People like to follow Instagram accounts that look great.
But what makes an account look great? How does one incorporate that into their own feed? Obviously great, original content will do your account wonders when it comes to becoming successful on Instagram, but there’s also much more to that.
You need to establish a theme.
Establishing a theme is essential when creating a successful Instagram account. A consistent style, format, color, or type of post will help make your account look much more appealing when viewing at your account as a whole. When people click to follow you, most people go to your profile page, and they look at your posts as a whole. So, key to gaining more followers: Make all the posts on your account look great and consistent. People really like consistency.
Accounts that have a consistent theme will receive higher follow back ratios, higher engagement rates, more shares, and will provide your best chance of obtaining customers. Accounts that don’t establish some type of theme will receive lower follow back ratios, lower engagement rates, less shares, and will potentially lose future customers.
What I’d like to do now is take you through several examples of themes that are found in popular accounts. Hopefully, you’ll be able to detect why some of these accounts are so successful and learn from them.
FORMATTING
Up first, we have @ ShowerThoughtsDaily. A very popular, iconic account that gets a lot of republishing. As you can see, this account maintains a very steady format of their pictures. Their content is original, watermarked, and incredibly consistent. This account has about 260,000 followers, and maintains a 10% engagement rate (that’s good).
Next, we have @ Inventastic. This account also has very consistent formatting, has about 500,000 followers, and can get upwards of 350,000 views per post. The consistent theme within this account is the futuristic tech videos with a similar video caption.
@ 200percent has very similar formatting to @Inventastic, almost 700,000 followers, and can get upwards of 800,000 views per post. Their content spans several different niches, but it still follows the same type of format.
Finally, @ Daquan is the least consistent with formatting of the four listed, but makes up for it by maintaining ahighlevel of quality content across his account. Even his advertisements maintain a similar format and aesthetic as the rest of his posts. Daquan is one of the most popular comedy accounts on Instagram. He has well over 6 million followers, and some of his posts can get upwards of 3 million views. Daquan posts both images and videos, and he maintains a similar stylistic theme across both types of media. When people follow Daquan, they know what they’re getting: quality, consistent content.
STYLE & CREATIVITY
Formatting is important, but there are other aspects that can determine themes. Showing consistent, creative content can really pay off!
First, we have @ Progenex. Progenex is a CrossFit supplement and apparel company thatconsistentlyhas some of the most creative posting campaigns on Instagram. If you look at their page as a whole, you can see one, big image. If you look at each image individually, it’s still pretty significant! Now, obviously there are a ton of risks doing campaigns like this, but if you are going to do it, do it like Progenex!
Secondly, @ TacoBell needs some love. They have a consistent color scheme that spreads throughout their account. If you love Taco Bell, you’ll probably love their Instagram feed as well. Consistent colors, consistent themes, and consistent high-quality content makes for a great Instagram account.
Next, we have a great example of creative content pleasantly spread across the entire account. @ SpirographSoph has over 200,000 followers, and all she does is film herself using a Spirograph (a template for drawing cool circles and stuff). Her entire account is dedicated to spirographs, and her followers love it. At one point, she was even making money selling spirographs through Amazon!
Finally, we have @ Slidelock. This might be one of the most consistently creative accounts I’ve ever seen. Owned by Hermes (co author), he has a very consistent theme that runs through his account. On the left column, he has a white backdrop image; in the center column, he photoshops himself into an existing image; and on the right column he shares a creative musical video. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty awesome.
MORE RANDOM EXAMPLES
One look at Kim Kardashian’s Instagram page, and you won’t wonder why she has almost 90 million followers. Her content, advertisements, color schemes, quality, and creativity is the reasonshe makes a million dollars every month on Instagram.
Next, we have a much smaller account. @ SarahRohe_Photography might not have the most followers, but this account is a great example on how to post personal photography. Creative, fun, and similar stylistic themes across the account make for fun binge-scrolling.
Finally, we have @ HookGrip. HookGrip is one of the most well-known companies in Olympic Weightlifting, and their Instagram account kick-started them to the top! If you are an Olympic weightlifter, this might be your favorite page. Amazing quality, consistent formatting, and excellent watermarking is the reason why 1/3rd of their 340,000 followers watch their content (and probably buy their merchandise).
INCONSISTENT THEMES
Let’s take a second to look at accounts that have very inconsistent themes. I tried to find popular accounts that make this mistake. I’m not saying these are poor accounts, but I do firmly believe that developing a more consistent theme would benefit these accountstremendously.
First, we have @ BlackJaguarWhiteTiger. This account is wildly popular, has almost 6 million followers, and is famous for showing videos of the owner closely interacting with exotic, dangerous animals. The dangerous, exotic content is received tremendously (millions of views); unfortunately, just about everything else this account posts falls short in terms of engagement. Some of his advertisements and memes get only a few thousand likes. I’m not saying his followers don’t appreciate this type of content, but if he stuck to what he was good at, he would have a much larger audience as more people would be attracted to the account.
Secondly, we have @ The_Typical_Liberal. This account is successful because it originates a ton of political memes, but it falls short in posting relatively consistent content. This account has about 230,000 followers, but I believe it would have a much larger audience if it stuck to the memes, got rid of some of its inconsistent content, and advertised a bit more effectively.
Finally, we have @ UnitedLifters. This is a relatively smaller account, but it is a great example of what not to do. This account managed to get almost 50,000 followers by posting the occasional funny gym meme, but it clutters its page with random posts, poor advertising, and poor original content. If this account stuck to what it was good at, it would have much more followers, a higher engagement rate, and customers.
MORE RANDOM EXAMPLES
Okay, I just would like to talk about two accounts here that you should not seek out to replicate.
First off, @ KanyeWest. While his content is surprisingly consistent… it’s tremendously poor content. I love Kanye, and I’m sure this is “artistic” in his view,but you should not model your account off celebrities who don’t use Instagram as a form of monetization. Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, does use Instagram as a form of monetization so her Instagram is damn-near perfect. Kanye, however, does not. Listen to his music, but don’t follow his Instagram theme.
Secondly, @ MileyCyrus. Her account is simply a personal account that is littered with inconsistency, random memes, poor advertisements, and goofy photos. Don’t listen to her music, and don’t follow her Instagram theme.
In closing, here are some final thoughts:
1. Finding a theme for your Instagram accounts create a more appealing profile page – which will definitely lead to more followers.
2. Successful themes are going to vary from niche-to-niche. It’s important to look at the themes that are dominated by the top accounts within your niche. Try not to replicate themes exactly. You should always seek out more creative, more effective ways to promote your content.
3. Not every successful account follows a consistent theme, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t either. Experiment with different themes until you find one that works, and then stick to it.
But what makes an account look great? How does one incorporate that into their own feed? Obviously great, original content will do your account wonders when it comes to becoming successful on Instagram, but there’s also much more to that.
You need to establish a theme.
Establishing a theme is essential when creating a successful Instagram account. A consistent style, format, color, or type of post will help make your account look much more appealing when viewing at your account as a whole. When people click to follow you, most people go to your profile page, and they look at your posts as a whole. So, key to gaining more followers: Make all the posts on your account look great and consistent. People really like consistency.
Accounts that have a consistent theme will receive higher follow back ratios, higher engagement rates, more shares, and will provide your best chance of obtaining customers. Accounts that don’t establish some type of theme will receive lower follow back ratios, lower engagement rates, less shares, and will potentially lose future customers.
What I’d like to do now is take you through several examples of themes that are found in popular accounts. Hopefully, you’ll be able to detect why some of these accounts are so successful and learn from them.
FORMATTING
Up first, we have @ ShowerThoughtsDaily. A very popular, iconic account that gets a lot of republishing. As you can see, this account maintains a very steady format of their pictures. Their content is original, watermarked, and incredibly consistent. This account has about 260,000 followers, and maintains a 10% engagement rate (that’s good).
Next, we have @ Inventastic. This account also has very consistent formatting, has about 500,000 followers, and can get upwards of 350,000 views per post. The consistent theme within this account is the futuristic tech videos with a similar video caption.
@ 200percent has very similar formatting to @Inventastic, almost 700,000 followers, and can get upwards of 800,000 views per post. Their content spans several different niches, but it still follows the same type of format.
Finally, @ Daquan is the least consistent with formatting of the four listed, but makes up for it by maintaining ahighlevel of quality content across his account. Even his advertisements maintain a similar format and aesthetic as the rest of his posts. Daquan is one of the most popular comedy accounts on Instagram. He has well over 6 million followers, and some of his posts can get upwards of 3 million views. Daquan posts both images and videos, and he maintains a similar stylistic theme across both types of media. When people follow Daquan, they know what they’re getting: quality, consistent content.
STYLE & CREATIVITY
Formatting is important, but there are other aspects that can determine themes. Showing consistent, creative content can really pay off!
First, we have @ Progenex. Progenex is a CrossFit supplement and apparel company thatconsistentlyhas some of the most creative posting campaigns on Instagram. If you look at their page as a whole, you can see one, big image. If you look at each image individually, it’s still pretty significant! Now, obviously there are a ton of risks doing campaigns like this, but if you are going to do it, do it like Progenex!
Secondly, @ TacoBell needs some love. They have a consistent color scheme that spreads throughout their account. If you love Taco Bell, you’ll probably love their Instagram feed as well. Consistent colors, consistent themes, and consistent high-quality content makes for a great Instagram account.
Next, we have a great example of creative content pleasantly spread across the entire account. @ SpirographSoph has over 200,000 followers, and all she does is film herself using a Spirograph (a template for drawing cool circles and stuff). Her entire account is dedicated to spirographs, and her followers love it. At one point, she was even making money selling spirographs through Amazon!
Finally, we have @ Slidelock. This might be one of the most consistently creative accounts I’ve ever seen. Owned by Hermes (co author), he has a very consistent theme that runs through his account. On the left column, he has a white backdrop image; in the center column, he photoshops himself into an existing image; and on the right column he shares a creative musical video. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty awesome.
MORE RANDOM EXAMPLES
One look at Kim Kardashian’s Instagram page, and you won’t wonder why she has almost 90 million followers. Her content, advertisements, color schemes, quality, and creativity is the reasonshe makes a million dollars every month on Instagram.
Next, we have a much smaller account. @ SarahRohe_Photography might not have the most followers, but this account is a great example on how to post personal photography. Creative, fun, and similar stylistic themes across the account make for fun binge-scrolling.
Finally, we have @ HookGrip. HookGrip is one of the most well-known companies in Olympic Weightlifting, and their Instagram account kick-started them to the top! If you are an Olympic weightlifter, this might be your favorite page. Amazing quality, consistent formatting, and excellent watermarking is the reason why 1/3rd of their 340,000 followers watch their content (and probably buy their merchandise).
INCONSISTENT THEMES
Let’s take a second to look at accounts that have very inconsistent themes. I tried to find popular accounts that make this mistake. I’m not saying these are poor accounts, but I do firmly believe that developing a more consistent theme would benefit these accountstremendously.
First, we have @ BlackJaguarWhiteTiger. This account is wildly popular, has almost 6 million followers, and is famous for showing videos of the owner closely interacting with exotic, dangerous animals. The dangerous, exotic content is received tremendously (millions of views); unfortunately, just about everything else this account posts falls short in terms of engagement. Some of his advertisements and memes get only a few thousand likes. I’m not saying his followers don’t appreciate this type of content, but if he stuck to what he was good at, he would have a much larger audience as more people would be attracted to the account.
Secondly, we have @ The_Typical_Liberal. This account is successful because it originates a ton of political memes, but it falls short in posting relatively consistent content. This account has about 230,000 followers, but I believe it would have a much larger audience if it stuck to the memes, got rid of some of its inconsistent content, and advertised a bit more effectively.
Finally, we have @ UnitedLifters. This is a relatively smaller account, but it is a great example of what not to do. This account managed to get almost 50,000 followers by posting the occasional funny gym meme, but it clutters its page with random posts, poor advertising, and poor original content. If this account stuck to what it was good at, it would have much more followers, a higher engagement rate, and customers.
MORE RANDOM EXAMPLES
Okay, I just would like to talk about two accounts here that you should not seek out to replicate.
First off, @ KanyeWest. While his content is surprisingly consistent… it’s tremendously poor content. I love Kanye, and I’m sure this is “artistic” in his view,but you should not model your account off celebrities who don’t use Instagram as a form of monetization. Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, does use Instagram as a form of monetization so her Instagram is damn-near perfect. Kanye, however, does not. Listen to his music, but don’t follow his Instagram theme.
Secondly, @ MileyCyrus. Her account is simply a personal account that is littered with inconsistency, random memes, poor advertisements, and goofy photos. Don’t listen to her music, and don’t follow her Instagram theme.
In closing, here are some final thoughts:
1. Finding a theme for your Instagram accounts create a more appealing profile page – which will definitely lead to more followers.
2. Successful themes are going to vary from niche-to-niche. It’s important to look at the themes that are dominated by the top accounts within your niche. Try not to replicate themes exactly. You should always seek out more creative, more effective ways to promote your content.
3. Not every successful account follows a consistent theme, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t either. Experiment with different themes until you find one that works, and then stick to it.