Instagram Tips for Interior Designers and Architects
There are a lot of social media platforms out there and I try to use quite a few of them to help provide value to my community and of course to build awareness of my brand and what I have to offer.
But of all the options Instagram is probably still my favourite tool for connecting with my community and sharing helpful content.
On Instagram I’m able to build a connection one post at a time and bit by bit share the behind the scenes of my business plus ideas and inspiration that will help to build my authority as well as my ‘know, like and trust’ factor with my community.
People always want to do business with people that they feel they know - and Instagram is still my favourite platform for helping to build that connection.
But one of the things I hear a lot from the designers that I work with is that they struggle to know what to post on Instagram. They feel they aren’t being authentic and that they get to the end of each day and feel frazzled that they’ve forgotten to post that day - AGAIN!
On the flip side they recognise that they have so much potential content that they could be sharing - ideas and updates from site visits, design ideas and inspiration for upcoming projects and - of course - all the images and details of completed client projects as well.
Many designers get in to a state of analysis paralysis over their Instagram feed and because of that they end up posting irregularly - or worse still - never!
So today I want to give you some practical tips and ideas for how you can create more consistent content for Instagram in a way that feels authentic to you and your brand.
Tip 1: Stop watching others
Jealously is an ugly trait.
If you find that you spend more time consuming other people's content and thinking how you 'wished' you had as many followers as them or that you could have a feed that looks as good as theirs - then I want you to put a stop to that thinking right now.
The good news is that there’s plenty of views and follows for everyone. The fact that some people have grown a following already doesn't mean that you can't as well. The fact that you are starting from less followers or don't yet have an attractive feed just means that today is the day you are going to do something about it.
Also - forget about your follower numbers and focus on providing value to just one person. Click below to see a post I created on Instagram about what your follower numbers actually look like if they were sitting in a room listening to you - it may be an eye opener for you!
Remember that everyone starts with no followers!
My strong suggestion is that you are always creating more than you are consuming. So spend less time scrolling and more time creating and soon your followers will grow as well.
Tip 2: Engage on the platform
Engagement is one of the most important ways to nurture a community on Instagram.
At the end of the day it’s not called a “social” media platform for nothing - it’s a place to actually be social! So if you’re simply jumping on once a day, posting something and then jumping straight off again then you’re unlikely to see much growth and you’re definitely not going to build an audience of people who will ever purchase from you that way.
In a similar way - if you are spending time scrolling around and stalking other accounts but you are never liking, or, more importantly - commenting on other people’s posts, then this won’t help your growth either.
Getting other people to engage with your posts is the ultimate aim though. Instagram will reward you for getting those double taps, shares and saves and will reward you even more for comments on your posts. Here’s a few practical tips for engagement:
make sure you always respond to any comments you get on a post - even if you just post back an emoji, make sure you post something. This is not only polite to the person who has commented but will help the algorithm see that this is a post worth paying attention to.
in my experience people engage more with stories - and I get much more engagement when I post images of myself. So think about what behind the scenes content you can share about yourself.
put a call to action in your caption - ask people to comment or like your post or ask a question that gets people to respond. You’ll be surprised how much more engagement you’ll get simply by asking.
Tip 3: Fix your bio
Your bio page is extremely important and many designers don’t make good use of this.
Make sure you use this area to share exactly who you are and what you can help others with. Remember you are trying to attract an audience of paying clients - not trying to impress the design community (they don’t pay your bills!). So think carefully about what you write in your bio.
Also make use of the clickable link in this area as it’s the only click-able link you get on all of Instagram.
Send people to your website at the bare minimum, but for a more advanced option set up a landing page for a freebie that you can give away in return for their email address. That way you can be building up your audience OFF instagram, which is extremely important.
One extra important thing to remember is to actually put your name in your bio area - so many designers only have their business name and this feels very impersonal. Remember - people want to do business with other people, not with faceless brands. So have your name in your bio and make yourself more relatable.
Here’s some more practical tips for how to do this over on my own Instagram page:
Tip 4: Document don’t create
Lots of people tell me they don't know what they should write in their captions or they don't have any finished projects to share - so think they should wait until they have those projects ready before they start to get serious about their Instagram feed.
But I don't want you to do this and I don't want you to overthink it. If you don't have finished projects yet then document the process of creating your projects.
For example:
share and curate inspiration images you are using from other people (don't forget to tag them and give credit) and use the caption area to write what you like about the image.
document your design process - e.g. your SketchUp drawings, mood boards, hand drawn sketches - whatever you have!
don’t try and be perfect and don't overthink what you are doing. Just do!
The more action you take the more confidence you will have and eventually you will nut out what you really want to be saying and sharing on the platform. But if you sit and just think about it then nothing happens at all.
Here’s some more tips of what to document on your page:
site visit updates
tips about problems/challenges on site
design dilemmas you are having or have solved
supplier visits
finished projects
the design details of finished projects
When you are putting together your feed there is one really important thing to remember and this is something I ask myself before I post anything.
How will this post help to educate or inspire my audience?
Does it teach them anything or offer them any inspiration?
If I can’t answer yes to this then I normally scrap the post and start over.
Don’t make your feed about you - make it about your community!
If you need more ideas for what to post on Instagram then grab my free PDF download with hundreds of ideas for designers and architects
Tip 5: Stop worrying what others think about you
This is a big one.
If you currently only have a handful of followers and they are mostly your family and friends then it can be hard to start putting out content and sharing your ideas and advice. But if you feel people are judging you then they are the ones who are stuck at point one above - jealousy - and you need to stop worrying about them or you’ll never do anything.
You need to turn your mindset around on this one. Instead of worrying about what people think of you remember that at least you are out there trying new things and making a go of something you are passionate about.
Not worrying what people think is an ongoing work in progress for most people - but it's those who move past the fear of this and actually start doing that are the ones that eventually achieve the most happiness and success.
Tip 6: Batch your content
One other thing I do which helps to make me massively more consistent on Instagram is to batch my content.
I use an app called Later to do this and each week I spend a few hours creating my posts, writing captions and uploading it all in to Later. Not only does this help me to plan out a consistent strategy for my feed - rather than just posting random photos here and there. It also means that I can spend a few hours getting my feed sorted for the week and then only having to jump in throughout each day to answer comments and engage with my community in my DMs.
Need more help with Instagram? Then check out my business short course specifically for designers and architects all about how to use Instagram more strategically to find clients and grow your business.
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x