Finding yourself lost when it comes to creating a beautiful, cohesive and productive Instagram feed?
Worry not, these 4 tips styling tips will give your brand a boost!
Embrace the flat lay!
When it comes to product shots, flat lays are the oldies but still very much the goodies and should most certainly not be overlooked.
They key to flat lay success comes from paring everything back and keeping it simple.
Plain, neutral background work best, as they allow the product to shine. If you don’t have a table or floor that works, buy some large sheets of paper, or material, get a couple of sheets or pieces of material in neutral colours that work with, and compliment your brand colours.
Once you have your background, you need to work out the best angle to shoot from. After 6 years of social styling, I’ve found that shooting from above is not only the most effective, it’s also the easiest to do and recreate.
There are two ways to do this, the first is to stand on a ladder or chair and lean over the flat lay, or to give yourself a much more secure and manageable method, get yourself a tripod for your camera or phone, my favourite is this Manfrotto tripod for my camera and this Ibeston iphone tripod is my favourite.
When positioning your product in the shot, keep it simple, but not sparse. It can take a little time to get the look right, have lots of additional items that work with your product in terms of theme, colour and texture, to bring more detail to your photo. Here are some examples I have taken for clients of mine…
2. Focus on the details
Does your product have small, intricate details? Something that makes it unique or extra special?
Nearly every product can benefit from close-up shots that focus on a unique attribute. With jewellery clients, that’s the clarity of the stones, for skincare brands it’s the texture of the product.
The trick with detail shots is to hold them back for products that are best seen close up, use them sparingly and allow them to have as much impact as possible.
3. Share fans and followers images
Not only does sharing user generated images help to bulk out your social content, it also shows appreciation for the customers who take the time to share your products on their own platforms. By re-using them on the brands pages you are maximising customer loyalty, inspiring others to do the same, and increasing brand images.
Whilst not all customers images are worth sharing on the brands social, there will be some that work in terms of colour, theme and styling. By using calls to action in your captions and content, you can inspire more people to share, further increasing brand awareness. Simply adding “we’d love to see your daily skincare routine” or “do you have a favourite piece of our jewellery that you simply cannot be without? Share it with us using #InsertBrandHashtagHere”
4. Incorporate a human element
It can be very easy to focus on the product and not the people that might use it, by bringing an element of people into shots you allow potential customers and other followers to imagine theirselves wearing or using the products.
The human element doesn’t need to be obvious, it could be as simple as a hand holding a bottle, a close up of skin or hair depending on your product.
As you can see from these images, the use of people can be very varied and give a completely different vibe every time.
