It won’t be wrong to say coronavirus brought the entire world to a halt. Lockdowns were imposed in several countries around the world, which proved to be challenging for many.
While social distancing meant you couldn’t be physically close to people, it turned out to be the perfect time to connect with everyone virtually. Many people found themselves connecting with colleagues, friends, and family through various digital platforms.
Apart from that, people spent a lot of time on social media. If you are bored during the lockdown, take advantage of that.
How? Well, log in on your Instagram and share your passion with the world. The lockdown allowed people to spend their free time doing things that they couldn’t do when things were still ‘normal.’
If you are passionate about something, the perfect way to beat the lockdown blues is to create content about your passion and share it with the world.
5 Tips To Go About It
Make The Jump
First things first – make an Instagram account solely dedicated to your passion. Art, writing, cooking, baking, cleaning up – what are you passionate about? Get clarity on what to post and how to go ahead with it.
Make a content calendar and determine how often you will post. Give yourself a few months to get a sizable follower count. Produce high-quality content and be consistent about it.
Build A Unique Visual Feed
Instagram is a visual platform, so ensure your feed is visually appealing. There will be a ton of other accounts dedicated to the same passion that you want to share with your audience. This means, your account needs to stand out.
Suppose your passion is in cooking. Don’t put up a mediocre picture of a meal you cooked. You don’t need a fancy DSLR to take great pictures. Your smartphone is enough.
Spend some time learning how to compose great pictures that look visually appealing. Understand how lighting works and learn some editing. And no, Snapchat filters are not allowed!
Be authentic and post only those pictures that you click. Don’t put up stock images as your audience will figure it out, and you would lose more followers than gaining them. You can use a free instagram video editor to make short videos for your posts.
Connect With Audience Through Instagram Stories
Ideally, you need to post content frequently to keep the audience engaged. However, it may not always be possible to post every single day. So, how do you still connect with your audience? That’s right – through Instagram stories, which you can post everyday.
Give them glimpses of your passion through the stories, tell them about yourself, and establish a connection with your audience. Audiences love Instagram stories because they get to be a part of your passion and life. So, feel free to show them the real you in the stories.
Put up ‘behind-the-scenes’ pictures or short videos as stories, give them a sneak peek of your daily routine, other things you are passionate about, and a list of your favorite shows, movies, and favorite shows, or even other Instagram accounts.
Instagram stories are great for communicating and engaging with your followers. You can ask for their advice, answer their questions, or take polls.
Write Awe-Inspiring Captions
While it’s true that your feed needs to be super appealing in terms of visual aesthetics, you need to master your captions as well. You need to create a fantastic copy through your captions. This is where you can give an extra dimension to your content.
A great Instagram post is a combination of a photo and copy. Tell a story through your caption and aim to invoke emotion through the photograph. Don’t write something monotonous and dry.
A picture of a plate of food can talk about the memory behind that particular dish, and if you put up a post of a painting you made, write about the inspiration behind the art.
Your words will resonate with the audience and have the power to make them feel and experience something beautiful. So, make those words count. Spend some time crafting the perfect caption.
Be Authentic
Audiences love to see a real person behind an account. You can achieve this by being authentic and genuine with them. You don’t always have to show a pretty picture of your passion. Show them your vulnerable and raw side as well.
Do you often suffer from writer’s or painter’s block? Failed many times before you got a dish? Some other issues related to your passion? Talk about them. Your audiences would appreciate that you are real with them instead of always showing them a rosy picture.
The more authentic you seem the more your followers will be engaged with your account. Reply to their comments, answer their question, or interact with them every once in a while. It will show your engagement levels and will also increase your popularity.
Bonus Tip
Build a community on Instagram. Don’t just aim to grow your follower count but also connect with fellow content developers. Collaborate with them, learn from them, and take your passion to the next level.
Find ways to hone your craft and better yourself. This will help you improve your content as well. When you put effort into mastering your art, your audience will notice it and spread the word about your account.
Look for different ways you can make your account better. Ensure your content is evolving. Don’t just focus on photos but also create videos using the best free video editor for windows.
Final Words
Don’t get distracted and deviate from what the account is about. If you are highlighting your passion for painting, the posts should be related to art. Don’t put random posts that talk about everything but creativity. It may probably be okay once in a while, but be consistent with your theme.
Get your account started and start posting. Use this time during the lockdown to share your passion with the world. Use it as an opportunity for growth and learning something new.