Recently, I attended Marjolaine and Lucie‘s Instagram Masterclass webinar. Marjolaine is a full-time business coach, and Lucie is an Internet personality (you may recognize her from her work with Refinery29). They shared some of their insight on how to grow a personal brand on Instagram.

I learned a lot from the hour-long session, so I thought I would share some of their tips and tricks with you. If you want to create your brand on Instagram, or if you want to enhance your brand, read on!

They started the webinar by addressing the fact that many people are nervous to show up online. But, it is important to show up so that you can attract your community! On Instagram, visitors use your page to gain a sense of who you are. Your personality can be shown through your aesthetic, the type of content that you create, and the overall vibe of your page.

To build your brand and to use Instagram effectively, here are some things that Marjolaine and Lucie recommended:

Change your username. Your username should be something that allows people to easily find you. Marjolaine and Lucie recommended to just use your name without any extra characters. Keep it simple!

Change your name field. This spot on your profile has the highest SEO pull. Make sure you are utilizing it the best you can. For example, my says “Megan Roshak | Blogger.” This is so my page is searchable by who I am and what I do.

Update your bio. You should include your mission statement at the top of your bio. This is what hooks visitors. If you aren’t sure what your mission is, ask yourself: “what’s my impact?” or “how do I add value to others?”

Utilize IG Stories and Reels. This is where people are spending most of their time in the app; don’t miss out! Marjolaine and Lucie recommend committing to one face-to-face Instagram story check-in each day. Setting a daily alarm can help remind you it’s story time. If you feel lost regarding what to talk about, schedule daily prompts on your content calendar.

Plan and bulk create content. You don’t have to be creating content every single day to be a content creator. Bulking content will help you to post more consistently.

Make your aesthetic easy to maintain. Be aware of your surroundings and what type of content will be easy and authentic to create. You might not want to create a “beachy vibe” if you live in the city.

Choose brand pillars. Select a few categories that you want to create content in. For example, on this website, I have the categories of beauty, lifestyle, coffee, etc. That’s how I define the content that I create.

Find your people. Get to know others in your field. As a blogger, I love to connect with other bloggers. You can find people through hashtags or by recommend accounts. Make it a point to collaborate and celebrate others’ successes. As Marjolaine and Lucie say, stop competing and start shining!

Stop consuming, and start creating. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in scrolling that we forget to actually participate. Lucie described how she practices “conscious consumption.” It helps her to generate content ideas without getting stuck in the scroll.

She sets a timer for 20 minutes to scroll through Instagram. After that, she sets a timer for 10 minutes to reflect on everything that she saw. During this time, she can write down ideas and brainstorm.

Don’t try to be perfect. The people following you are following you because of who you are. Be your authentic self.

Marjolaine and Lucie recognized that branding is a process, yet they also stated that if you put the work in, you will see results. I hope that these tips and tricks can help you start your journey or enhance your brand!

What tip will you put into action? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments or on Instagram. Let’s chat!