Can I Use A Shutterstock Image For A Stream Background

Using stock photos on Instagram? Isn't that the opposite of what you're supposed to post on Instagram?

While stock photography may have had a bad reputation not so long ago, the times have changed and using stock photos on Instagram has actually get a big trend!

Now stock images, videos, animations, and illustrations are creative, engaging, and an easy manner to add together more content to your Instagram feed, without the extra work.

Once you find the right style, using stock photos on Instagram is a great strategy for building a strong Instagram artful, posting more often, and showcasing your brand'southward message.

To help you get started with using stock photos on Instagram, nosotros're sharing 9 means to seamlessly integrate stock content in your feed!

What are Stock Photos and Videos?

Stock photography is professionally shot images, videos, illustrations, and audio tracks that are purchased on a royalty-free footing.

When you buy a piece of royalty-gratis content, you lot can use that content for nearly any commercial project. Most stock photography sites, like Shutterstock, work on a subscription or per-image basis for brands and businesses, so you can purchase as much or as piffling content every bit you demand for your project!

Notation: Usage rights may vary based on different stock sites, so double-check the usage rights for each piece of content earlier publishing.

When y'all purchase stock photos and videos, you are purchasing professionally-created content from artists around the world. That means that with a stock site subscription, you take easy access to a ton of creative content that can really assistance level-up your Instagram feed or side by side social campaign!

Why Should You Use Stock Photos on Instagram?

Using stock photos and videos on Instagram is a corking manner to keep your feed filled with high-quality content, even if you don't accept time to create it yourself.

Photography by (from left to right): Naticka, Photographee.eu, Alena Mozhjer

But be warned: stock photos, videos, and illustrations cover a broad breadth of genre types and quality levels.

You tin find content ranging from loftier-quality, professional stock agencies to your average amateur photographers starting out with images of their cat.

So while there is heaps of stock photography available for Instagram, you want to spend time pinpointing the right type for your feed.

Whether you are a florist looking for inspirational quotes for the upcoming wedding season, or a fettle studio looking for diverse images of people working out in different environments, there is stock content out there that fits the bill!

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #ane: Mix Stock With Custom Content

If you are working on a tight marketing budget, commissioning custom content for your make each month might be out of reach.

And while you lot might be sourcing user-generated content to help populate your feed, y'all can't merely rely on information technology for every, unmarried post, especially if you lot want to add text or edit the photo to fit your feed.

Instead, you can pepper your feed with stock photos used alongside your own branded and user-generated content! It's a nifty recipe for a diverse and engaging feed for your audience!

For example, Later created this Instagram post by using stock imagery, and editing information technology with Instagram's countdown timer.

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #ii: Use Illustrations for Instagram Highlights Encompass Images

Instagram Stories Highlights are a great place to store your best stories for your audition after the 24-hour time limit lapses on your live posts.

Just if you desire to guide your audience to your highlights on your profile, you demand to make certain your highlights comprehend icon is clear and makes your audience want to tap to see more than.

Sourcing stock illustrations is a groovy mode to create icons for your Instagram highlights. To help your highlights stand up out from the rest of your feed, consider using a different illustration for each highlight you lot save to your Instagram feed, but make certain they're along a similar theme or design mode.

For case, a plane icon tin exist used for all your travel stories, or an exclamation point for important announcements.

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #three: Find Backgrounds for Quote Posts

There's no denying that quote posts are nevertheless going strong on Instagram. But yous yet want your text-based posts to stand out from the crowd!

Stock photos are a great manner to source backgrounds for your quote posts, inspirational messages or campaign headlines that yous want to share on Instagram.

Unless you have an in-house photographer or graphic designer, it's hard to find or create a library of on-brand simple background images for your business — that's where stock photos for Instagram comes in! Information technology'southward cost-effective and actually like shooting fish in a barrel to get started with.

Using keywords, yous can search for the type of background you lot want, right down to the nitty-gritty details. Want a watercolor groundwork? Marble? Sandpaper texture? Chances are you'll find it in a stock content library!

Photography by (from left to right): Rawpixel.com, Evgeniya Porechenskaya, DODOMO. Available on Shutterstock. Images created with Canva.

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #4: Employ Backgrounds for Product Images

Out with the tiresome white background, and in with colors and textures!

A super simple way to bring life to your product images is by finding background colors, graphics, and textures that friction match your brand. And then, you can overlay your production front and center with a bang.

It may take a chip of extra time and effort to edit your product shot with software like Shutterstock Editor or Adobe Lightroom to add together a background, but it can make a existent difference to your engagement levels!

You lot accept a better risk of matching your Instagram feed artful while engaging new followers that come up across your paradigm on the Explore page. A fun, eye-communicable groundwork on a product shot will stand up out for all the right reasons! Check out how we used a stock prototype to promote our Instagram Stories for Business in 2019 ebook on Instagram this year:

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #five: Avoid Simply Posting Stock Content

Remember: Instagram is a place for inventiveness and personality! So while you tin can 100% mix in stock content to your feed to enhance information technology, you lot don't want to dilute your own personal fashion and vibe by posting but stock content.

Your followers follow you lot on Instagram because they like you — and so you lot want to make certain you're posting content that resonates with them and reflects more of your make messaging.

If y'all are only posting stock content, y'all gamble losing your audience'due south involvement and loyalty to your make, and your Instagram feed could stop up looking very generic.

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #6: Tell Stories With Carousel Posts

Ever since Instagram launched the ability to post more than ane prototype in a unmarried mail, brands have really stepped upward their storytelling game with carousel posts!

But if yous're running low on original content, you can use stock photos on Instagram to create carousels that tell your brand's story likewise.

A good way to beginning a carousel mail service is to bring people in with a really impactful image that captures a viewer's attending.

Next, use the following posts to proceed them engaged. You may want to intro your carousel with a mural or scenic image, then follow with a quote or a product shot. Even with merely 3 posts, you have a gallery that tells a stronger story than using a single epitome.

Ready to get posting? You can schedule your carousel posts with Subsequently! It's available on all Later paid plans , starting at $9/month.

Using Stock Videos on Instagram Tip #7: Add Backgrounds to Promo Videos

Promotional videos do non have to be dull and sales-y!

If you have something yous want to tell your audition, make your video message equally interesting and engaging as possible!

You lot tin can use stock videos on Instagram equally a groundwork or as b-roll for your video. For instance, if you lot were a travel company announcing a sale, you may want to deliver your video message with info on the auction and discount, plus stock footage of a family packing their baggage, boarding the flying and arriving at their destination!

Stock videos cover a wide range of genres, so you'll definitely be able to find footage that suits your promotion!

Using Stock Photos on Instagram Tip #8: Try Color Blocking on Your Feed

You might have spotted the color blocking tendency on Instagram — a series of similarly toned images all posted alongside each other for a particular campaign or product launch. And it looks awesome right?

Later jumped on the trend earlier this yr, but unless you take a dedicated social media editor or graphic designer, creating all that content tin be a claiming.

To speed up the process and get on board with the color blocking tendency, you can detect stock images, illustrations, and videos all in the same color palette – and it super piece of cake!

On Shutterstock, you can use the color selector tool to search by the colour yous demand and find the inspirational images quicker than ever! Information technology's an instant color palette and mood lath to choose from!

Using Stock on Instagram Tip #ix: Find Vectors for Instagram Stories

Vectors are a fantastic style to put engaging pattern elements into your Instagram Stories.

Whether you're looking for beautiful lightning bolts, absurd lines and arrows, or text boxes to highlight your subtitles, vectors tin can be used to amplify your message on each Instagram Stories post.

If you're new to editing graphics, with Shutterstock Editor, you lot can take these vectors and add multiple together to create Instagram Stories that fit for your individual brand or business way and tone!

The images, videos, and illustrations you choose for your Instagram business relationship can make or break it's growth and success.

Using stock photos on your Instagram could be the reply to crafting a strong feed that tells the story of your business organization, without having to spend the budget on commissioned artwork and content!

It's a simple solution to help you create an Instagram feed that shows people who you are as a brand or business.

Plan your Instagram feed in advance and create a gorgeous artful with Later! Sign up for free to plan and schedule Instagram posts: