Finding your social media aesthetic is easily the hardest part of building your personal brand. You know what you like and what your interests are. At this point you know what your Instagram goals are and what it is you’re working towards. But how should it look? Out of all the advice I'll give you in this blog, this is the only topic that I can’t give you a formula on. What I can give you is suggestions and tell you what I did and how I reached the aesthetic I have now. When I post a pic, you know it’s mine before you look at the username, and that is the goal.
What draws your eye?
First, I spent a few hours on instagram just scrolling my home page and the popular page. This was pretty easy, as I do it anyway, despite the protects of my screen time app. I used the save feature to save photos from users who really stood out to me. I essentially used my saved photos as an inspiration board, but you could also use a Pinterest board for this process if you feel so inclined. When you’re going through the photos that you saved, take notes of the common themes you see. I’d like to add for the business accounts reading this, this is also how I put together ideas for future product photos.
When I was saving photos, the users I saved the most of were @cozykitsune, @carlycristman and @jennymustard. These three are some of my absolute favorite accounts and it’s because I really really enjoy their aesthetics. It’s a good idea to choose a few people who are at the top of the category you're striving towards and study how they got there. Now, if you look at their pages you can see they’re very different from mine. (For one, they’re better. I know a lot but I also have a lot to learn.)
Put your own spin on the idea.
I want to be clear that I’m not recommending that you copy other creators. Copying and being inspired are completely different things. You’re still adding your own personal flair to the category you’ve chosen. My theme is literally just white. It doesn’t have to be a color, you just want to make sure there’s consistency. Some people do this by adding the same filter or stacked filters to every photo. I might even recommend going this route as it’s less restrictive than having a color theme. I happen to know this is what @cozykitsune does to tie her photos together, as well as many other popular creators.
Whatever aesthetic you end up going for, just make sure you love it. Ultimately, that’s what matters!