QQ Interview: How to Gain More Organic Growth on Instagram with Product Images

Any product picture is a good picture, right? Not necessarily. If your business is looking to gain organic growth on Instagram using product images, there’s a certain way to go about it. This is something that the creative team at QQ Studio has learned firsthand. In order to gain better traction on your posts, there needs to be quality imagery, relatable content, consistency, and much more. If you don’t believe me, you might believe two other members of the creative team who work tirelessly to create the best possible product images. I interviewed two valued QQ Studio team members, Kimberly and Josephine, about their own content creation process and how product images lead to growth on social media. While some direct quotes from our interview are documented below, the conversations we’ve had about this topic are extensive. We’ve accumulated knowledge over the course of several months that stems from ongoing dialogue between fellow team members.

Segment 1: Taking the Pictures

First, I asked Kimberly and Josephine the three aspects of taking product images that are absolutely necessary during the content creating process. From this, we confirmed that lighting, editing, and composition are the most important. Here’s a thorough breakdown explaining how it works and why it’s needed.

How much editing goes into each picture?

Josephine: “Depending on how the image came out, the amount of editing differs. If the image comes out too dark and the primary object is out of focus, more editing will be needed. However, if the image comes out great; lighting is good and everything is clear and in a good quality then a minor touch up will be able to perfect the image.”

Kimberly also agreed with Josephine’s response by adding “It varies from picture to picture, depending how the raw image comes out. But it is mostly a simple color edit and exposure adjustment.” It’s interesting that both answers emphasized minor editing. When you have a generally good raw picture, there’s no need to edit too much. It’s important to keep your pictures as organic as possible.

How does lighting impact the pictures you take?

Josephine: “Using and finding the right lighting makes an impact on the overall image. Having too much or too little lighting can create a downfall on the image. Lighting does not only determine the brightness and darkness, but also the tone, mood, and atmosphere. Being able to adjust and control light correctly will result in the best texture, vibrancy of color, and luminosity of the subjects.”

I’ve seen this firsthand too. It’s crucial to find the right balance of lighting that does your picture justice. If a picture is poorly lit, it can be nearly impossible to bring it to life during the editing process. There’s only so much you can do with a sub quality product image.

What is picture composition and how does it help?

Kimberly: “It is the setup of the image and where items are placed inside the framing of that image. It is important to know what compositions will be appealing to anyone who looks at the photo. You need to find a balance of knowing how much or how little to add in the photo. If you add too much, the image will look cluttered and chaotic to look at. If you add too little, the image will look empty and incomplete. Also finding the right shapes and structures will help add appeal to the image as well. But in the end it comes down to if you like looking at the image yourself.”

Something our followers often don’t get to see is the constant changes we make to the positioning of our products and props during photoshoots. Placement is key! We believe in what we’re promoting so much that we want our images to reflect its greatness. With the right picture composition, your product images will automatically increase in quality.

Segment 2: Inspiration, Relevance, and Consistency

These three components all connect to one another. When you are able to draw inspiration, it makes it easier to consistently post content. The more your business posts content catered to an audience, the more relevant you become to people interested in your product.

What inspires you to come up with new product image ideas?

When I asked Kimberly this question, I knew she would give an interesting perspective on where her sources of inspiration comes from. Surely enough she said, “I personally take a lot of inspiration from makeup and beauty companies when creating the compositions in the images. I find the beauty industry has a very creative way of creating product images that are bright and colorful.”

I found this fascinating because I personally don’t have a background or vast knowledge of the beauty world. This makes working together that much more exciting and productive because each team member has a different perspective to offer. For example, Josephine also added that her main inspiration comes from Pinterest. All of our interests come together in brainstorming new product image ideas.

Why do you think it’s important to constantly post product images? Does this help organic growth?

Josephine: “It’s important to constantly post product images because we are able to provide our customers with the most up to date information and give them something to look forward to. Being a packaging business, innovative products are crucial because there are many competitors out there who can offer the same product, which can result in product competition and cannibalization. Having innovative products then requires product images and posting a high quality product image can make a difference when compared to our competitor’s product images. Posting product images does help with organic growth because we are showing audiences what we have to offer and if they’re interested, they’ll be engaged with us and perhaps become loyal customers.”

To add on to Josephine’s point, we want to continuously promote images that cater to our target audience. The more we are able to consistently produce relevant content to our ideal demographic, the better the chances of gaining new followers and sales.

Do you think it’s important to have relatable captions and hashtags

Kimberly: “Yes, just like in a storybook you want the images and text to line up. That way, the audience can understand what message you are trying to get across. It will also help establish and push the branding of your company.”

This is another example of why it’s important to regularly produce content that reaches the audience you want. Captions and hashtags help to make your posts discoverable and relatable to others! In order to grab the attention of the right crowd, all social media texts should be on point.

Do you have any favorite product image(s) of ours?

Kimberly: “I enjoy taking product images of the 359 model because they always come out great in the raw photos. They also stand out the best in the images due to the chrome like finish and the colors are very saturated. It makes the editing process go a lot faster.”

It's always great to hear about personal favorite pictures coming from someone who was involved in the creation process. Somebody from the outside looking in might have a different favorite, but Kimberly knows what bags take the best raw photos behind the scenes.

Segment 3: QQ Studio and Picture Themes

At QQ Studio, we are constantly trying to elevate our Instagram aesthetic. Developing a theme for your product images is one major step that will make your page look more presentable.

Why is having a picture theme on your Instagram page important

Josephine: “Having a set theme on your Instagram page can tell the customers what we’re about and what they can expect from us. Having a theme will allow people to associate with our name and increase brand recognition. Pictures will then be more recognizable and people will be able to stick with it instead of having an inconsistent theme.”

This is something QQ Studio has made a priority for the past few months and it shows. In addition to Josephine’s points, I think incorporating a theme adds another element of professionalism to the brand. When your media looks more focused and visually appealing, more people are going to take your business seriously.

Would you say QQ Studio’s product images have improved? If so, how

Josephine: “Since we’ve created our Instagram page back in 2017, I would say the product images have improved drastically. It went from taking pictures in a photo box with uneven lighting and minimal knowledge of Photoshop to using stock photos and now using multiple sources of lighting and more knowledge of Photoshop. The more knowledge one has on using a camera and how to photo edit, it makes a difference. Knowing who we want to cater our content to has also made it easier on our end when setting up and taking the product images.”

As someone who has been on the team for less than a year, I can also say that QQ Studio’s product images have leveled up completely. When you work with images on a day-to-day basis, you sometimes forget to realize how far you’ve come overall.

How do you see QQ Studio improving product images in the future to gain more growth?

Josephine: “Hopefully the more research and test shots that we'll be taking the next few months will change the quality of the produced content and result in even better product images. Using more colors and different styles of images can be something that we can start implementing as we are a colorful packaging company.”

Kimberly: “By creating more colorful high quality products that showcase our brand image. We are always looking to improve from one image to the next and learning better ways or new ways to create photos here. I am hoping we look back and see how much we have improved over the months.”

Post Interview Thoughts

After taking the time to hear from Josephine and Kimberly, I certainly gained a completely new appreciation for the process of producing quality product image content. While we all work together to come up with the content, each of us has our own individual job to ensure that all aspects of our Instagram posts are up to par. Aside from all of the incredibly insightful information that I was able to get out of the interview, it also made me realize how important it is to have a team. When you have a group of creative people working as a collective, there are much more ideas that are bounced around and executed. We have other interviews worth sharing as well. If you like this blog, check out our interview with MDX Headliner. 

QQ-Tip: Don’t overlook the necessary steps of creating quality product images that will spark new followers’ interest. Also, use all the help you can get to figure out an innovative plan that works for your business.