Hey Interior Designers! Do you ever find yourself running out of worthy content to post to social media? We all know that social media can be such a crucial part of engaging clients, so posting a few times a week is pretty much necessary to stay out in front of your audience. That can be a bit daunting, especially when you've already shared all of your best portfolio images. I'm going to share all of my best kept secrets with you on some ways to get great content! Most of these are free or already accessible, so read on to see how easy this is going to be for you!
Photo source: unsplash.com, photo by William Iven
1. Free Stock Photos
My two favorite websites for this are Pexels and Unsplash. Both are completely free to download photos and use as you wish. You can credit the photographer but you are not required to. These websites are made up of a community of creatives just helping each other out. I have even uploaded a few of my own to share the wealth! Now to clarify, I am NOT saying to download these photos and then claim them as your own. Please do not do that! What I do is share the photo and tag their account on instagram as the source. Sometimes it's as simple as a photo of a fun neon sign with a saying on it, or some random hands working on a project! The key is relating the photo back to your business and what you are selling or providing. I like to promote teamwork and collaboration as a virtual design assistant, so it makes total sense for me to share a photo of people working together. Here is an example of one of my posts, click the photo to see it on Instagram:
Photo source: unsplash.com, photo by Ella Jardim
2. Canva App
If you don't have this app, go download it now! There are tons of free templates to work from and customize with your own touch. In my opinion, Canva is best for when you want to get a message out there and need some creative text images. It can be a quote, an announcement for your business, a customer review, or anything you can dream of. The templates are already sized for each social media platform and organized nicely. I like to get in there and create designs to save and use for later, that way I have some content ready to go. Click here to see my most recent post using Canva.
3. Renderings
If you already have some renderings that were used on previous jobs, why not share those and compare the before and after with them? It gives the clients an idea of the whole process and what to expect. If you don't have renderings, no problem. There are some free websites that you can use to get some content out there. While I mainly use Sketchup for renderings, there are times where I have used Homestyler and Roomstyler. It just depends on the project and how customized it needs to be! And of course I can work up a rendering for you if you are not into trying to figure out these programs. They do take time to learn, but if you have the time they are worth learning.
Here is a rendering I did on Homestyler:
4. Sample Boards
This can be achieved a few different ways, the most simple way being to dig into your sample library (or a trip to your local design showroom) and take some shots of your favorite combinations. Post the photos to show potential clients the beautiful possibilities of working with you!
Another way to make sample boards is to do what I usually do: digital sample boards. All you need is access to the images of each sample, either from the vendors website or a photo you took. You then create a collage of the samples in the program of your choice. There are many programs you can use to create your board. I use Photoshop the most, but I've also used Power Point. And if I am creating it on my phone, I have used the Instagram Layout App, or even the Canva App I mentioned above. Here is one I created in Photoshop:
5. Reposting on Instagram
I try to keep this to a minimum, because I believe your instagram feed should be the majority of your own work. However, there have been several times that I've reposted something another designer posted because it was inspiring to me, or because I was a part of the project and wanted to share the final result. You can also repost in your stories so you aren't cluttering your feed with reposted images. Instagram makes this super easy if you were tagged in the image. But if you were not tagged, you can simply take a screen shot of the post and repost it that way.
6. Photograph, photograph, photograph!
Everywhere you go is an opportunity to snap inspiring photos to post to your social media accounts. Going on a walk? Bring your camera and take shots of nature, your cool running shoes, that abandoned church up the road with the old doors... so many possibilities! And with your filters, Canva app, and so many other photo editing apps out there, you can turn an average photo in to something pretty awesome. I took this photo at a wedding venue (a historic home in my area) and I just had to post it:
7. Throwback Posts
With all the posting you've been doing, some of your greatest work gets buried deep in the archives of your social media accounts... so that means it's time for a throwback post! You can add a filter to mix it up from the original post, or use a different angle. You can even post throwbacks from your old school projects, graduation, your first big job... it's all relative to show your followers how far you've come! You can even do a side by side of your first job vs. your most recent. Progress!!
8. Hire Help!
This is where assistants like me come in! If you are just to busy to manage the day to day social media management, there are assistants who specialize in this. Or, if you just need a few new creative posts, I can help you by creating some awesome images with my Social Media Marketing Package. Or, if you've already hired me to create a mood board, rendering, vignette, etc. then go ahead and post away! I created it just for you and your business, so you have every right to share it. It's my passion to help you make your business the best it can be!
Here are a few examples of my social media marketing images:
Thanks for reading along, I hope you found this post helpful! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss blog posts like this one. You also get a freebie when you subscribe, so go check it out!
xo,
Staci