUR FOUNDER BREAKS IT
ALL DOWN, AND GIVES YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED
TO KNOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT IG THEME.
SCROLL TO READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW,
THEN START CREATING!
XX
When landing on a profile, what makes you click “follow”?
A good First impression! Yes, it still matters even more so in the virtual world where everyone is essentially touchable.
There's so many amazing brands, personalities, profiles it's hard not to follow everyone. What usually does it for me is the interest captured with the first 9 photos. If it's relatable to personal interests, relevant and then aesthetically pleasing - all with the thought of quite possibly missing something special - that usually makes be act and click follow.
3 key tips to an aesthetically pleasing theme and profile.
1. It doesn’t matter what the theme is, pick one and keep your filters consistent- either throughout your entire feed or within groups amongst your feed. Its always fun and refreshing to change things up from time to time.
2. Avoid clutter - suggests uncertainty of your brand direction (by clutter i mean random posts all unassociated with the previous or next) .
3. Quality over quantity with the understanding of what your audience is looking for. With the always changing algorithms on Instagram, your posts also need to capture the attention of your potiential audience immediately and quicker than ever. So yes study your likes, and take in all the feedback you get. Your growth will be significantly faster if you ‘take to heart’ what your audience likes as well.
xx @wildestlovers (right) does a great job of staying consistent and dedicated to a vintage low contrast sexy vibe. We love "inspo accounts" and how they are dedicated to delivering specific inspo on a daily basis.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR FILLER PHOTOS?
Outside of Instagram, on my phone I have a vision board within my albums. I'm always inspired by unique things that can inspire change and growth as an individual and in my day to day. Last week I came across a photo of Kevyn Aucoin's newest Blush form with a beautiful coral gradient palette. I saved it and was instantly inspired to create a dress design with a gradient tone. Things pop up all the time all over virtual platforms of things, places, and people that you never knew you were looking for. I store them into my albums and always reference back and if it means creating a cohesive feed, I find inspirations in that as well. I LOVE seeing a well thoughtout timeline!
xx Another great tip here is develop content pillars that you believe represent your brands, ours are inspiration, product shots, customers, headless selfies and flat lays. This helps develop brand direction and can help when you are struggling with what to post
When you are considering posting photos, what helps you stay true to the “JLUX” brand?
Because we find our audience gravitates to things we like and enjoy, it's easy to remain consistent and true to who we are as a brand. What really keeps us true above all is knowing, listening, and delivering what our audience is asking for. If you feel headless iPhone shots show realistically how a garment appears we will keep taking them.
Do you think it is necessary to stay committed to one color palette?
Not at all! Social media is an amazing tool but it’s just another platform for expression. Keep it refreshing, don’t be afraid of change- your audience will quickly have an opinion. So while it’s important to stay true your vision , you need to be flexible and invested enough to remember that still in this realm ‘customers are always right.' When utilizing instagram to build a brand/company, I say CARE about what your fans are saying and find your balance. If you’re promoting Yourself however — be YOU , your brand is your personality, people are either gonna love you and ride with u or eventually see thru the dishonesty and move on anyway.
xx @karleycakesss (left) has a lot of color in her profile but stays true to her aesthetic.
OUR PROFILE AS OF LATE
Currently we have a lot of bronze tones for summer, but next week, who knows what our profile will look like! We love to mix up images and tones.
How do you plan what to post and what are your favorite apps?
What we post is a direct reflection of what we have in stock or gearing up to release at the time - that could be collections, lookbooks etc. Once we have the subject in place, we clean and mix things up using an app called UNUM. This app was a game changer for us, and it's also FREE!
FAVORITE APPS -
Darkroom - photo editing
Facetune - Retouching
Photogrid - Collaging
UNUM - Planning/Scheduling
VSCO - Filters
WordSwag - Texts (GREAT FOR INSTASTORIES)
@harleyquinnandco
@kimkardashian
We love the creativity, passion and aesthetic behind these babes.
Any last Words of wisdom
You can only make a first impression once. Seems silly to equate to real life impressions but if utilizing instagram as your primary marketing tool than treat it like your baby and invest in making it exactly what you see it to be. Stay Informed, stay creative, and stay passionate - there's thousands of people out there who are looking for you who just don't know it just yet!!