Taking center stage on social media as an interior design company owner can be an appealing prospect for some. However, for camera-shy interior designers, the idea of being on camera can be a challenge.
In this blog post, we’ll explore strategies to help you overcome the discomfort and alternative ways to build trust in your design business without showing your face on camera.
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Benefits of Being Personal on Social Media for Interior Designers
Although being on-screen is not every designer’s favorite activity, showing your face on Instagram has benefits like building trust and connecting with your audience on a deeper level.
People might be curious about your business and want to know more about you and your history in interior design – they might be the reasons why they pick your services above those of others!
So, how do you create engaging content and build stronger connections with potential clients on social media when you’re just not comfortable in front of the camera?
Let’s discover ways to create engaging content and build stronger connections with potential clients on social media when you’re just not comfortable in front of the camera.
Why Instagram? Leveraging the Power of Social Media to Get Interior Design Clients
Whether it’s the fear of public speaking, feeling self-conscious, or just not knowing how to show your personality on camera, it’s a common struggle for many designers who are not always comfortable with being on camera.
Also, it’s something that can seriously slow down your Instagram growth.
Before we dive into how you can overcome this challenge, let’s take a moment to talk about why it’s crucial for interior designers to be on Instagram:
1. Instagram is an image-centric social media platform, which is a crucial factor for an industry that is as visually driven as interior design.
2. While there are other platforms like Pinterest or TikTok that prioritize visuals, Instagram also combines great sales features with a strong community aspect and relationship building, making it the perfect choice for interior designers.
3. There is a lot of potential for automation and streamlining managing your Instagram. Once you have systems and processes in place, it doesn’t have to take you that much time while still getting results, like bringing client leads, even with just a few hours per week.
Building Trust: The Key to Instagram Success for Introverted Designers
However, one of the crucial aspects of Instagram, and something that some people may see as a downside, is that you need to show up and be personal to get the most out of the platform.
You’re more likely to build trust with potential clients when you show your face and your personality regularly, rather than hiding behind faceless posts and having your logo as a profile picture.
Understandably, this can be a huge challenge, especially if you’re someone who is very private or introverted by nature.
But people want that personal connection on Instagram. They want to relate to an actual person rather than a business brand. They want to feel confident that you’d be a great fit for their design project and that you would have a good click on a personal level.
Whether we like it or not, that’s much easier to achieve by being personal in your content, including showing yourself at work and talking to them in Reels or Stories so they feel like they get to know you a bit.
Remember, feeling self-conscious on camera is normal. The pressure to look and sound perfect can be overwhelming. But here’s the good part – people are drawn to authenticity and want to get to know the real you.
From Uncomfortable to Confident: Tips for Interior Designers on Camera
When it comes to being on camera, you can always strive for improvement, get better at editing, and as you gain more practice, you will naturally become more confident.
Don’t let fear prevent you from showing up altogether. You’ll never improve if you don’t take that first step, however scary it may be.
Mindset Shift: Turning Camera Anxiety into Confidence
Something that can be incredibly helpful is shifting your mindset. It’s a very easy trick but can be so powerful and helpful when you have doubts about whether you should show up.
Instead of paying attention to feeling uncomfortable about promoting your business, focus on helping and serving your audience.
In practice, this could mean intentionally choosing topics that you feel confident and comfortable talking about and then expanding on them on camera. You can do this through a short Reel or a Story, where you speak directly to your phone and concentrate on delivering value.
Camera-Phobia? Alternative Ways for Interior Designers to Shine on Instagram
Now, maybe you find all of this helpful, but you still don’t feel quite ready to show your face, or maybe you’ve just started your profile and want to try a few things before taking that next step.
So, if you need to ease your way into it, here are some alternative ways to showcase your design talent, build trust, and connect with your audience without actually being on camera.
Creative Content Ideas for Introverted Designers
Mood boards
Whether it’s a mood board for your latest project or a curated collection of design trends, inspiration boards are a great type of content as you can put them together fairly easily even if you are just starting as a designer.
Share them on your feed and let your audience peek into your creative process. You can talk more about the creative process behind them in the caption and if you get the courage, you can film a time-lapse of yourself putting the mood board together.
Your Design Process
Videos and even photos of your design process are a great way to give your followers a behind-the-scenes look at how you work as a designer. From sketching out initial concepts to putting the finishing touches on a space, you can film simple clips or create time-lapse videos for your feed.
Interior Design Reels
Speaking of Reels, we definitely recommend creating informative and entertaining Reels about topics that relate to your design niche or your ideal client.
For example, what are some things you need to consider when planning a remodeling project? Or, easy ways to style a short-term rental to reflect the current season. Another example could be to explain the stages of the design process when working with a virtual designer.
All of these can help you position yourself as an expert without having to be on camera.
More Tips for Crafting a Personal Connection on Instagram for Home Decor Business Owners
When you are ready, consider these ideas:
1. Embrace your inner storyteller, and flesh out some ideas that could work for video content on your Instagram feed.
2. Repurpose some static post content to create interesting Reels or Stories.
3. Use a combination of video styles, such as text overlays and visuals shot from above. You can use this to showcase how you are putting together some client board ideas, or even writing our invitations to a big event.
Final Thoughts on Getting Comfortable on Camera When Promoting Your Interior Design Business
Hopefully, you find these tips helpful, but we would still advise you to transition into the talking head kind of content or just show up in person in your posts, as they tend to have a much better impact than content without your face.
Chances are, once you start doing it and get used to it, you’ll see the results and think, “Gosh, I should have done this sooner!”
So, if you feel like now is the time to step up and work on building that audience of ideal clients by showing up on Instagram regularly, grab our freebie of five trust-building content ideas for introverts, complete with image suggestions and caption prompts.
Always remember: Your on-camera superpower is being natural and authentic. That is what will help you connect with your ideal clients and focus on delivering value with your interior design services.
