How to Show Up and Be Consistent on IG
How to Show Up and Be Consistent on IG
Along with sharing my favorite brands and providing outfit inspiration to you guys, I also try to incorporate some social media/blogging tips (I have a whole section on it here). I just published this post on taking selfies recently, which actually ties really nicely into today’s topic: showing up and being consistent on Instagram. I get questions about IG daily – how to make reels, how do I edit my photos, how did I grow my following, etc. and I get it!! Instagram and social media in general can be overwhelming, but I’ll tell you right now that one of the best things you can do if you’re looking to grow your account is to SHOW UP and be CONSISTENT. Easier said than done though, right? Here are some tips to help you be more consistent on IG.
Set yourself reminders
People want to grow their Instagram followers/engagement for any number of reasons, but growth will never happen if you don’t consistently show up. The easiest solution? Set yourself a reminder! I try to get on Stories throughout the day because I like to keep people up to date on what I am doing. I also find I get better engagement that way. At the very least though, a reminder (or even several throughout the day) will help ensure your followers get some content from you that day. I’ve built a habit of hoping on IG first thing in the morning to share my outfit, check in and say hi. I do it almost every day. Not only does it let me followers know what to expect from me, but doing it first thing in the morning helped me build it into my routine and has now become a habit that I don’t even need a reminder for. Find a way to build it into your routine if possible.
Spend time familiarizing yourself with new features
After talking to a lot of you in my DMs and even through talks with other content creators, I’ve learned that what prevents a lot of people from creating is not knowing how. For example, creating reels. Yes, there is a very slight learning curve, but once you know how to use something, it’s a lot easier to incorporate it into your daily routine. You might have to initially invest an hour or so to familiarize yourself with how something works, but that’s an hour well spent if it helps give you the confidence to create consistently!! Youtube is a great resource for this.
Create with a purpose
When you do show up, which should be almost every day, especially if you’re trying to make a job out of your IG platform, show up with a purpose. What are you there to do? I learned a while back that any content you create should either entertain, inspire or educate or all three! Content that checks these boxes will serve your followers well, which usually means better engagement, which in turn will probably get you excited about creating (aka showing up!!).
Treat it like a job
If your ultimate goal is to have your Instagram account be your business, then treat creating content like a job. You wouldn’t not show up to your day job, right? The same thing goes for Instagram. This is where posting to Stories can help fill the gaps. Stories can be much more on the fly vs planned, which makes it easier to show up on days where you’re just not feeling it or don’t have something to offer that will educate or entertain. I also find that nowadays people are more invested in stories than posts anyway! That said, I would still try to make your Stories interesting! Maybe walk your followers through your morning coffee routine or share what you eat in a day – I’ve found people always like to see how others do the most basic, everyday things. Share raw unedited moments and glimpses into your every day life or share your process of how you do what you do. For example, I love to share behind the scenes of photoshoots, outfit styling tips and editing to show all the work that goes into creating content. I think a lot of people are confused about what I do so I like to share as much as I can with my community via stories.
Make weekly content plans
I talked about the importance of having a content calendar in this post all about growing on Instagram and am standing by that! I’m telling you, having a plan makes life so much easier when it comes to figuring out what to post. I do think it’s important to still post on the fly and show parts of your daily life, but when it comes to posting on your feed or creating reels, a content calendar will save you. At the very least create a list in your phone of your ideas so you can reference that any time you’re coming up short. And then as part of your plan, I would also create backup content for days you don’t have a plan/don’t have time to create something. This could mean simply keeping a few photos favorited that you like, but haven’t posted yet. Don’t overthink it!
I hope this motivates you and also gives you some actionable ideas for what you can do to get yourself to show up and be consistent on IG! Be sure to check out my Blogging Tips section for more posts like this! I always love to share everything I know with you and happy to help!!!