On social media one of the best ways to ensure that your content is uniquely recognizable is to be consistent in the look, feel, and message of what you create. Typically, before anyone reads the caption or hears your words, they will see your content. What better way to ensure that content is perceived as unique to you than through cohesive personal branding? While Instagram may not be your primary space, followers tend to want to connect with you wherever you are available and it helps to know how to nail a cohesive look and feel across your content no matter the platform. Here we’ll discuss 3 ways to achieve seamless content and discuss how one of our favorite content creators @read.write.coffee does this on Instagram, beautifully across photo & video!

1. Determine your Aesthetic or Personal Brand Palette

For Content Creators, Bloggers & Influencers:

From the clothes you wear, the design of your home or office space, the items or people you photograph, down to the way you color process your images and video or the preset that you use: all of these things speak to your overall "aesthetic" or personal branding. Whether speaking in popular terms of cottage core, boho, light/dark academia, soft, or monochromatic, if your overall style is genuine, it will align well with your values, platform, and audience and speak to your personal brand. And the more you speak to your niche, the better your engagement. 

For Photographers:

Many photographers achieve a branded or cohesive look through a signature edit which ensures that images will generally look the same across their entire portfolio. Some professional photographers offer style guides or even client closets to ensure a cohesive look and feel to their images and in effort to maintain control over stylistic direction. In these ways, it is possible for photographers to ensure a clear stylistic vision through thoughtfully curating photoshoots from setting to dress and sometimes even hair and makeup, or though thoughtfully consulting with clients and offering styling recommendations that will be mutually and creatively beneficial. 

Here's an example of two of @read.write.coffee’s images completely unedited to illustrate the need for thoughtful & cohesive styling beyond just the edit:

Her styling is so well curated as to allow her quite a bit of flexibility across content for any edit she desires - and this is definitely a pro tip: curate well and you won't have to rely as heavily on the *perfect* edit and can be more flexible to changing your palette (or preset) without reinventing your brand. 

2. Edit your content thoughtfully

We recommend consistently using Lightroom presets to ensure a signature look when editing your content so that it speaks to your overall concept, brand palette, and the aesthetic atmosphere you aim to cultivate for your audience. However, don't think you have to stay stuck in a single edit for the rest of time. Instead consider seasonal changes-whether that be a literal season, or a season of life-to your overall palette that reflect the trends of your niche and the message you want to convey as a personal brand. Even with beautiful and thoughtfully crafted images it helps to have a scroll-stopping edit! 

Here's an example of @read.write.coffee going from a dark academia look for winter, to a fresh light and airy look for spring. Despite the change in tone, as a storyteller, her personal brand remains clear as a bell:  

edited with the "Frosted Cane" preset from Luxe Log Cabin Winter Collection 

Edited with the "Ginger Cream" preset from the Luxe Light & Airy Collection

When editing your images being mindful of the color palettes associated with your niche can be helpful, as well as any colors you plan to use on any text, graphic, or Ad content you plan to release. Having an awareness of color theory and what you wish to convey to your audience when you engage with them visually is also helpful in determining your signature edit. 

Where does video come in? 

While a signature edit is key for cohesive images, by now maybe you've got that down pat. However, as the tide shifts to video for visibility and growth on social media, it is crucial to learn to also create branded video content to match. So if you've spent all this time invested in finding the perfect formula or look, how can you translate that into your video content seamlessly and genuinely? Well, if you use Lightroom to edit your images, you're already halfway there! 

Here are those same images above edited with the "Soft Amber" preset from the Luxe Light & Airy Creams collection:



And here is a video clip that has been edited to match with that very same preset in Lightroom: 

And just like that, clips can now be edited along with your images and used to create beautiful Reel, Tiktok or Meta Stories content that pair well with your images and all seamlessly point back to you as a personal brand with a clear aesthetic POV. 

 

3. Engage your audience in the process

As an author and photographer known for a beautiful, cohesive feed edited to reflect change of season, Dakota (@read.write.coffee), has certainly found her niche in terms of styling and content. She also expertly dialogues to her niche, and engages her audience in the practice of updating her content, who in turn are genuinely excited for each new theme as she moves through seasons and various aesthetics. She accomplishes this in 3 ways:

1. Posts with multiple edits for her followers to swipe through and comment the # of their favorite.
2. Reels revealing before & afters with reference to the edit she used to achieve the look or showing multiple edit options to allow her followers to help vote on her next edit.
3. Story polls to vote on edits or the type of content she shares. 

Following this example, in addition to calls to action in posts and reels, you can engage your audience with your content by utilizing polling, quizzes, and suggestion or question boxes in your stories. 

No matter which way she chooses to engage with her audience, because she is so authentic to her voice and well-established as someone who expertly curates her feed and collaborates with her community, her followers and friends are actively invested in the process. They want to help her tell her story and they are invested in how it is told. 

Ultimately, a clear POV, a thoughtful approach to editing different types of content around that POV, and educated and authentic dialoguing with your niche are all key tools in creating easily recognizable, cohesive content for your personal brand whatever your business and social networking goals may be! 

Want to learn more?

Have an idea of the look you want, but don't know where to start? Our Transform your Feed with Luxe article functions as a quickstart guide!
New to presets or editing in Lightroom? Check out our Skill-Based Workflows!
Want to learn how to edit video to match your images directly on your phone? Learn more about Video Editing in Lightroom HERE!

*Note: Video-editing features are only available for Premium users of the Lightroom subscription software for desktop or mobile!