How to Have a Cohesive Instagram Feed

12 August 2016


Instagram is a big deal. If you hadn't already realised. It's a great way to get your blog or business out there to a lot of different audiences. But you could be posting a lot of content that you think is good, but it may not actually be visually appealing in a way that makes people want to follow you. No matter how good your photos may be, they're not doing that much if no one is seeing them. That's where having an instagram theme comes in. 

An instagram theme is a great way to give your overall feed a more uniform look.
When people look at your Instagram profile from the main page, they're seeing your most recent photos in one lumped collage. If they look all out of place next to each other, the first impression your instagram feed is going to give is that your posts are all over the place, unplanned and spontaneous. 

While that's fine for a personal feed, it looks pretty unprofessional on the instagram for a business. It gives the vibe that it's not very well thought out and that you're letting any old person post whatever they want. 


One Account vs Personal & Blog Account

Should you have a separate instagram just for your blog? Maybe. Do you want to post random stuff all the time or do you have the self control to only post photos that fit in with your aesthetic?  I had already put a lot of effort into my instagram that it killed me to start over just for the sake of blogging. My blog includes a lot of personal stuff anyway so I didn't feel like they needed to be separate. As everything I post is usually relevant to my blogging style. 

Starting fresh can be a bit scary, but if your personal instagram is a bit overwhelmed with random photos, then it might be a good way to go. You can also start off your new account with a boost of real Instagram followers from a service like Growthoid so that it looks a lot more professional straight away.

Nowadays, there are quite a few Instagram growth services out there that can help get your Instagram account off to the best possible start. Therefore it is important to compare some of the different types and packages so that you can find the right solution for your needs. Above all, if you do decide to buy followers for your Instagram account then remember to use a range of other social media marketing tactics too to ensure maximum growth.

What kind of photos do you post?

I don't focus on this as much as I do with the overall colour scheme. While I generally post photos of myself, my outfits, my kittycat Coco and cute accessories/decor, I don't feel limited to that. It's just what I find photographing most of the time. If I did have a pretty landscape post I wouldn't hesitate to post it. As long as the colours meshed well alongside the other posts.

Are all your photos of food? Of clothes? Of your face? Try to stick to posting images with similar subjects. If something is strange, people are more likely to go, hang on why did I follow this account? And then unfollow you. Which is another reason why having two accounts can come in handy.


The Colour Scheme

My favourite editing apps are Afterlight and VSCO Cam. I use Afterlight to brighten my photo and make sure all the colours and contrasts are as nice as possible, and that my subject stands out well. Then I open the picture in VSCO and play with filters and colours. Here is how I went about finding the perfect filter & theme to use for my instagram. 

People are good at coming up with different photo editing combinations to produce different effects on photos. They then record what combinations they used and share them via instagram. My two favourite instagram accounts for finding filters are @Filtertime and @What.EditApp

Some examples from each account

Go through and screenshot a bunch of filter combos that you think you might like your instagram to resemble. Narrow it down to maybe 5 favourites. These are the ones you are going to trial. 
A nifty thing about VSCO is that you can copy all edits on one image and transfer them onto other images. 

Bring about three of your most common kind of instagram photo into VSCO. You may want to open a few of the same photo so that you have multiples, to compare what filters will look like.

Pick a photo and start following the list of edits on a filter that you would like to try. Once you've applied all steps take a good look. Does this filter work with your image? If it does, great! Now choose copy edits and paste them on top of your other regular instagram photos. Does it look good on them too? You want a filter that works well across a whole range of images. 

Keep going until you find a filter style that works well across the majority of your photos. The best thing to do is find a few filters that work really well and then pick your favourite.
I narrowed it down to two similar filters before I picked the one I use today!


Good Examples of Instagrams with Great Themes!

These instagram accounts give a good example of how to theme your instagram correctly, with both similar imagery and colour schemes. 



Stay Strong & Be Picky!

Try to avoid posting things that don't fit or don't match the colour scheme. If you have to post it, either delete it later or pop it onto a different instagram that doesn't have a theme. 

Side Notes

You can still have a beautiful and popular instagram without having a cohesive colour scheme. It's not necessary, but instagram is a difficult social media platform to break out in. So if you are starting out and want to have a pretty looking feed, colour theming is a good way to start!


Good luck and make sure to comment your instagrams below so I can check them out! xx




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13 comments

  1. i dont have a colour scheme and I dont want one. If anything, I want it to be as colourful as possible. I like posting real life things and not something I put together only for the photo :)
    Pam xo/ Pam Scalfi♥

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    1. Your instagram is so colourful and in that way it works! Colourful is a theme in itself. I fully agree, I think I tend to take things that I'm already doing and positioning them a bit neater for photos. But I'm not about fully composed images for the sake of it. xx

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  2. I'm far to impulsive to have a coherent Instagram account. I love the look of yours, and I am jealous of how good it looks, I'm slowly working on making mine better, but it's taking time...

    Kez | acaciasdreams.com

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    1. You're too sweet! I'm honestly doing it the lazy girls way. Like taking photos of whatever and putting the same filter over it. Lay-zay. xx

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  3. I really need to have a theme on my insta but I can't bring myself to do it at the moment! I have so many pictures of things that I love I just need to share them all! Great post and fantastic tips xoxo

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    1. I really don't find that there's any photos that I don't post. Like blurry night selfies with friends. That's probably all and I can put them on facebook lol.
      xx

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  4. Love this. I'm not the biggest fan of themes but would like to have my feed a little more cohesive. An app I recently discovered and started to love is "Mosaico". It's perfect for planning what you post!

    Love, Kerstin
    http://www.missgetaway.com/

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    1. Ah I had a look at this and its $10 ha! Maybe I'll get it one day xx

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  5. This was incredibly comprehensive. I think having a theme is really important but some work without it! Thanks for the post girly xx

    Georgia | The Weekend Attic

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  6. I like keeping everything on my social media personal especially instagram. I don't have a theme. I edit the pictures the way I feel like it should be or what inspires me at the moment. I was thinking of having two instagram profile of course you know what and what, but when I think about it, my blog is a personal/ lifestyle blog, so I want my instagram to be the same too. More personal stuff and whatever comes naturally. I'm not sure if you can understand what i'm talking about thaha

    Love, kandice.

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  7. Good thinking Teegs, I'll definitely try this in future. I'll probably just use the same account and have it evolve into something coherent :)

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  8. I've been wanting to step up my instagram game for a while now and this post already helped me! I followed the two instagram accounts that post filters and hopefully I'll find a few that I like. Could you do a 'How I Edit My Instagram Pictures' in the future? I would love to see your process!

    Kathlyn | Kathlyn's Korner

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  9. Since huge numbers of us have at last made sense of how to spell Pinterest along comes Instagram. Instagram is a portable application that is the mind offspring of Kevin Systrom, a school companion of Mark Zuckerberg's.befollowers sells instagram followers

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Thanks so much for commenting everyone! I read and appreciate every single one of your comments! xx