How To Create An Aesthetically Pleasing Instagram Feed

By Sofia Olavarria, Social Media Manager @ Foodie Tribe 

If you’re looking to revamp your Instagram feed, you’ve come to the right place. We all know that nowadays social media is the “it”  place where people go to find their favorite brands, often instead of the brand’s actual website!  

On Instagram, you can briefly learn about a brand, browse their products, and even buy something online directly on the app - all very similar components to what a website can do for you. But there’s a catch, if your brand isn’t on the ‘gram, it’s lacking a major piece of the marketing strategy in today’s world. However, just being on the ‘gram doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the right track. 

You need to ensure that your brand is portrayed in the best light, including showing off your products in an appealing way, captioning content in your brand voice, using professional photos and videos, etc. But today we’re talking about that first-look people see when they first land on your Instagram profile... You’ve heard the term before, and you’ll hear it again and again - your Instagram needs to be ~ aesthetically pleasing ~

With a beautiful, cohesive feed your page will attract new followers and help the overall growth of your account. But you have to make sure that you're showcasing your brand in it’s own unique style that separates it from the rest. 

Revamp The Feed 

First things first, you’ll need to decide on the Instagram aesthetic that best fits your brand. Meaning, you have to decide on the overall look and feel of the feed. This could be bright and airy, colorful and fun, dark and moody, minimalist or maximalist. The possibilities are endless. This will set the tone for the aesthetic you’re going for and the overall look and feel of your account. 

Here are a few of our favorite brands with great looking feeds: Perfect Bar, Simple Mills, and  Lily’s Sweets

Preplan The Content  

Next, you’ll need to do some research and find an Instagram Layout Platform that can help pre-plan and layout your content. These apps allow you to upload images into a “feed template” and rearrange the content in order to visualize your feed ahead of publishing times. Pinpointing what looks best and where the content should go is a key factor when developing your aesthetic. 
Our Foodie Tribe profile is an example of a planned feed because we alternate images with graphics: Foodie Tribe 

Update The Highlights

Once you’ve vetted down the look and feel of your feed, you’ll need to incorporate the same vibe into your Instagram Highlights. If you’re not sure what that is, Instagram Highlights are those small, little buttons beneath the bio that house up to 100 IG Stories per button. In order to update those, and match them to your brand’s look and feel, you’ll need to create a template that fits the aesthetic you’re going for. It’s easy to-do and can really make a huge difference to your feed! We recommend using uniformed icons, brand colors, and/or the brand logo.

Here are a couple of brands with branded highlights: Doughp and Pasturebird

Format The Bio 

Lastly, the Instagram bio is a critical component that ties the overall aesthetic together. Here, you should include who, what, and where. In short, who you are (company name), what you do as a brand, and where your followers can go to learn more (AKA providing a link directly to your brand’s website). The style, verbiage, and appearance of your bio are also important factors and should be clean and easy to read for your followers. Long format sentences tend to stray followers away from actually reading it in full. Our best practice is to use emojis as bullet points and include a short, few words describing each point. That way, followers have a quick and easy understanding as to who you are and what your page can do for them. It’s also important to note that your Instagram name is searchable, just like your handle, so choose wisely!

Here are a few examples of clean and formatted brand Instagram bios: Compartes, The Salty Donut, and Trader Joe’s

Simply put, the aesthetic of your feed is a combination of cohesive content, a professional bio, and branded Instagram Highlights. Everything should be on brand. From the color scheme and brand colors used throughout the feed, to the cover image of your Instagram Highlights, and even to the simplicity of creating an easy-to-read bio that speaks directly to your brand. 

If you have any questions on how to recreate your Instagram feed, feel free to reach out to us via DM! And if you’re looking for help overhauling your social media strategy, Foodie Tribe can help with that too. Reach out to us here.