Last month, we featured 20 web designers and developers to follow on Twitter. This month, it’s all about freelancers and agencies who have found creative ways to showcase their work on Instagram.
In just under six years, Instagram has grown into a social media powerhouse with more than 500 million monthly active users, and over 95 million photos shared daily that generate 4.2 billion likes a day. With numbers like that, it is safe to say Instagram is the place to be.
It’s also now possible to advertise on Instagram, which might be something to consider in your marketing strategy. However, as a highly visual platform, the challenge many brands encounter is trying to find the angle that will work best for them on the platform.
Before we show off the amazing accounts we found, I want to touch on a few tips and tricks you can implement for starting (or growing) your own Instagram account as a freelancer or agency.
You might also like: 20 Web Designers and Developers You Should be Following on Twitter
Device photos
Instagram is all about visuals, a theme which can be seen across many of the popular web design and freelancer accounts shown below. This is great news if you are in the business of building beautiful websites, logos, and user experience design, to name a few. There are many ways you can showcase your work. One of the more common styles and something we’ve been trying out (shameless @ShopifyPartners Instagram plug 😏 ), is using photos of devices to show a website, theme, or app.
If you don’t have the time or resources to take your own photos, you can check out some of the templates from Placeit, or the freebie sites like mockDrop, Magic Mockups, or Mockupsjar.
Inspirational quotes
If you’re just starting out and don’t yet have a lot of work in your portfolio to feature, there are many other forms of content you can try. Another popular trend on Instagram is the use of inspirational posts. This technique could include posting beautifully designed quotes you create or featuring graphics that inspire you, so long as you give credit to the original account. A great example is of this is from @PixelSupply.
If quotes aren’t your thing, you can always try posting lifestyle or work culture photos that best represent your brand or make your business a little more human. A great example of an account that does this is the digital agency, @creativedash.
Optimize your posts
Once you have the content you want to share, you’ll want to optimize it using strategic hashtags. A hashtag turns the word into a search term allowing Instagram to easily aggregate and show all the photos using the same term. To increase the engagement on your photos, it is important to use popular hashtags that align with the overall direction of your account, post, and target audience. Using tools such as Hashtagify, RiteTag, or Tagboard make it easy to find out what’s trending and related hashtags to use.
Now that you have the basics on how to start your Instagram account, you can check out these 14 web design agency and freelancer accounts to spike your own inspiration. 👇
1. @logoplace
2. @focuslabllc
3. @weareadaptable
4. @hugeinc
5. @ideo
6. @pixelsupply
7. @wearebranch
8. @CreativeDash
9. @agenceme
10. @fireart_studio
11. @ramotion
12. @belinattink (personal brand)
13. @kaitlinfontenot (personal brand)
14. @andreasmhansen (personal brand)
Do you use Instagram as a business communications tool? If so, share your account in the comments below and we may feature it in our next roundup.
You might also like: How Social Media Can Help You Grow Your Freelance or Agency Business
