A Deep Dive into the Instagram Grid Layout
Thanks for tuning into our first blog in this April’s Instagram Success Series. Today we’re discussing the Instagram Grid layout in-depth, sharing exactly why you should be funneling attention to the curation of your Instagram grid (the order/design of Instagram posts). I’ll be walking you through the user experience, as well as sharing tips on how to showcase your brand online.
If you find this post helpful, please share it with your network! (Be sure to stick around until the end for notes on where our team predicts social media is heading next.)
The Instagram Grid Layout 101:
The Instagram grid layout is a powerful marketing funnel that previews your brand experience and serves as a portal into your brand’s vibrant world. When the Instagram grid is overlooked, this can lead to a break in trust and flop in an otherwise thriving mode of connection. Let's talk about the user experience more in-depth.
Steps of a Customer’s Instagram experience:
Step 1: First Impression
Your audience will create an impression of your brand based on the quality and content of your Instagram grid. A team of neuroscientists from MIT found that the human brain can process entire images for as little as 13 miliseconds. (news.mit.edu) That tells us when it comes to users creating an impression of a brand, the visual aesthetics of the grid influences a consumer—all at a glance. Due to the brevity of this interaction, designing an aesthetically elevated grid can elevate or sink a customer's experience right away.
Note: when an Instagram's aesthetic looks phenomenal, people pay attention!
TIP:
When it comes to creating an Instagram grid, the goal is to showcase your brand’s many offerings, moods, and perspectives in a balanced, flowing design. Your audience will note how you present yourself online and how you engage with them virtually. If you take great care of these interactions offline, I invite you to imbue that special care into each post and interaction online.
Step 2: Audience Engagement
Here’s where each individual posts' quality + content truly counts. After your audience has made their initial impression, they are at a crossroads of staying on your profile by clicking on posts, scrolling through your Instagram grid, viewing highlights, and following, vs. maybe following and hopping off your profile. When you have engaging visuals that tell an easily digestible lifestyle story, audiences have the opportunity to consume your brand like any other entertainment media. Each second you have with your potential customer builds a bond that can compound into a conversion.
TIP:
Utilize a variety of content styles to keep your audience engaged! For example, utilize video to share demos, utilize a slideshow to tell a story, or design a graphic for a special giveaway, launch or promotion. Instagram is also known to reward accounts (with engagement) that utilize a wider variety of Instagram’s tools.
Step 3: Conversion
This is where social media gets…really good. Like enjoying the thrill of the roller coaster, good. The Marketing Rule of 7 is a marketing rule developed by the movie industry in the 1930s, still said to this day. The Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to “hear” the advertiser's message at least 7 times before they'll take action to buy that product or service. Given the modernity of social media, we can achieve higher results than ever based on The Rule of 7, spending a fraction of the cost.
TIP:
Consistency is queen. When it comes to posting, stay on a schedule whether your pattern is every other day, three days/week, or 7 days/week. Creating structures and formulas to help organize and lead your strategy is the first place to start!
Summary
If your brand is ready to soar on Instagram, be sure to pour attention into each aspect of your social media: content creation, grid design, promotional strategies, and brand copy for the full effect of Instagram. Given the power of visuals, brands that focus attention on their creative expression will shine online!
The task of social media can be daunting but when done well, social media has the power to propel your brand (& what it stands for) into the ethers.
Where Could Social Media Be Headed?
Our team is paying close attention to the implementation of reel video content, photo slideshows, as well as utilizing carousel posts to tell a brand’s lifestyle story. In the future, we think we’ll be seeing more attention to video as platforms strive to compete with the fastest growing platform, TikTok. With video being important for “viral-ization”, photography, especially in context with the Instagram grid layout is still just as important as before.
Stay tuned for future Instagram Success Series topics, dropping each week this month.
Stay balanced & shine bright!