We’ve got three easy ways using styled stock photos can help your reach on Instagram skyrocket – all while saving you time and sanity, too. Because we know you’ve got an empire to build!
Scroll DownThere’s no denying it: if you don’t make a great first impression on Instagram through your overall feed, you’ve most likely lost a potential customer, follower, and friend. With our attention spans getting shorter (does this make anyone else a little bit sad?!) and our to-do lists always there, it’s imperative that we make sure the “window” of our businesses that we’re presenting to the world look just as good as those famous Macy’s holiday windows – Christmas or not!
We’re breaking down the top three ways using styled stock photography can instantly help you up your Insta game below. Read on, implement the tips, and watch your Instagram explode! 😉
We’ve all done it – life got busy, business got busy (yay!), and a week went by and we forgot to post on Instagram. Womp womp.
Seriously, this happens to all of us, which is one of the reasons that utilizing styled stock photos is SUCH a lifesaver – you can actually PLAN your content out in advance!
We’re all about working smarter and not harder here at KateMaxStock and with the help of stock photos plus a few favorite Instagram planning tools (our favorite is Planoly!), it becomes easy to plan your marketing and feed out a couple of weeks (or months if you’re feeling wild!) in advance.
We know July 15th is National Ice Cream Day, for example. So instead of waking up that day and being caught off guard by another fun national day in our feed, we’re prepared with our KateMaxStock ice cream photos and already have that day built into our feed calendar! See what we mean? Styled stock photos make it super easy to plan your messaging out in advance – no more panicking the morning of a national holiday that’s taking over social media when you have nothing to post or waking up and realizing it’s been two weeks since you posted!
We suggest taking one day every two weeks (start with one day every week if that feels like too much) to organize your content, any upcoming business news, promotions, or anything on your heart and mind. Plan out your photos, like you see in the example of our Planoly grid here, write your captions for each post and bam – you are golden for the next two weeks!
You know that #girlboss you admire because she’s hit all her goals and is building an inspiring business? Or Michael Phelps, even? They got to where they are by staying consistent.
Michael Phelps didn’t jump in the pool every other week, swim a couple of laps, and call that his practice routine. No way! He jumped in the pool every single day, multiple times a day. He kept going even when his previous swim time was longer than his swim time that morning. He stayed consistent. And so does that boss babe you admire.
Staying consistent with your marketing is a must – you know this. Staying consistent on Instagram is also a must. When your Instagram feed often acts as a storefront for your business these days, you literally cannot afford to not stay consistent and on brand with your Instagram marketing. Planning, like we talked about above, helps you stay consistent and your styled stock membership helps you stay on brand, all the time.
You want a new viewer to look at your feed, and thus, your business, and go “Oh heck yes! I’m interested!”
When you stay on brand to your business by utilizing the same style of photos and graphics, your audience will come to recognize your posts within their feed and will know what to expect from you. When you show up one day on Instagram with a dark and moody photo and then show up three days later with a bright and beautiful shot of a morning latte, they may start to get a little bit confused.
Your audience follows you for a reason – and that’s because they know what they’re getting into by following you. They know what to expect – whether that’s gorgeous images paired with heartfelt captions or educational tips on how to design their best website paired with high-quality, professional images and mockups.
Using stock photos to help you visually demonstrate that level of bosslady professionalism that you already run your business with takes you one step further – and when you stay consistent with that marketing? Bam – ten steps further! World domination here you come!
One of our favorite ways to stay on brand with our feed is by following a pretty specific color story. This one is completely personal preference – I love feeds that are crazy bright and all over the place with colors and compositions, but for my personal brand, I definitely prefer clean and simple, with an obvious feminine feel. Give me all the white, blush, and neutral colors, please!
By employing this strategy into our Instagram feed, we ensure that our feed upon first glance always looks professional and is a direct representation of the high-quality images we produce each month.
We’re not creating new styled stock photos each month for ourselves – we’re creating them for all of the incredible, hard-working women running their businesses out there – so that means the type of images we’re creating each month varies, and usually they’re not all one hundred percent totally on brand with the KateMaxStock marketing strategy. I love all the images in the Shop like my babies, but they don’t all look good in my Instagram feed or within my own marketing channels. By sticking to my theme of blush and neutrals, it’s still easy for a viewer or potential new customer to get a quick idea of what KMS is all about – beautiful, high-quality professional photos – without being distracted by a sea of different colors, subjects, and compositions.
My mind may feel like a zoo sometimes but my business feed always looks calm & collected! 😉
Planning, ensuring you’re staying consistent and on brand, and sticking to your color story can help you rock the heck out of your Instagram marketing. Try to implement these three tips consistently (are you noticing a trend here?! consistency is key!) and watch your Instagram reach skyrocket – AND watch how the overwhelm of planning your content and feed each week starts to lessen and lessen. All hale styled stock photos! 😉
Alright girlboss, go get ’em on the gram!
Time to get that September content in tip-top shape!
To the slow, sacred, and sweet mornings at home. ☕️
