The Best of Instagram's Filters

The total number of filters in Instagram number up to 14, but have you ever pondered on which ones amongst those make your photos look the best, regardless of context? Sort of like a one-size-fits-all imaging solution? Think of those pictures where you simply grab and snap, just for the sake of it.

Have a look at the range of photos above, of an everyday cup of coffee; and yet off the surface you can notice that some filters work out better than others. Placing them side by side clearly demonstrates that there are sharp differences in hue, contrast, lighting and saturation. Three of them stick out though, even if the subject were a loaf of bread:

1. Hefe

Hefe, simply makes the coffee, or rainbow and its contents several shades bolder and colourful because of its philosophy of upping the contrast and intensifying the colour. Seemingly naturally, it stands out from the others as more vibrant, fun and aesthetically pleasing. This filter works well for most photos, but obviously only if the object has a lot of colour in the first place!

2. Inkwell

Of the two monochrome filters, Inkwell is quite clearly the better and classier pick, and it transforms your photo into a black-and-white still. And everybody loves black-and-white effects - they're stylish, elegant and quite fashionable. Not to mention the lack of bright colours to serve as a needless distraction. Colour minus colour is the new black, pun intended.

3. Rise

Likely a left-field choice, but as a thumb rule, it should be your 'first' resort while playing around with any kind of photograph, and more so the landscape ones. The brown, pale hue sharpens the image and provides a smoother texture to any picture. It overlays a wonderful layer of light haze, and gives everything a soft, warm glow. It works even better should you choose to use the 'High Contrast' button from the gallery panel on the latest update.

With these three musketeers, it's pure instant photography for all. 

5 Twitter Practices that will make your Brand Resonate with your Audience

Among the plethora of social networks that have popped up over the past decade, Twitter is undoubtedly the most intuitive of them all. Combining exciting, useful content with an engaging tone to uniquely connect with your audience is a fun experience to say the least. It's all the more better when fragments of your audience hang on to your every word and make it a point to respond or 're-Tweet' what you have to say. 

That is Twitter in a nutshell, and below we highlight five top practices to help your Twitter account become the best in its sphere, to in turn achieve the results that you want.

1. Keep Tweets Short & Sweet

Creativity loves constraints and simplicity is at Twitter's core. Tweets are limited to 140 characters by default, so they can be consumed easily anywhere, even via mobile text messages. There's no magical length for a Tweet, but a recent report by Buddy Media revealed that Tweets shorter than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.

19 flavors. #washedchinos #bonobos http://t.co/r6Q7YUPE
— Bonobos (@Bonobos) May 8, 2012

2. Make it Real-Time

Timing matters, especially for breaking news or live Tweets. But how about for everything else? The short answer: it depends on the content of the Tweet, your objectives, your audience, their geography and more. The best way to optimize the timing of your Tweets is to test and learn, through Trial and Error. Once you have mastered thus, you can space Tweets sufficiently apart to grasp your audience at the right intervals of time.

3. Tweet Often

Like timing, Tweet frequency depends on a number of variables such as your audience, purpose and business objectives. That said, a good basic rule is between three to five Tweets per day. You may want to try tweeting a couple times a day to see how your audience reacts, then adjust as needed. Keep in mind that aiming for the stars is not the way to go here, though. Strike off the options of Tweeting out ten or twelve updates a day, that doesn't work under normal circumstances.

4. Follow your Interests

Following is a fantastic way to discover compelling content and inspire ideas for your own Tweets. Follow accounts that are interesting to you or your business, and feel free to re-Tweet, even if they are your steadfast competitors.

5. Simply @Reply

Engage other Twitter users in conversation using @replies and mentions. The @reply feature is intended to make communication between users easy and seamless. Users will in turn keep little things like these in mind, promoting greater loyalty towards your brand during any future endeavours.

@meerakini Hi Meera, liquids etc are not permitted in the hand baggage. For more info click here: http://t.co/659VMPAGAp
— Jet Airways (@jetairways) February 20, 2014

Would you like active engagement in the sphere of Twitter for your brand? Get in touch with us at Brand Update to examine and zero in on one of the various service plans on offer.

Why Outsource Your Facebook Management?

Facebook has been the new directory of many businesses online. Almost all businesses are maintaining their own Facebook visibility in the hopes of maximizing social exposure. In this article, we will talk about as many as five good reasons why it’s good to outsource Facebook Management to a third party services provider, like Brand Update!

1. Expertise

When we are experts in a certain task, chances are the work we produce will be of a high quality. The same can be said in outsourcing particular work to an external third party services provider with a dedicated speciality in that field. Established outsourcing firms are good at what they do and really focus on their services. After all, they make a living providing such services, so if you pay them, they will be obliged to do the job well!


Look for Facebook page managers, let them do the job at a reasonable negotiated price, and let them do their thing as for sure they are more knowledgeable than you and are surely better equipped at doing the task more effectively. Creating, managing and maintaining a Facebook page for a business is not that simple to do effectively, so allow the experts into the job.

2. Efficiency

In business, time is of essence! Having other experts do other tasks for you will result in a faster paced and higher quality of work. You will then again have enough time to do all the other things associated with your business on a day to day basis. Having more time means having more opportunities for all sorts of things. It will give you space and more peace of mind too.

3. Save Money

Chances are that third party service providers abound as they offer great services at reasonable and lower prices. Hiring an in-house team to do the task may prove to be more expensive and may require a lot more effort such as training and doing researches for all sorts of data for your page. Outsourcing the services on the other hand, may save you time, effort and money, but ensure first a great negotiation before deciding on either of the two options.

4. It’s a Business in Itself

Social Media isn’t just for socializing socially. It’s the new word-of-mouth, a huge aspect of public relations, an integral part of marketing communications and networking. It is results-driven, and is an important investment in the future of your business. Using social media for marketing is a whole lot different than using it for personal purposes. It would be in your detriment to underestimate it and take it under your personal wing, in addition to all of your other chores within the business in question.

5. It's not their Job

There might be the temptation to add Social Media marketing to a current employee’s duties. However, this may not be the best use of his/her time or your money. First, your current employees already have jobs to do. Social Media marketing, being time-consuming, will take them away from their other duties. If they’re not already well-versed on Social Media, add time for the learning curve. You also need to consider whether or not they understand the strategic aspect of your marketing. You might also consider letting your public relations firm, website designer, or other outsourced service agency take on your social media marketing. Again, this is not their specialty, so consider it as a last resort to hiring a dedicated Social Media Manager - one who handles content and budgeting for all the popular networks out there!