How to up your Instagram game at Chelsea Flower Show 2025
Our guest blog author Lou from Spark Social in action creating a Story on Instagram
The Chelsea Flower Show is the biggest date in the UK gardening calendar. For garden designers, it's not only a chance to showcase your vision in real life but also an opportunity to share your work with a much wider audience online.
Use Instagram increase exposure and to raise your profile in the run up and during Chelsea week. And use it to connect with potential clients and to give your followers a real insight into your Chelsea experience.
Whether you're exhibiting, designing or just visiting, here's how to make the most of it on Instagram.
In this article:
Get your Instagram account prepped before you go to Chelsea!
Planning your Chelsea Flower Show Instagram content
Make the most of using your Instagram Stories during Chelsea week
Capture & share as much video content as possible
Four ideas for your Instagram content at Chelsea
About the author:
This is a guest post by Louisa Chudley from Spark Social, an Instagram specialist based in Bristol. Lou runs Instagram workshops and one-to-one Instagram training sessions to give you the confidence to use Instagram with real clarity and purpose for your business.
Wildings is a website designer for small business offering website design. Based in Torquay in South Devon, we deliver garden design websites for garden and landscape designers & garden centres. This is our marketing guide to harness the publicity around the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and get ready for the Spring season. Catch up on the previous article, ‘Converting garden website enquiries into sales (RHS Chelsea)’ or explore the rest of our series, ’Marketing for garden designers: Chelsea Flower Show' →
Lou with her Instagram account nicely organised
1. Get your Instagram account prepped before you go to Chelsea!
In the run up to RHS Chelsea:
Refresh your Instagram bio - make it clear you're a garden designer and include a reference to RHS Chelsea 2025 if you’re exhibiting
Ensure you have added keywords to your Instagram Bio - like garden designer + your location
Ensure your location is listed in your Bio - this is a really important detail that is often overlooked!
Are all your weblinks up to date?
And have a relevant call to action listed in your Bio also
Ensure you have recent posts on your grid that reflect your best work - share recent projects, moodboards or previews of up and coming projects
Don’t forget you can pin up to three posts to the top of your feed - include an intro post to you and what you do plus a Reel showcasing a recent design project
Create a Story Highlights folder and label one for Chelsea so people can easily view your Chelsea content
2. Planning your Chelsea Flower Show Instagram content
Don’t wait until Chelsea week to start posting your Chelsea content. In the weeks beforehand start to share more behind the scenes content and start to become more visible on Instagram to encourage people to look out for your content when the event arrives:
If you are designing a garden for Chelsea - share as much of the behind the scenes as possible; people love to see the detail not just the beautiful end results!
Start to talk about designers and exhibitors you’re looking forward to seeing (remember to @mention the accounts that you talk about)
Make a plan of what you’d like to share or talk about in the run up to the week (check this year’s Chelsea Flower Show dates)
Use the Invite collaborator feature to collaborate on your grid content - this can be a great way to reach more of your audience
3. Make the most of using your Instagram Stories during Chelsea week
Instagram Stories are the best way to show what’s happening during Chelsea week.
Use them to bring your audience along with you for the Chelsea experience:
If you’re exhibiting share the build-up: setting up your space, final plant deliveries and how the design unfolds into reality
Use the Stories engagement tools: polls, questions and countdowns to get your followers involved
Don’t forget to tag your collaborators and RHS Chelsea to help to increase reach
Don’t forget to show up & be visible - your Instagram Stories are a great way to raise your profile and exposure during Chelsea week
4. Capture & share as much video content as possible
Sharing Reels on Instagram is a highly effective way of reaching more of your audience.
Here are some Reels tips for your Chelsea content:
Remember to capture all of your video content in vertical clips so that your content fits the full-screen 9:16 Reels dimensions
Capture as much video content as possible of the behind scenes from your Chelsea experience - the build process, the final garden reveal, planting details; and of course the all important visitor reactions
Get creative with your filming techniques - capture from different angles, film time-lapses and use voiceovers
Don't forget how much people love to watch behind the scenes as much as the beautiful end results
5. Four ideas for your Instagram content at Chelsea
And here are some content ideas to inspire you in the run up and during RHS Chelsea:
1. Chelsea prep – Behind the scenes
Show snippets of your work in progress: planting, sketching designs and prepping your materials.
2. What I’m most excited to see at Chelsea
Share your top 5 gardens, designers or trends you're watching out for.
3. How to make the most of Chelsea flower show
Share your tips (if you’ve been before): When to arrive, what to eat and which are the must-see gardens.
4. How Chelsea inspires my own work
Share how the show influences your own designs, colour palettes and planting styles.
Key points for how to up your Instagram game at the Chelsea Flower Show
Here’s a summary of how to leverage Instagram during the RHS Chelsea Flower Show if you’re a garden or landscape designer, garden centre or garden brand:
Refresh your Instagram bio with clear keywords, location and a Chelsea 2025 reference to attract the right audience
Start sharing Chelsea-related content early to build interest (behind-the-scenes glimpses work really well)
Use Instagram Stories actively during Chelsea week and make the most of the interactive tools (questions, stickers etc.) to get more people engaging with your account
Capture video clips in vertical format so you can create Reels - this type of content gets the best engagement on Instagram (e.g., the full journey from build to reveal)
Share a mixture of content across the Chelsea period that will connect with, interest or answer. your audience’s questions
Anything else I need to know about using Instagram to market my business at the Chelsea Flower Show?
Just remember that using Instagram is a really effective way of reaching more of your audience and in the run to and during Chelsea week there will a huge surge in interest in content about Chelsea. And posting lots of content about Chelsea across your feed with carousel posts and Reels and lots to your Stories is a strategic way of increasing your reach in May.
If you would like to find out more about how to use Instagram in a way that engages people and sparks conversations with your target audience, then you can find me - Spark Social on Instagram - or via my website, Instagram specialist in Bristol.
