Instagram Grid Apps – A big NO for Instagram

How to use Instagram feed in the right way?

Before going to the ‘not-so-cool’ use of the Instagram grid apps, let us understand the digital market.

The internet has blessed us with access to powerful business tools. In 2020, we have tons of opportunities to build a business from scratch. Millions of people have started making money just using digital marketing. Isn’t that amazing?

Young Entrepreneurs have opportunities like never before to execute their ideas.

YouTubers are launching their line of products and services and it is a huge thing. Do you think this would have been possible without social media?

Instagram, importantly, is a great way to get started if you want to build your brand image.

Unfortunately, with so much competition, it is becoming tougher day by day to ace the game of social media marketing.  Your audience building technique should be apt. Otherwise, putting continuous efforts wouldn’t be as fruitful as you would expect it to be.

Please note before you go ahead: This might seem like a viewpoint but it is more than that. As a Social Media Marketer, I have worked on several accounts. I have tried it because my clients insisted, got the results and they were not great.

I have researched a lot to not waste your time or energy! So, take a deep breath. It is going to be worth your time. 

If you study the best brands and verified handles, you’ll understand the best practices to consider.

I’ll come to the point, straight. When you think of cutting a picture in 9 pieces, do you think about your audience or do you simply think about how amazing it will look when somebody visits your profile?

I am sure you ignore (maybe unintentionally)  the existing followers you have and focus on the latter. 

1. Your existing followers might think of unfollowing you

I agree, what looks great sells well but it should apply to each one of your followers.

Every time you post something, remember that people follow your account because they have liked your account at some point and the possible reason they are still following and interacting is that they like your content.

Imagine, you scrolling to your Instagram feed and seeing 1 blank post, 2nd post with some black or yellow or some colour in the white space and 3rd post some dashes or a half-cut flower or half-cut logo and 4th  with a heel and 5th with the sole or whatever you call the middle part of a shoe and so on. 

If you are a patient person who meditates or is calm in general, you will scroll with the speed of a rocket launching to reach the moon but I bet you will never like all 9 posts back to back. If you have done that, you might be Jesus! Please help me learn how to do what you have done!

If you are slightly impatient in nature or short-tempered, you would either unfollow or switch to your explore section or jump to another app.

I think that’s enough of a reason to not make a grid of 9 out of a single creative image.

But just in case you are still not convinced, I’ll give you a better reason to not go for the grid.

2. It divides your reach

Now once you break a creative image using any of the Instagram Grid Apps, you are ready to post. But, if you break a post into 9, it will break the reach on each post and the interactions will be lower as people like (double tap) posts which are likable – unless they are a ‘crazy in love with you’ kind of followers.

3. Degrades Quality

If you use the Instagram Grid Apps you get in the Playstore or App store.

All you have to do do is upload the single creative image and the app breaks it into the desired format.

When the image that is originally 1080 x 1080 will have all it’s 9 parts as big as 1080 x1080 without increasing the quality of every part of the original image magically. 

Now, I am not sure if there exists any Instagram Grid App which would solve this problem.

The quality can only decrease and you’ll lose on the sharpness of that image ultimately making it look a little less impactful.

4. Instagram will break the grid every time you post a new post

So, your purpose of making your Instagram profile look amazing is being defeated!

This is how the Instagram profile feed is made to function.

Every time you post something, the top is full of 3 posts in a row. When your total number of posts is not a number which is a multiple of 3, then the bottom will be left with 1 or 2 posts in a row. The top part will always be a row of 3. This means, automatically posts get pushed down whenever you post something new which will break a ‘beautiful grid’.

Well, if you are optimistic, it will look like an art to you. Just like a good, motivating parent who records a video of his child while doing weird things on a song and calls it dancing and forwards it on WhatsApp groups to annoy people.

It’s not all bad though!

There is one good thing about using grids. When somebody visits your profile for the first time, it will look interesting.

If you are a legit big brand with millions of followers, your followers might bare with it.

If you just can’t resist the idea of using the grid, here’s one way and you should only do if you have a similar product:

https://www.instagram.com/sabyasachiofficial/

Here, Sabyasachi has strategically cut one single image into 2 halves. This way, the design is in focus and it is not annoying for the users.

The only challenge, if you are not a pro, is on getting it to look neat.

Hence, you should be ready with so much content to put out.

Here, with the half image, they have also posted the entire image to showcase the complete image. This is again is a great thing to not lose on the interactions.

Note: Here, instead of using Instagram grid apps, use photoshop or any other graphic designing software.

 

But the question is, will you still consider 1 good thing over so many cons?

Here’s what the best Social Media teams do to make a brand account look appealing:

• Plan on a theme
• A colour palette for your posts
• Use the same filter or effect on every picture/post
• Create a story through your profile

To Conclude, everything you do for your brand or your business should be always with a customer-centric approach. This way you can always easily analyze what’s the best way to market yourself or your product/service.

If you wish to get in touch with me and discuss your social media marketing concerns, click here.