Picture this – You just got off from work and start contemplating the single most important thing you need to do now that you’re finally home for the day. Fast-forward fifteen seconds later and you’re on the couch scrolling through Instagram looking at a colorful world full of food, friends, family, celebrities and maybe some #OOTD’s thrown in there just for fun. Suddenly, you come across one particular image that catches your eye. You start clicking through the profile and begin to realize all of the pictures have some similarly themed visual appeal. Is it the coloring? The alignment? The use of pattern or white space? Well, chances are this wasn’t just an aesthetically pleasing result of circumstance. Chances are, you’ve just stumbled across something called an Instagram theme. And, guess what? It’s working. Whether it’s a result of the conscious mind or sub-, you’ve reacted positively enough to dive deeper into their content, which is exactly the result a theme is meant to produce.
So What Is An Instagram Theme, Exactly?
Instagram themes turn a mundane profile into an attractive portfolio. A theme is something consistent that weaves its way through all of your content. Whether you have a business profile or a personal page, a theme will help it garner attention immediately. Not only that, but if you create a theme and stick to it, people will begin to associate that aesthetic with your brand or name. In turn, your photos will become even more recognizable and brand-promoting as well. Most people think that having a theme means every picture needs to look the same. That’s not necessarily the case. In reality, the goal should be to create content centered more around a consistent focus that promotes the brand or life story associated with the page.[mfn]https://funlifecrisis.com/best-instagram-themes-ideas/[/mfn]
Building A Scheme for Your Theme
Defining your brand’s story is actually much easier than it sounds. Start by considering what you want to feature on your profile. Now ask yourself if you can be consistent with the feature you’ve chosen. Next, set out and design your theme. You can play around with filters, color blocking or maybe even adding your logo to every picture. There are so many creative ways to generate a theme that can work for you or your business. You just have to find which theme fits best with the products/services you’re going to feature.[mfn]https://jumpermedia.co/instagram-theme-ideas/[/mfn]Now let’s look at some of the most popular themes of 2019 that attracted the most followers and likes!
OMG, They’re Like So Themey!
@fitfoodieselma – Theme: Clean and Colorful
Selma, who apparently moonlights as a fit foodie, has a profile that’s super colorful, clean and quite healthy! Any guess what she’s trying to feature? I know, that was a tough one. From the pictures she posts to her not-so-outside-the-box username, you can tell Selma’s passion is in food that promotes being fit. Let’s look closer at her theming, though. Notice the clean alabaster countertop and white border featured in every photo? This keeps her feed consistent. If you like the clean white lines theme or even have another color in mind, consider downloading the White Border app. Using it, you don’t have to crop out your photos to get the clean border you’re looking for.
@simlystyled.co – Theme: Consistent Color Palette
Busy fashion mama Emily shows us you can feature more than just one product or service on your profile. The consistency here all comes down to the theme (shocker, I know)! Notice how every picture has the same golden hue? How about the pops of gray and green in every photo? These are the elements that make-up Emily’s theme and it works perfectly for her profile! Choosing the same filter or overlay is easy since there are multiple apps and Instagram filters that are readily available. The challenge with this theme is making sure your pictures contain a consistent color scheme that fits your theme. (Say that 10x fast)
@rosieacosta – Theme: “Line-’em-up”
Rosie Acosta is one of my favorite yoga instructors! Her profile features all things yoga, podcasts and she even shows off her tweets to promote another one of her profiles! I call her theme “Line-’em-up”. It takes mindfulness to plan out your posts using this theme. You can see on the far left she has podcasts, in the middle are her tweets, and on the far right she posts pictures either of herself or her yoga classes. She exemplifies what authentic marketing is all about. You can tell she wants people to listen to her podcasts and follow her twitter page, but she also reminds her followers that she’s not just trying to sell something by her humble and authentic lifestyle posts. She mixes a personal profile with her business to show the viewer multiple sides of Rosie, and gives her followers a plethora of reasons to stay engaged with her account.
@eskilou – Theme: Checkers & Chess
Here, page owner Emma shows us a simple checkerboard theme. I actually chose this theme for my personal profile because I love to share motivational quotes similar to Emma. Shout out Emma for the inspiration! One of the huge benefits to this theme is that it takes less work on the photography-end because I can post any color image I want without having to look for certain color patterns or filters. This is a great way to build theme consistency if you aren’t a fan of editing pictures, using filters or adding borders. There are many quote-maker apps available that can adapt checkerboard content just like Emma’s shown above.
@natgeo – Big Brand Themes
Finally, let’s take a look at National Geographic’s Instagram account. With over 121 million followers, it’s pretty safe to say that liking content such as this is simply in the average Instagram user’s nature. See what I did there? The user knows that when they follow National Geographic, they’ll see images and videos which vary from wildlife to nature-centric with some cute, cuddly animals thrown in there to boot. However, start clicking on the posts yourself and you’ll notice that their pictures of animals receive millions of likes while the landscape ones sit far below, reaching about 400k on average. National Geographic posts a picture of an animal weekly to draw in a larger following yet mixes them with related thematic content to appeal to a wider demographic. This is a good time to point out that it’s important you share content that excites your following.
Conclusion
Now it’s your turn to take the reins and apply a theme to your profile. Like I said, consistency is key and it starts with your first post. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the camera or add filters and borders to your images.[mfn]https://www.plannthat.com/instagram-feed-themes-2/[/mfn] Remember, you can always delete or archive photos you don’t love (just don’t get in the habit of doing that). Once you find what works best for you, you’ll be on your way to success! If you have any other questions on Instagram themes please message me or give me a call! I’d love to help you find a theme that grows your following and business.