All throughout life, we’re told that consistency is key. And both fortunately and unfortunately, that age-old adage is correct, or at least when it comes to Instagram. Being consistent on Instagram means that your followers know when you’re posting and how often. I’ve worked really hard to be consistent in my posting schedule, especially when it comes to my theme for the season/month, but also the content overall. So today, I’m going to walk you through all the steps that help me create consistent content on Instagram!
1.Start Early
First, I always work a month in advance. This way, I can look at the month before and make adjustments well in advance, rather than having to think on the fly. So each month, I look at what blog posts are live, important days in the month, or the theme of the month and start on my brainstorming.
2. Take Time for a Brainstorm Session
Second, that brainstorm session is key. I just turn on some music, go for a run, or dance around the kitchen for an hour or so, writing things down as they come to me. I don’t push myself to think about anything specific, but rather just anything that comes to mind. Many of these ideas don’t actually come into fruition, but I do have them to pull from later, rather than just letting them run to the wayside. I also add to this list when I have those annoying 3AM ideas that sneak up during the month.
3. Research Upcoming Trends
The next thing I do actually doesn’t make much sense, but I head to Pinterest and check out their Trends section. I want to be sure that this is searchable content, but also content that people might be looking for! There’s always seasonal evergreen content that comes up every year (holidays, seasons, back to school, etc.), but looking on Pinterest keeps me up to date what the latest is, but also helps me narrow down keywords.
4. Build Your Content Calendar
After I find out what I want to do from my ideas list, I start writing! I split my content drafting days into two so I don’t overwhelm myself, but when I’m in the mood, I’m in the mood! For reels, I often repurpose old Tik Toks or make similar content and push that towards blog posts or to Tik Tok. During this time, I write all of the captions, set dates, and brainstorm what image I want to use. This step helps for when I want to plan for any shoots that need to happen, but also so I make use of old images I’ve had stashed away for years.
There’s small version of my content calendar on my Resource Library that you are welcome to use, its a copy only Excel file that you can find and make your own. Additionally, you can buy the FULL content calendar that I use each month on my Shop page, and I hope you enjoy it!
5. Hashtag Prep
Next, if you didn’t notice, I didn’t mention hashtags during my content prep. I actually do my hashtags on a separate day! They take so long to research, prep, and organize into sets of 30. I’ve gotten it down into a science now, but I do like maximizing the time I spend on them. Often, I’ll make 6-7 sets for the month and rotate them through the posts depending on the subject! Keeping them fresh, but also means I don’t do as much work. I follow the 5-5-5-5-10 rule (5 brand specific, 5 small, 5 medium, 5 large, 10 hashtags pertaining to the post) to help guide me as I draft them.
6. Shooting in Batch
Once I have everything I need in place and all of the content drafted, I shoot! I do work with an amazing photographer monthly to capture everything from not-sponsored posts to ad content. Because I have specific shots written down in the content calendar, I honestly can shoot 5-6 looks in an hour and a half and I can be really clear with Hannah on what I need for both blog posts and social. It makes my life so much easier and a lot more streamlined, but shooting works really well and is super easy to plan after I’ve followed all of these steps.
7. Schedule Everything!
Finally, I schedule everything! Once I have the images from the shoot, I drop everything into Planoly, which is my scheduling platform of choice, where I can see how my feed will look during the month, but I can also ensure that I schedule and space out Reels, IGTV, and static content regularly. The only downside is that I can’t schedule Reels in Planoly (or at least not in the free version) so to ensure I don’t miss them, I drop the caption into a note in Planoly, and then drop a reminder into my Todoist for the date and time the Reel needs to go live!
As you can see, a lot goes into being consistent on Instagram. It’s not fun and games and it takes a lot of planning, structuring, and holding myself accountable, but it’s SO worth it! I love the work I can create as a result of it, so I hope this helps if you’re on this journey! Be sure to check out the Resource Library for more details and help for your own path.