Let's Talk INSTAGRAM

Y'all see that? That's a video! I made my first YouTube video and you all should be so excited.. Especially everyone who has ever asked me an Instagram related question. I hope I answered ALL your questions, or at least gave you some insight, or showed you just how long I can ramble.. This video is kind of long.. almost an hour actually. But that's why I decided to publish on a Saturday morning! So you can have some nice breakfast in bed, and listen to me rambling.. And read the rest of this post! Not only is this video filled with me rambling about all things Instagram, but the rest of this post will be filled with a break down of my tips & tricks & favorite blog posts! I hope you guys enjoy and be sure to TWEET at me and tell me what you think! Oh and also FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM.. Happy watching, friends and happy Saturday!

Extra Tips & Tricks from me:

~To prevent unfollowers, engage with them. Most the time people only follow you so that they can get that follow back y'know? So basically you have to give them absolutely no reason to unfollow you. Continue to engage your followers on a personal level so that they continue to follow and keep up with you and your life and your posts. 

~Adjust the brightness and contrast, highlights and shadows, add a bluer tint ALL BEFORE adding that filter. Then adjust the amount of filter you apply. Add just enough, but not too much. 

~A while back I found out about the wonders of Iconosquare.. And how you can use it to analyze your Instagram data and further engage your followers and get the most likes. If you learn the patterns that are working, then it's easier to continue those patterns and make the most of your following.

~LIGHTING IS KEY! It doesn't have to be perfect.. remember there are editing tools, but get it as close to perfect as possible. Make sure you have your background set up near natural lighting, or take photos outside whenever you can. Natural lighting is easier for editing so I've learned.

~Always take multiple pictures. You always have one that's going to blur or line up weird.. So just always take at least 3 or 5, you can always delete later. I typically upload them all to VSCO then edit them all, and upload my favorite to Instagram. Add some finishing touches, and then post.

~Ever heard of the rule of 3rds? LEARN IT. So helpful! 

~Are you noticing that when you lighten your photos you lose some of the pop in the colors? Try adjusting the saturation.. Not too much, but just a little. Especially with the falling leaves the saturation really helps the leaves pop.

~Stay personal with your followers. I'm certainly not an expert at this, but I'm trying. Posting perfect captions isn't always what followers want to see. Show your followers that you're an actual person. Give them relatable content to engage with. 

Here's some other posts to help you out with all things Instagram:

Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere shares some Instagram tips and her favorite apps

14 Do's and Don'ts for INSTAGRAM SUCCESS -- which is what we all want, amiright

Lauren Conrad shares some tips

Sarah's Instagram is one of my favs! Check out her tips here

Here's how you can create a cohesive feed like the pros

Melyssa gives you 11 ways to grow your following!

Find your personal Instagram voice...

Secrets from the Instagram stars themselves!

Here's how you can grow your following FASTER

Looking to try out some new photo editing apps? Check out this resource for some new ones to try!

By Levo, the 3 Things we should be doing on instagram

A few more do's and don'ts.. because I just can't get enough

Glitter Guide tells us how to take the perfect instagram...

Selfie Tips from Dolce & Gabbana

5 tips and tricks from The LALA so you can reach Instagram stardom

Here's some POWERFUL apps to use for editing

Started from the bottom now we here.. Grow your Insta from day one

Here's Hello Society's tips on Instagram

I'm a huge fan of simplicity.. this 2 step process will help you gain Instagram followers like that *snap*

Caitlin of Southern Curls and Pearls shares her tips on how to take an Instagram

The Nectar Collective (my fav) shares the best hashtags so you can get #noticed

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? Did you learn something? Share your tips, and what you learned from this post in a comment below! I can't wait to see :) Do me a favor and share this post on Twitter and Pinterest! Happy Weekend XO

#Aesthetic

Lately, bloggers and Instagram users have been more focused than necessary on aesthetic. For those of you who don't know what I mean by aesthetic, God bless. We've all seen those Instagram accounts WHERE EVERY SINGLE POST LOOKS BASICALLY THE SAME. You can call it "aesthetically pleasing" but you wanna know what I call it? Boring. I've said it so many times, and every time I do I get a totally different response.. but my aesthetic is myself. Who gives a flip about color choice and photo editing and all that junk. Let me explain my thoughts on all this that has come to be "Instagram game" "#aesthetic" and all that BS. 

All an aesthetic is is a color choice that the instagrammer chooses. They then take pictures that match the theme and edit all the photos before posting with the same filters and apps. WHAT. Why do people feel like they need to do this? I've been emailed multiple times from bloggers who are just starting out asking me what an aesthetic is and if they need one. NO. That is my answer.

My aesthetic is myself. I'm going to grow and change over the years and the one thing I hate more than anything is feeling restricted. If I can only post every other week because it's that hard to find photos that match my theme -- it's a no deal.

I don't know about you, but I love color. I love keeping people on their toes. I love surprises. If every single picture on my account looks exactly the same.. what's the point in scrolling through and liking old pictures? I mean it's not like you missed anything as a follower, they're all the same. That's probably what drives me insane about this whole thing. Everyone chooses if not the same, super similar themes. Why do you think I'm gonna want to follow you if 30,000 accounts are doing the same thing. I follow people for them. If I think you're a cool person based off your feed, duh I'm gonna follow. I never follow for the aesthetic.

Not gonna lie.. I do edit my photos. I've written two posts about Instagram -- check them here & here. But not all my photos look the exact same. Lately I've been in a paper kick so some of my photos have something with my desk or stationery or a notebook. It's only because school is just starting back and I'm trying to find my perfect balance y'all I promise. Or since I'm trying to promote Rocksbox, I have pictures of my jewelry. My feed has a habit of slipping into the same old boring aesthetic train if I'm not careful.

When I get comments like "aesthetic on point" "theme on point" "loving your theme lately" "wow love your feed" I don't think that I need more posts that look exactly like that in order to get maximum engagement on my posts. Instead I take that to mean that the quality in which I am posting with is really good, and that I should keep it up. I only post things that mean something to me, or have any importance to me whatsoever. That's part of how I keep my aesthetic myself. Sometimes I will post a smores picture or something from the mountains just to keep everyone on their toes (heads up I'm off to Table Rock again for Labor Day weekend, so expect some photos).

And to be honest, when I get those comments.. it kinda ticks me off. It's like "well I'm glad you're loving my account but please don't focus on what my photos look like in a grid formation with my bio and profile photo above them. I want you to focus on my captions, on what's actually in the photo, what's on my blog." -- just my thoughts.

 You'll also come to realize that if you keep up a good "theme" or "aesthetic" or "insta game on point" then almost any photo will look good with it if you just want to post a random snap.

Also, am I the only one that wished more people "spammed me" with likes? I mean my photos from like last spring break are so good and so fun I just wish more people saw them.. Same with like all summer long. If y'all ever need something to do or to procrastinate doing something important go spam me with likes pretty please.

All those Youtube videos and blog posts that even mention aesthetic drive me up the wall honestly. If you scroll through my instagram, you will see a variety of photos of all sorts of things all edited differently. I hate being boring. Not only do I love keeping others on their toes, I have to keep myself on my toes! Honestly me being the scatterbrained person I am, I totally forgot the point of this post so let's see if I can reign it back in.

I'm not saying that you can't like a particular color. I'm not saying you can't post a certain type of photo. I'm just saying be brave. Every once and a while post a photo that's a little "off your Insta game" and just see what happens. Sometimes it's those photos that receive the most likes -- at least on my account.

one of my most liked posts -- 4th of July 2015

Just a thought for any of those getting "serious" about their blogs/instagrams. Have fun, okay? Don't be boring! Stand out! Be unique! Oh and you.. As cheesy as all that was - I do mean it. Be you.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on aesthetic and Instagram themes below...

P.S. My insta game is a little aesthetic-y and boring right now, but if you wanna follow me this weekend is gonna be great! Search @classycathleen_ or click here

Flower Love

I love flowers.. like hello, no surprise there right? Who doesn't? But I really love photographing flowers. And posting them on Instagram of course. I never really share them with y'all here on my actual blog.. so I thought I would! Also, feel free to share this photos on Pinterest or Tumblr!

Have a great rest of your Tuesday! 

Behind The Instagram

Jamie is probably the most creative person I know here in the blogging world. Last week, she put together Instagram Week on The Fashion Newcomer, and I really enjoyed reading the posts. Any blogger knows what really goes into taking a good or even mediocre instagram snapshot... A really good one? The stories can be quite entertaining. So anyways, Jamie wrote this great post showcasing the photos that never quite made it to her Instagram.. and she tagged me to share some with y'all! Do you even know how hard this was, Jamie? If you follow me on Instagram.. you know I post a lot. I'm constantly looking for things around me that are at least somewhat Instagram worthy. I really had to dig around for some of these photos. Well, I say that.. and somehow I found a fair amount that I've never published.. probably because I get attached to my photos. So here we go.. Never Published Instagrams of Classy Cathleen

I took this photo at Brookgreen gardens, and I was insanely proud with how it turned out. These are some of my favorite birds, but he just seemed a little too intimidating to share on my Instagram. Like check those eyes.. pretty creepy huh. Keep an eye out though, he might get his big break on instagram sooner or later.

How beyond awful is this photo. I'm so embarrassed. The colors s-u-c-k SUCK and I don't think there's any way to edit or re create the photograph. Also, it's blurry. I'm one of those people that never deletes any photos off their phone.. but if I could delete a photo, it would be this one.

This little guy hasn't made his debut on my Instagram yet... but he will eventually. I think. I'm not 100% obsessed with it, but keep an eye out. When I tried to capture this, I couldn't focus my camera because they kept popping up and down in the water.. Like whack-a-mole actually. Just with otters. 

Throwback to Spring Break... When our first morning was 30 degrees out on the beach. Outfit includes a tanktop, t-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt, and raincoat (because it was the only thing still big enough to hold all the under layers). Also (how could I forget) two pairs of leggings (both fleece lined and regular), and two pairs of socks inside of my Ugg style boots. My nose was probably the color of a tomato, but dang-it I was gonna get out there and photograph the gorgeous sunrise. AND I DID. My mom snapped this of me (along with many others) as I stopped to take photos. 

One of our Spring break days, I was lying out in the sun.. and realized that the sand covering my hands was looking super tumblr-y. So I snapped one of my hand, and Sarah helped me caption it something clever. I'll show another pic in a sec that I was gonna post.. but the full hand just seemed better. ANYWAYS, I was gonna post a classic beach picture y'know where you have your toes in the water ass in the sand... And I did that! But doesn't it look so plain? 

So I covered my leg in sand, and the couple next to me looked at me with a really strange look. But whatever! I love how it came out, and the one above made it to the Instagram.

These were right outside of the cabin we were staying in all Spring Break and I was gonna post it.. but I honestly have no idea why I didn't. Maybe the lighting? It might make it later on. 

I loved this little part of the trail between the old canal locks, and I got a picture of that too, but I found a snail and got all excited that I dropped it twice, and so I decided I owed it an Instagram debut which never happened #oops.

I ALWAYS (well not always, but most the time) post photos of what I'm eating. and I was gonna post this, and honestly I have no idea why I didn't. Probably because it's so covered in cheese you can't tell what the heck it is. 

I love raspberries. But I hate photographing them. They're such a pretty color, but whenever I try to capture that color it turns ugly! This was one of my parent's anniversary cakes I think? I don't know, but it came out ugly.

My toes looked awkward. So yeah, no Instagram for you.

I accidentally posted a throwback Thursday with this picture on a Friday (It was exam week, gimme a break) and never posted it again.. It'll come back later I promise! Shoutout to the lil bro and sis for building a pretty cool sand castle.

See the royal blue? Look around the pink wedge... See the white hair at the top? Yeah this lady was judging. It was like the first or second days of Spring, and I was gonna edit this all nice and line it up better, but this lady was right there and it really bothered me and messed up the picture.

I took this to show y'all what I do when I go to Walmart. Even at night. I take pictures of all the flowers. ALL OF THEM. I captured this because all the hoses and metal in the background shows the reality of the photo. It's never gonna make it to the Instagram, but I still thought it was fun to show. 

Y'know those barrels filled with dry snacks or oats or cereal at the grocery store? Well I found one filled with pistachios, and something inside me told me to lift up the lid, take out the scoop, and take a photo of the pistachios. Why? I have no idea. If I was the type of person that gives a flip about aesthetic, I would never post this. But I'm not, so this might make a debut at some point.

Holy yum and holy blur! It was national donut day (if you remember I was in the mountains and the Instagram takeover was underway) and I was begging for donuts. Then I moved on to these yummy croissants, and I still got denied and the photo came out horrible so I just decided to give up. Until we got to the watermelons.

funny story- we forgot the graham crackers at the store.. and from Oconee it's like a 20 minute drive there and back, and so my clever dad decided to make his own graham crackers! I never posted because the lighting, and I had to use flash.. but I had to share it at some point!

There might be another part to this eventually. I honestly don't know. I'm too focused on the now and jamming out to Gavin Degraw right now so bye y'all

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Let's Talk About Instagram...

Follow me by clicking on the image above

Let's talk about Instagram.. Or actually.. I'll write, you read, and share your thoughts at the end! Is everyone familiar with Instagram? If you're not... YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK. just saying. I don't know how anyone couldn't know about Instagram. BUT moving on! I have gotten a ton of compliments lately on my feed... which isn't that great honestly, and I've seen so many posts talking about how you need to find your "aesthetic" and I don't know I just really wanted to put this post together for you all!

Instagram is a way to share your life in photos on social media, and it's SO MUCH FUN! As you can see from my collage above, I post all kinds of things on my page... Paper, chai tea, plantation houses, quotes, outfits, ice cream and other food, and selfies. I really put a lot of time into my account, and it's always nice to hear complements from followers letting me know their thoughts on my feed. So see, I don't have a set in stone Instagram aesthetic. By that, all I mean is... all black and white photos, all edited with the same filter... ect. Basically it's just your photo style.

I do edit my photos before I post them to Instagram. Most the time I use the editor inside of the Instagram app, and if I still need my photo to be lighter or whatever I'll screenshot, back on out, and tell it to discard changes. Then I open up the screenshot and edit it accordingly. When Instagram is not enough, I'll use Afterlight. I've heard lots of bloggers use VSCO Cam. I have the app, but it's not one of my favs at all.

Typically when I am editing my photos, I adjust only a few specific things. Usually I always play around with the brightness, highlights, and shadows. If I had an "aesthetic" I guess it would be bright colors, sharp ish details, and always brighter than the original photo. Here's some examples of my editing in three's and how they change before I post:

Original

brightened up some..

Final: all cleaned up

original: taken on my dad's blackberry

Final: right before it was posted

original

lightened and rotated

Final

Original

middle stage

FINAL Lightened up even more... Upped the sharpness, messed with contrast. 

So that's editing... Let's talk finding followers and connecting with followers!

From the beginning... You gotta use hashtags. My major advice to you is don't use #cool #beautiful #day #love #instagood #i #love #spring #i #am #hungry. Like what? Write in complete sentences please! After you get basic sentence structure correct, move on to adding emojis and trending or large hashtags. Likeeeee #lillyfortarget or #preppy or #photography Sometimes you can get a couple likes from adding hashtags. 

Talk to your friends! Let them know about your account, and ask them to follow you! Make sure you have a good profile picture and bio with a link to your site. You will get recommended to other accounts, and you have to make sure your photo is interesting so that people will view your feed, and then decide on following or not! First impressions are everything. 

Go on liking sprees and then follow a few accounts.... But mainly: like other photos. People like you so much more when you like a bajillion of their photos, they might like some in return as well! 

Okay one speedy way to find followers would be to organize or participate in a loop giveaway. Loop giveaways are so good for getting a bunch of followers super fast. Just know that when the giveaway is over, you will lose a ton of followers. If you have any questions about how these types of giveaways work... dm me on Instagram, and I'll let you know!

So you always have to reply to comments on your photos... I'm not always the best at this, but I'm trying haha. Followers love it when you engage with them, thank them, send them snail mail.... y'know! Fun stuff like that...

Also, one really good tip to always remember: Put thought into your instagram photos PLEASE. I don't particularly like scrolling through my feed and finding totally random pictures of I don't know.. A trashcan you saw at marshalls. Or if it's in your house or room... Please make sure it's tidy and there's no noticeable clutter in the background. It's all in the details! Make sure they're sharp and on point and that the colors aren't too crazy. Be original and creative and take your own photos. Don't rely on Pinterest for all your posts. Don't just give shoutouts and use other peoples' photos. I like fresh, new content.