Instagram Do's & Dont's - How to get your photos reposted!
We've created a pretty amazing job for ourselves - getting to design the world's most stylish products for your fur babies and then getting to stare at them all day when you tag us in photos! We get asked multiple times a day if we'll repost your photos and we know how much effort goes in to getting the perfect shot of your little muffin wearing their PUPSTYLE, so we've taken notes and we're gifting you our complete list of Do's and Dont's for your next photo shoot, based on how we choose what to repost next! So grab your journal and a pen and we'll begin this class in 3, 2, 1...
DO: Use Portrait Mode!
(Or anything similar)! Photos always look more professional when all the background noise (or in our case, background mess) is slightly blurred and doggo is the hero of your photo. This doesn't mean that your fur baby has to be front and centre, but thankfully Portrait Mode helps to create those layers in your photo where your little floof stands out from the background and everyone's only focussing on how cute they are and what they're wearing!
DON'T: Have a messy background
On the flip side of the last point, make sure you're not taking the world's cutest photo of your pupper with your weekend shopping bags, Dad's smelly shoes and your WFH setup in the background. This makes your photos too busy and not ideal for our attempt at creating a clean and simple feed.
DO: Make the most of natural light
"But excuse me, PUPSTYLE, what is natural light?" I'm glad you asked! Natural light doesn't necessarily mean you need to go outside for all your photos from now on, but if you are outside, find the shade of a tree and there's your good natural light. If you're inside, stand near a window in your home and you've nailed it. It's the same kind of light that you, as a human, would want when you're trying to take the most perfect selfie. Not so harsh that you need to squint into the sun, but not as dull as those warm yellow house lights that make everything feel dark. Find a happy medium and you're set!
DON'T: Take photos in the car
Most cars have dark black seats, a dark roof and tinted windows. If you've learnt something from the previous point, you would now be fully aware that cars do not create a good source of natural light. The best version of car photos are ones taken from the outside, with pupper's happy face hanging out the window, slobber going everywhere and a little sky in the background. Always, always, always take this type of photo instead of an inside-car-sitting-on-the-backseat photo.
DO: Show off your PUPSTYLE Logo with pride!
As a brand, our logo is a defining feature that no other brand can have and is a representation of all of our brand values in one. When you see our logo on a product, PUPSTYLER's automatically recognise it and know that this product must be very high quality and designed with love. It's this brand recognition that helps us grow our brand to reach more puppers around the world. Where possible, we always choose photos where our brand logo is visible. Even if you have a doggo with lots of neck fluff that typically hides their collar charm or harness logo, by taking the photo from lower down, you'll be able to get all the good bits in! It goes like this:
1. You take a cute as heck photo (possibly using all the tips from this post) with your PUPSTYLE accessories and it goes viral
2. Twenty pupper friends see your photo and want to be like you, so they instantly search for 'PUPSTYLE' to see if they can find what you've got
3. All of them place their first PUPSTYLE order and then they repeat steps 1-3.
4. Within a short space of time, we've got hundreds of new customers and can then afford to bring out all the new products you've been hoping for!
DON'T: Combine your PUPSTYLE products with other branded products
Similar to the last point, we put a lot of effort into designing the most perfect products for the world's most stylish pups and our social media is where we display a small selection of you all using them to the rest of the world. Our Instagram and Facebook accounts are the culmination of lots of hard work and act like advertising, so it is not a place where we would be sharing photos of other brands' products and advertising them on our platform that we've worked hard to build. So if you're wearing a collar that doesn't match your PUPSTYLE harness or you're still saving up for one of our discounted Bundles and using a different leash with your PUPSTYLE accessories for now, our best recommendation is to remove the products that don't match before your photo shoot to give you the best chance of having your photo reposted on the feed!
DO: Post silly photos!
Cute puppy photos, happy tongues hanging out of your mouth sideways and adorable puppy dog eyes will always win us over, but we love funny photos equally as much! Whether it's a funny photo or a witty caption, if you make us laugh, chances are you'll make all our followers laugh too, which is exactly what we want! Lying on your back with your willy out? PERFECT! Found a friend at the dog park that you loved a little more than just a friend? I think we just found our next Hump Day photo! We're always on the lookout for funny PUPSTYLER's doing funny things so all those blooper shots you thought wouldn't make the cut might just be exactly the photo we're waiting for!
DON'T: Take all your photos in the same location
Variety is key! Your photos might be amazing every single time, but if you're always posting a photo with a grass background, we won't be able to keep reposting them as we try to keep our feed a good mix of indoor and outdoor photos. By having your phone handy all the time, you'll be ready for any photo opportunity that presents itself - a cute brick wall as you're on your daily walk, a new spot in the house that pupper has decided to start snoozing in or a park bench under a big tree. Seasonal photos are always a great way to get some different looking backgrounds - our current favourites are all the pups that are wearing their festive Bandanas in front of their Christmas tree or Santa stocking!
Think you've nailed the Do's and Dont's of how to get your photos reposted? Make sure you tag us in the photo @pupstylestore and you might just see your little muffin featuring on our feed!