Travel
Esther Swaty
Moving to Austin, Texas

It’s hard to believe I from Seattle in Austin, Texas on August 8, 2019 and now I’ve almost been here for two weeks. In a way it feels like so much has happened and so little at the same time. The story of how my partner and I ended up in Austin is long and short.

Moving to Austin, Texas
Learning, Social Media
Esther Swaty
Today’s Citizens Must Equip Themselves For The ...

Today, data and algorithms have influence over everything from our democracy, to our homes, to our work. We are in an era of seemingly unlimited technological progress and the speed of innovation requires citizens to be engaged in non-partisan learning and discussion. We don’t have to know everything but we need to know enough to think critically and ask questions about the technologies being developed, as well as be able to hold accountable the individuals and organizations creating them.

Today’s Citizens Must Equip Themselves For The Technological Future

Homepolish

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Consistency Is King In Social Media

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Today, I'm excited to introduce Lauren Caron of Union Adorn to give her top social media tip. Lauren and I met via Instagram (the power of social media). Lauren recently moved to Seattle from New York, when we finally got to meet in person, it felt like we definitely were kindred creative spirits. Lauren's background is in Visual Presentation Design, Interior Design and Business Management. She has worked with some pretty amazing clients including: Bergdorf Goodman, Hasbrouck House Hotel, Homepolish Inc and Tiffany & Co. She is absolutely amazing and I am looking forward to collaborating with her more soon.

Social Media Tip #2: BE CONSISTENT

The best way to ensure you’re going to have a strong Instagram feed is to be Consistent. Think about when you scan other accounts, especially the ones that you consider to be good, there is a consistent formula and system that they’re using which makes their feed be consistently good and on brand. You can look at their feed and know immediately if you want to follow a person/brand or not. Most of the time I don’t even go past the initial feed to individual photos make the decision about if I am going to follow that person or not. 

Creating that consistency is the first step and it’s not going to happen overnight. You need to experiment with different filters, or types of images or perhaps kinds of compositions (that are all reflective of your brand), or even a consistent tone of voice, and see how your followers respond to them. After a while trends will start to reveal themselves and you’ll gain an understanding of what your audience wants to see and hear from you. That’s when you start to edit your content to post more within that formula. Sometimes I purposely break the formula and yes, I gain less likes but also, it is a personal account and I want to be authentic so I say “what the heck, I want to post this so I will.” Usually I receive less likes and sometimes I even lose followers. 

For example, in my personal feed (@laurenlcaron) my audience is most drawn to 4 major images: 1. pictures of my own interiors or interiors that I have created. 2. and 3. are a close and nearly a tie, but my audience loves to see images of building facades in the neighborhoods I’m living, or interiors of restaurants and shops that I’m shopping in. And 4. My dogs tend to get a lot of likes, as long as they’re sprinkled into the feed, not over used. Once in a while I’ll add an image with inspirational text that is relative to me, my followers and the spirit of being a creative entrepreneur. Some of those images have received the most likes of all while others don’t get much. So I only truly post them when the words have a significant meaning to me. For my feed though, I tend to post them in the same font on the same white background.

This completely makes sense as to why my audience prefers these kinds of images, because I am an interior designer and my feed is my personal brand. What audiences want to see, ties directly back to the foundation of the brand - me and my work. 

From a visual standpoint, when canvassing my feed, I consistently utilize the same 2 filters from VSCO. I prefer a tone that is clean, clear and crisp, with true blacks, true whites and deep greens. You’ll notice my images are never too warm or toned to pink, hazy, too moody or too overexposed. Also, I tend to shoot directly onto my buildings and rooms, creating straight up and down lines, without any strong perspective lines or angles. 

Apps that I utilize to keep my feed consistent are: 

  • VSCO - because I always prefer those filters over the IG ones
  • Snug - to preview how a new image will fit within my feed. 
  • ColorStory - Once in a while I’ll use this to edit the photos, but I haven’t found a favorite set of filters on this app yet, although they do the same thing that VSCO does. 
  • Phonto - to create my text images.

Consistency doesn’t mean that you have to have the same exact images or necessary that every image has to look the same but they should fit into some sort of broad formula that we stick to. Also, this is just relative to IG, for my other platforms I create based on the needs of that space, as well as what my audience wants to see within that platform. In the end, I just try to ask of whatever I put out there, “is this consistent with my brand?”

Lauren Caron

Union Adorn | United in Beauty

www.unionadorn.com