Instagram has fully transformed the visual marketing playing field. Aside from helping brands and businesses level up their campaigns, they’ve also made it incredibly easy to boost a post’s appeal through their in-app photo filters.

60% of the top brands use a consistent filter on all of their posts. This obviously allows a company to have a more consistent image on the platform, which is great for brand recognition.

What do numbers like these tell us? The most successful brands on Instagram love using filters – shouldn’t that be reason enough to try incorporating them into your very own campaign?

Find out the many ways you can benefit from using Instagram filters, and which ones to try first by reading our advice below.

Why Use Filters?

Filters are a quick and easy way to enhance a photo, making it more attractive in the eyes of discerning Instagram users.

According to a study done by the good people at Yahoo Labs and Georgia Tech, enhancing a photo through the use of filters combined with some striking copy can help you increase the number of comments you receive by 45%, and boost your searchability by 25%.

This means filtered photos usually serve as a more effective visual marketing asset compared to undoctored ones.

If you are looking for ways to step up your Instagram marketing game, creatively using filters is definitely the way to do it. Thanks to Instagram’s photo filters, you can instantly age a photo to evoke a sense of nostalgia with just a simple swipe, for instance, or make it more enticing it in a number of other ways.

The ability to easily enhance photos has somehow evened out the playing field for companies with varying marketing capacities. Your small, family-owned and operated business can now compete with a more notable brand as far as attracting potential customers goes – given you use filters properly.

Instagram in-app filters are an inexpensive, fast and easy solutions for producing higher-quality visual marketing assets that can compete with the big guys.

What are the Most Popular Instagram Filters?

As mentioned earlier, filters can help you nurture and boost engagement on the platform, which can be hard to come by given how competitive social media marketing has become over the past year.

Instagram has several free filters available that can help you add more flair to your posts – and some of them have more marketing benefits than others. Experimenting briefly with all the different filters can help you develop a more consistent look on your feed, which is always a good thing as far as branding is concerned.

According to the study conducted by Yahoo Labs and Georgia Tech, photos with warm filters such as Sepia, Mayfair, Rise, and Toaster receive a higher-than-average view rate compared to those using cooler ones.

American Airlines is a big fan of Mayfair and have consistently used the filter on a majority of their posts. This filter makes takeoff so dramatic, don’t you think? Around 7,400 people think so.

If you want to give your engagement a bump, high-contrast filters such as Inkwell, Ludwig and Nashville are the way to go. Photos with these filters are found to receive more comments and likes compared to undoctored ones.

Fast food giant Carl’s Jr. knows how well high-contrast filters enhance #foodstagram shots. They are big fans of filters such as Inkwell, Ludwig and Nashville because they make burgers look 100 times juicier and better through simple color saturation and highlighting.

The filters that take the cake are those with high levels of exposure such as Toaster, LoFi, Amaro, and Sutro. They’re proven to generate the most amounts of engagement AND views – how’s that for a double whammy?

If you really want to take your Instagram marketing campaign to a whole new level, consider purchasing high-quality followers, likes and comments to boost your appeal even more.

High-quality likes and comments bought from a reputable provider can help you establish a more influential status on the platform without overly exhausting all your marketing resources.

Bought likes and comments are one of the most efficient ways to further your reach on a highly competitive platform like Instagram.

Reputable providers offer social signals that look as real as real can be. They also provide their customers with value-adding services such as responsive support and comprehensive guarantees.

You can’t just buy followers and pray for success- you need a solid marketing plan. Read our guide on what to do after purchasing social signals. Be sure to check it out so you can take advantage of the all the marketing benefits Instagram has to offer.

Which Filters Should You Use?

If you’re highly considering adding filters to some of your posts, you might want to follow in the footsteps of some of the Fortune 500 Brands on Instagram.

Image credit: TrackMaven

Among the most popular filters for top brands are Juno, Lark, Clarendon, Ludwig, Lo-Fi, Valencia and Mayfair.

Remember, Instagram is still a social networking site and the posts you publish will go alongside user-uploaded content. You need to develop content that’s stunning without looking too much like an ad.

Improve your branding game by choosing a filter that you’ll use throughout your campaign for a more consistent look. This will help you develop a unique brand persona on the platform while reaping the marketing benefits filters have to offer.

Don’t Rely on Filters Alone

Filters alone cannot single-handedly boost your Instagram marketing campaign. What they can do is better your chances of nurturing engagement and maximize views.

If you really want to maximize the marketing potential Instagram has, you should learn how to use all the available tools that will help you reach success – and the right filters should be part of that toolbox.

Aside from enhancing your photos with filters, you can also easily strengthen your social proof while boosting your appeal to a lot more people by purchasing high-quality social signals from a reputable provider. You'll enhance your authority online, an important piece of the marketing puzzle.

Developing a unique brand tone and attitude will help you become more memorable to Instagram’s potent pool of potential customers. Success on a platform like Instagram is easily attainable if you dedicate enough time and energy towards finding out what works for you.

Take what you learned here today and begin working on your enhanced Instagram success strategy.

Image credit: KeywordSuggest

Date: May 8, 2017 / Categories: Guide, Marketing, Tips, / Author: Mariko