Having a database exceeding 300 million active users on a monthly basis, Instagram as a social networking site is huge! The millennial demographic is glued to it.
There is no denying that the youth is an attractive and challenging target customer section for any brand.
In this day and age where there is more focus on visual content and increase in mobile connectivity, Instagram is undoubtedly the perfect marketing channel.
It is 2018, and several brands consider Instagram to be the right tool for gaining social recognition, but they often lack when it comes to using the platform optimally.
As stated before, Instagram has a massive number of users who have a lot to say, which is why brand messages often fade into oblivion amidst the wave of excess content.
Even though brands find the platform appealing, they fail to create engaging and compelling visual content that is tailor-made to give their marketing efforts a boost.
Hence, the need of the hour for marketers is to adopt the thinking process of visual storytellers and artists on this site.
That way they can instantly strike a chord with their target customers and other online viewers, especially the youth.
For this, it is essential to blend in various aspects that include refined aesthetics, creative storytelling, smart strategy, content development, and procurement.
In a nutshell, the objective is to give shape to a stunning visual story that will draw in more viewers and help a brand market itself better on Instagram.
Is that what you have been planning as well? If yes, then here are five effective ways to generate attractive visual stories for Instagram.
1. Focus On A Simple Promise And Offer A Neat Brand Message
It is all about sharing a unique insight into your brand through the platform. You should not only aim at grabbing the attention of the audience, but you should also help them connect to your brand.
From inspirational messages, lifestyle updates, and service utility to posts on history and heritage, your brand message can focus on any number of things.
However, how you deliver the same should be unique. There must be a storyline that helps to connect the brand with the objective.
2. Create Your Story Based On The Three Principles Of Visual Storytelling
The three principles are namely legitimacy, perceptive and significance. Let’s discuss each of them:
3. Legitimacy
The increase in content available online has made it easy for people to find anything they require. It indicates that customers have become pro in detecting anything fake.
Instagram users want images that are real and legitimate. They seem to be in favor of messages that are not mundane, and those with a fresh perspective and personal touch.
The mark of an authentic image is using fewer edits. The idea is to go low on post-production. Let there be few minor flaws as people connect to that and consider it real.
Perfection is a myth. In an attempt to make your Instagram visual content perfect, donot miss out on being authentic!
4. Perceptive
Notice that the popular Instagram images have one thing in common. They are all insightful, and they appeal to the viewers’ minds, thoughts and memories. The idea is to trigger something pleasant.
Online visitors pay close attention to these images. To achieve these aesthetics in your pictures, you can experiment with fantastic photo editing tools for Instagram and create a sense of taste, touch, and smell.
5. Significance
Increased internet use and the rapid pace of globalization is impacting cultural relevance and social norms. For instance, today there is an increased disdain for Photoshop use and the influence of mass ideas on appearance.
A brilliant example here is The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, where the brand has used individuals and models that do not adhere to the conservative beauty ideals.
With this initiative, Dove set a challenge for itself and also led to a cultural movement.
It also resulted in more connected customers.It is simple! When a brand goes all out to challenge the existing norms and offers localized content, there is a significant scope to generate a meaningful and lasting connection with the target customers.
6. Develop A Distinctive Visual Story
The brands that attract a meteor chunk of appreciation are the ones that share distinctive stories.
Customers are always searching for fresh, rich and unique content. Online users instinctively follow a brand that has engaging content.
Similarly, when they find a drop in the content richness, they do not take much time to unfollow as well.
Hence, brands that are willing to test out Instagram should research ways to create unique visual stories and balance them out with multiple themes.
7. Select The Storytelling Route You Want To Walk On
Brands need to tap into emotions such as the desire for love, justice, unknown, order, pleasure and the like to create compelling content.
The storytelling route on Instagram and other social media sites is embedded in human abstractions of challenges, inhibitions, ambition, desire and the like.
When these elements are presented spontaneously in the story, they have the power to grab and hold the attention for a more extended period.
8. Serenading Occasions With Engaging Stories
Every brand may find several occasions that can be beautifully woven into an appealing narrative.
These could be occasions like a feat in mountain climbing, a panoramic image of a sunset that draws in a thought-provoking philosophy, a new product launch or revamping of a product or website and many more.
Each occasion has a specific emotional undertone which can be shaped into an engaging visual story.
It is the 21st century! Other than stepping into a world of digital boom, we have also walked into a competitive online domain where each brand is breaking glass ceilings to be the best.
The idea is not just about grabbing eyeballs but about connecting deeply.
So, when you want to create your best visual story on Instagram, these tips will help you attain it well.
