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6 Creative Ways To Use Stock Photos On Instagram
Want to use stock images to boost user engagement on Instagram? Here are ways to use Stock Images on Instagram and wow your followers!
Stock photography may have had a bad rep a few years ago but let's be honest, it made content creation for busy entrepreneurs so easy! And we're not talking about the overly-staged stock images of the past. New stock images are more creative and engaging. Because these no longer need a lot of tweaking, you can use them straight away; no extra work is necessary.
What are Stock Photos?
Stock photos are professionally shot images that are sold on a royalty-free basis. The images can be used for nearly all types of content — blogs, website visuals, marketing materials, etc. These images are sold in stock photography sites like Haute Stock, Social Squares, and Pexels. These sites sell these images on a subscription or per-image basis. Usage rights will depend on the stock sites, so it’s smart to check the usage rights first before signing up for the service or purchasing an image.
There's also the matter of finding the right stock photos to fit your brand, style, and aesthetic. And no better place to market your business through fabulous images than Instagram. It's the platform to be for new businesses who want to strengthen their online presence and widen their reach.
If you've got a collection of stock photos and you've no clue how to use them for your Instagram, we've got your back. Here are six creative ways to use stock photos on IG:
6 Creative Ways To Use Stock Photos on Instagram
As background for inspirational quotes
Inspirational quotes are always popular with IG followers; they get a ton of likes. And the thing with these quotes is that they’re very versatile and relatable. You can use inspirational quotes to boost user engagement and built trust. You can use a photo editing tool to overlay inspirational quotes on the stock image.
One thing to remember is to be very selective of the images you’ll use for the inspirational quotes; they should fit the message and the brand. The image should be something that your followers will love.
If you’re promoting a spa then an image of a person getting a massage with a quote about relaxing will definitely fit your brand. If you’re running an online school on finance education, an image showing men and women crunching numbers in a professional setting would fit your brand and the message.
As custom highlights covers
Give your feed a fabulous makeover by using stock images as custom story covers. By customizing the highlight covers, your feed looks neat, professional, and organized.
Again, you can use free photo editing tools like Canva to customize the images into cute story covers. You can use these images as the main pictures of the cover or simply as a back cover. You can create highlight covers for customer reviews, cross-promotions with other brands, product infos, and so on. You can then organize your content according to the covers.
For story features
IG’s Story feature lets you share snippets of your everyday life. It’s a popular feature among influencers and cult brands because it enables you to connect with customers on a more personal level. You can use stock images as a story background or as story stickers. These images will help make every story fun for the followers. They could also encourage followers to leave comments!
Promote courses, services, programs, and products
From online courses to product infos, stock images could be used to promote your offers. Customize the stock images with on-brand colors, graphics, and textures, then overlay your product right in the center, and voila, you're ready to promote! Although it will take extra time to customize the images, the little tweaks will elevate the look of the photos. And these will get a lot of people talking!
Colorblock your feed
Instagram is a visually-driven platform, and you have to elevate your feed if you really want to give a good impression on people. One way to do that is to curate your feed, so the grid looks gorge as a whole. You have to be intentional in terms of the photos you’re posting if you want to make the feed look good. It all starts with choosing the lighting and color that suits your brand.
For example, if you’re into minimalism, then colors like white, beige, etc., are great colors to start with. Use that color scheme. If your brand colors are blue and green, stick to this color scheme but add white as an accent.
You’ll need to plan out every photo before publishing, so each one is in line with the aesthetic you’re trying to achieve. It’ll be challenging at first, but once you get the hang of it, planning out the next set of stock images will be a breeze for the next few weeks.
As backgrounds for promotional videos
No one wants to sit through a series of promotional videos. And if you want people to pay attention and watch the whole thing, your promotional videos should be worth the click. Do away with sales-y videos by using stock images as backgrounds for your promo clips. The tweak will make your video messages engaging and interesting. If your site is offering a holiday sale, for example, you can show the stock images at the end of the video to highlight the offer. Again, relevance is essential; the image must suit the offer to make the marketing message stick.
Professionally shot images will go a long, long way as far as building a solid following on Instagram goes. With stock images, you can elevate the look of your feed, giving you plenty of opportunities to market your business without sounding too sales-y. Try any of these tips today and start revamping your IG feed with stock photos.
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