There are lots of interest niches on Insta, and many people gravitate toward interior design. The hashtag, #InteriorDesign, currently has over 134 million posts. If you are interested in decorating, furniture, and knickknacks, it might make sense to base your Insta profile around interior design. You can use your collection, travel around and photograph other people’s collections, or focus on a product line sold through your own business.
Finding Your Niche
Because interior design is such a broad and crowded category, you will need to narrow down your interest. Keep in mind that with any category, even a narrow one, the most popular Instagrammers will get preference in how many users see their posts in-feed. This makes it difficult to grow a new or small account, so many people find it effective to buy 30 Instagram likes for a quick boost.
When thinking about your niche, you might consider finding a style you particularly like and focusing on that. For example, #Farmhouse and #Bohemian/#boho are two of the more popular interior design style hashtags. With fewer common styles, there may be fewer people following the hashtag, but also less competition.
Find Your Unique Selling Proposition
In marketing lingo, a unique selling proposition makes a brand different from similar brands in its category. As it turns out, if you want to grow your IG account, you also need to worry about branding, whether you have a business account or want to grow your profile as a blogger, interior designer, influencer, etc. This is because you want people to picture something unique when they think of your account, something they don’t usually see elsewhere on the site.
So, for this reason, you need to come up with your spin on interior design. Think about who you are:
- Are you the interior design blogger who loves sad clown art?
- Are you the influencer who designs amazing living rooms for fifty dollars or less?
- Are you all about thrift stores and repurposing existing furniture and decorations?
- Do you like to base an entire room around one statement piece?
- Is your collection bold or more understated?
The answers to these questions will help you narrow down the essence of your brand, which you should be able to distill into a single sentence. This should be something short and pithy that you can put in your bio, like “Bedroom on a Budget.”
Perfecting Your Pictures
It’s a good idea to spend some time practicing taking pictures before you start posting photos of your collection. Here are some ideas:
- If you have some budget for equipment, investing in ring light and stand, at minimum, is highly recommended. This will allow you to properly light furniture or other objects in various settings, including stores or other buildings. If you think you’ll be doing a lot of whole room shots, you might consider a larger light kit. Otherwise, practice changing the lighting in a room by opening/closing curtains, shooting at different times of day with different natural light, and moving around lamps and existing lighting, if possible. Specific items can also be shot outside, preferably during the morning hours.
- When using your phone to take pictures, always ensure the camera lens is wiped clean before you start. A surprising number of blurry photos can be prevented this way. Another option is to consider investing in a good-quality DSLR camera. This will give you more control with better lenses and high DPI. However, it’s still possible to take perfect pictures with your phone.
- It’s also fun to experiment with taking pictures from different angles, as this can drastically change the same shot. Try standing on a chair and shooting down, or kneeling and shooting up. You could also lie on your back to get the ceiling or higher points in the room.
Find The Right Photo Editing Software Or App
Editing apps are essential for the Insta influencer—and anyone else who wants more likes. One of the most popular photo editing apps is VSCO, available in the Apple and Android stores so you can edit right on your phone. Over 200 million posts now carry the #VSCO hashtag, thanks to people who love this app. It has ten free pre-set filters designed to make pictures appear as if they were shot on film. You can also adjust contrast and saturation, add grain and texture, and crop and skew your photos. Use the free version or upgrade to the pro version of the app.
Snapseed, also available in the Apple and Android stores, allows you to expertly remove elements, including people, from photos. You’ll also love changing the geometry of buildings, controlling the image brightness, and using professional techniques to enhance your photos. Getting the brightness right is an extremely important element of photo editing. Meanwhile, Avatan is great for photo retouching.
Remember, It’s Okay To Take The Occasional Selfie
Although interior decorating influencers typically take fewer selfies than those in the fashion, hair, or makeup niches, it’s still okay to occasionally shoot yourself in a room. After all, seeing someone enjoying a nicely decorated room can make it look even better!
You still want to focus on the design elements when shooting a selfie. Pose on a couch or statement piece of furniture. Or you could be lounging at the edge of the room, only barely in the picture. If you’re going to do a close-up shot, try posing with a smaller decorative item, like a vase or painting.
Mix And Match Design Elements
Even though you’ll have an overall theme, and you may focus on one specific style, you can also add in touches of other styles. It can be fun to throw things together and see what sticks, even if not every combination will work out. Try adding modern or goth elements to your #farmhouse look. Maybe add one item that’s a little extra to your overall #minimalist room. Offbeat, unique combinations can be a factor in viral posts.
Remember That Growing An Audience Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint
No matter what your niche is, you have to consistently post quality content to get more hearts and fans. And even when you do this, it can still be tough to get traction when there are so many users on Insta, and its algorithms favor the content that already has a ton of likes. If you’re working hard at producing quality content and not gaining engagement as fast as you’d like, it may be effective to buy 30 Instagram likes for a quick shot of attention from the algorithms.
