The Perfect Instagram Post

Part of my job as a social media intern at a fashion company is to create and plan social posts for Instagram. It seems simple enough, but there is a lot more that goes into each post other than just taking a photo, thinking of a caption, and posting using the app.

When posting a product flatlay shot, like the featured image on this post, each product is picked and the layout is decided based on the current creative campaign. Because these accessories were shot during the winter campaign, the layout is winter themed and features “snow,” which was actually created with shaving cream and baking soda specifically for this photo. The pieces were arranged and rearranged on a marble slab until the layout was as visually pleasing as possible. Some of the pieces were placed with clear wax to help them sit a certain way, and stay in place during the shooting process. The marble slab was rotated until the shadows were less intense. The “snow” was added in between the accessories and rearranged until it looked natural and not overpowering. The photo was taken from above as another team member held a large white light reflector to brighten up the space.

The photos are edited and the best one is picked to be used for social. The copy for the caption is drafted and approved and the photo is added to the social schedule. A resource called Curalate is used to create the schedule. It allows tracked links to be added to each product, so when the photo is added to Instagram, viewers can click the link in the company bio and click on each individual product and shop. Because the links are tracked, a system called Coremetrics is used to see which products were clicked the most and which of those clicks led to a sale.

It’s really interesting to see all that goes into one seemingly simple Instagram post. It is definitely a team effort every time, and it makes me think differently about the process behind other brands posts when I quickly scroll through Instagram.