Today our episode Instagram 101 aired. I wanted to create a blog post to further help you take action on our tips.

Instagram is one of my favorite vehicles to grow communities and support my online businesses.

If you’re in the stage of having a handful of followers and getting 11 likes on a post- I have TOTALLY been there. In fact, I’ve been there a few times. I know how hard it can be to get momentum and keep on showing up even when things are growing SLOWLY.

Tip #1: Stick and stay and make it pay.

Consistency is KING and QUEEN on Instagram. Those that are showing up regularly are going to be those that are able to grow. If you’re anything like us- you may be starting your side hustle on top of an already full life. You might have a corporate job and a couple kids and you’re thinking, “How the heck am I going to do all this?” Let’s talk about it.

Decide on a posting schedule that will WORK for you.

For Pursuing HER Purpose we know that we’ll post 1-2 Monday-Thursday. We know we’ll be able to create that much content and respond to people when they engage.

On my personal account- I try to post 3x a week. Tuesday, Thursday and then one floating day.

Tip #2: Pick 3-5 things to post about.

When you’re starting- it’s important to become known for a few key things.

What can people expect when they come to your page? What do you want to be known for? What are you passionate about? What is your purpose? What do you enjoy?

Take some time to ACTUALLY answer those questions. Once your audience begins to know, love, and trust you...you’ll be able to expand to more topics if you want to.

Example:

Let’s take a look at my personal account @ameskiefer. In the midst of all the things I’m doing, sometimes I don’t serve the attention that I would like to, to this account.

What are the things I want to be known for? Recently, I’ve answered this exercise...so that posting feels easier.

For me:

-Relatable marriage posts with the support of experts/studies. I LOVE this topic and it is an area that I’m constantly reading, learning, and growing in. I love to utilize storytelling WITH expert information so I make sure I’m leading my community with good information.

-Motherhood from the mom’s perspective. I post about how I navigate and make sure that I’m feeling well. As my first kiddo hit school age- I knew that I wanted to shift away from posting about the ins and outs of their lives, but rather focus on the lens of mothering from how it impacts me and how I’m able to show up in the world.

-Working motherhood. This is an enormous part of my life and a place where I feel like I can add to the conversation. I LOVE being a working mama and I want to help people give women permission to feel the same way.

-Small business owner. Because I’ve started Pursuing HER Purpose- I want to start to bring this side of my life into my personal feed. It’s another avenue that can help us grow here and such a big part of my life.

-Confidence, self acceptance, self compassion. Overall, these are areas of strength for me. I love to share about them in a welcoming way and encourage other women that these are areas that are WORTH working on.

Now that I have those things figured out- when I go to create content- I don’t have to feel “stuck”. I don’t feel overwhelmed thinking, “What do people even want to hear about?”

I have my 5 main things I want to post about and I can pull from those when I’m writing a post. I would encourage you to do the same!

Tip #3: Batch create posts and then schedule them!

This brings us to one of my favorite tools, which is Planoly.

Here at PHP, we want to make sure that we feel GOOD in life and in business. If you’re able to create your content up front and then schedule it for the week or even 2...it saves you SO much time.

For this reason, we have a Planoly account.

You can get a sneak peek of how your grid is going to look along with scheduling your posts. That way, you don’t have to remember to show up at an exact time.

Here is what Pursuing HER Purpose’s Planoly account looks like:

This is the perfect tool for batching and batching is an awesome system for busy women.

Ask yourself: when do I feel creative? For me, it’s always in the morning. So I’ll block out an hour to work on posts ahead of time. I’ll write 3-4 at a time and then put them in Planoly so that everything is ready to go. As you can see- you’re able to see the published posts and the ones that are scheduled and unscheduled all on one screen.

You can sign up for Planoly here. This is an affiliate link- so we do make a commission if you sign up- so an enormous thank you to those that do!

Tip #4: Utilize graphics

But Amy, I don’t have enough pictures to support all the content I want to create.

The next tool I want to introduce you to is my all time favorite. It is Canva.

I use Canva on every single one of my feeds to create graphics, feed posts, and story templates. It is SO important that people recognize your content and Canva helps you to create a brand.

It is what we have designed EVERYTHING you see for PHP on. From our podcast cover art, to our social media posts, to our story templates, EVERYTHING. You can create a “Brand Kit” so that everything is saved in one place.

Here is what Canva looks like on my phone. This is a peek into what of part of the “Branding Kit” looks like- keeps each of my businesses organized.

Even if you’ve never had formal “branding” experience or hired someone to do it- Canva can get you started on the right foot. They also have a bunch of amazing templates that you can work off of and make your own. It helps you jump on trends that might serve your business well.

For example, you’ve probably seen that we’ve been using the “Tweet” template. We recognized that these were performing SO much better than a different type of quote design across several accounts we love. I searched “tweet” and found the perfect template to create our own.

If you want to start to use Canva, you can sign up here. This is another affiliate link- so we will make a commission if you sign up through us. You’ll soon see why so many of us love and utilize Canva on a daily basis.

The good news is: people RESPOND to Canva designed posts AND it takes the pressure off of you for always needing a PICTURE to post. This is huge for small businesses that are just starting off.

We put our Canva designs into Planoly to make sure everything looks good and it makes our Instagram lives SO much easier.

Hope this blog post was helpful and HAPPY INSTAGRAMMING!

On Purpose,