Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, especially for architects and designers, as the image based platform makes for an ideal place for sharing new architecture and ideas. This means that your presence on Instagram is instrumental for your professional networking and your social engagement with other architects and designers. So make sure that you take advantage of these 5 insightful tips on how to create an engaging Instagram.
1. Challenges to consider when starting out and continuing to engage with your Instagram community!
As an architect or designer, many times you must wait to post your work, whether it be for Company privacy requirements or because the project just finished and you must wait to receive your work. Not only this, but in a sea of other designers and architects it is difficult to make your imprint on the community. Most of the time you are trying to connect with a local lead, rather than an international lead, considering you are seeking to connect for work purposes. You must also consider how difficult it can be to get people off of Instagram and on to your webpage. These are just some of the challenges you will face!
2. Timing is everything! Even more than quality content!
Even though you have the best content in the world, it will not matter considering you must place your content in front of the group of people that makes the most sense. Would you send your content over to architects right as they start their day and are very busy? or during lunch when they want to take some steam off? Make sure you consider the best times to post, especially for your region. There are many different resources that provide you with an idea of when is the best time to post depending on the demographic you want to reach.
3. Make sure you have a standard look and feel to your Instagram account and create a social media workflow!
Improve the quality and look of your photos, even hire an architectural photographer to have a backup of top notch photos to go with your pre-planned posts. Try to define the mood or action you would like out of your leads, after they interact with your content. If you do not pre-plan what you want or manifest what you want, then you will not get the intended outcome. Make sure you define three to four categories that you would like to target with your campaigns to make sure that you can create concise and focused production plans.
4. Try to get your work published on other Architecture-focused accounts and seek for collaboration with editors and/or journalists!
You want to try and create natural interactions that lead to natural growth, as Instagram’s algorithm favors content that tags another account and that tagged account interacts with content through messages and likes and shares. So the best way to do this, is by finding bigger accounts that are able to show your work as part of a challenge or series they are hosting. Similar to our Portfolio Challenge at Architect-US!
5. Always try to do more with less! What does that mean? Keep it simple, stupid!
Create a realistic and simple format for your captions. By doing this, you are able to maintain a certain standard and it makes creating many posts much easier. You should also try to organize your database of content, so that you can link back to previous posts in newer post. Once you have a database of posts and future posts, you will be able to plan whole months ahead and have more of a strategy to your social media campaigns. Do not forget to also have consistent hashtags and a base layer of at least 20 – 30 hashtags that have to do with your projects and style.
Instagram will continue to be a huge part of the outreach strategy for any firm or individual architect/designer, so make sure you have an organized and logical approach to how you would like to present yourself and have others find you and your services.
When considering your next career move, plan proactively and create Portfolios that include your best work. Consider looking into finding a mentor with Architect-US, and improving your Portfolios with our Portfolio Plans and Career Advice Program. We provide coaching and personalized mentorship, so you can have a professional and experienced take on your next steps in your career, as well as a great team to confide in.
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