My Thoughts + Experiences With Instagram Themes

I've been losing Instagram followers left and right lately. With the new Instagram algorithm and all of the crazy changes accompanying it, it's been harder than ever for anyone to keep engagement up. I am a pretty creative person, so I don't like restricting myself to a certain Instagram theme where all of my posts are cohesive and follow a certain color scheme. However, I have tried a couple themes over the past year in futile attempts to boost engagement and statistics. Today, I thought I'd share my thoughts over Instagram themes and the experiences I've had with them. This post is different than the ones I normally write, but I've read a lot of differing opinions over Instagram strategies and wanted to put my two cents in.

(Also... totally go follow my Instagram!! I've been trying to post a ton of fun content lately!)

THEME #1: CHRISTMAS THEME

This was the only theme out of the three that I truly enjoyed. I absolutely love Christmas, so I had no problem taking festive pictures filled with red and green hues. Christmas decor was everywhere, and I owned a lot of Christmas outfits, so it was fairly easy for me to keep up this theme and simply looking at it made me happy. Sadly, I had to end this theme when December 26th rolled around, for obvious reasons...

THEME #2: WHITE THEME

I honestly hated this theme, but it made perfect sense and worked out well. During the winter, I find it hard to take outfit pictures since everything is dead and there's no pretty nature anywhere, so a white theme was an easy way to create Instagram content. I took a lot of flatlays during this time, and I prefer shooting outfit pictures so this was a hard theme for me to enjoy. People keep asking me to bring this theme back, and maybe I will come winter, but I felt like this theme was too restricting and ultimately too white.

THEME #3: BLUE THEME

I unintentionally started this theme during my trip to Chicago, because the entire city is pretty much blue and gray so all of my pictures there were blue and gray. I liked this theme for a while, but I started to run out of blue clothes to wear in pictures and missed taking pictures of vibrant pinks and turquoises. During this timeframe, I was losing a lot of followers, and the blue theme slowed the decline but did nothing to help with follower growth.

THE TAKEAWAY

I think the only theme that I could actually stick to would be a theme that is "me." And honestly, I don't know what that is yet. There are some days when I like bright colors and Lilly Pulitzer. There are other days when I prefer subdued, neutral tones and trendy, bohemian clothes. I'm torn between creating a bright and white theme or creating an unsaturated, trendy theme. I like both aesthetics equally, and I want my theme to reflect that. A jumble of all different colors and aesthetics may not look the best in a grid of photos, but that's who I am. My style is constantly changing. I'm a bit of a mess. But, I'm happy being a jumble of different styles. I love both preppy looks and trendy looks, and I want my theme to reflect who I am. So as of the moment, my theme is me. It's not perfect. It's messy. But it's happy and creative and inspirational and everything I want to be.

Enough said.