How To Be Consistent With Your Content

Last week we talked about why content marketing is the smartest marketing option for online businesses.

In a nutshell, content marketing is where it's at cuz you can do it even if you're shy, it multiplies your reach and visibility and it's how you connect to humans in this day and age!

Most people already know that content marketing is the best route to grow, though...

The REAL problem is showing up consistently.

How can you show up consistently and connect to your audience week after week in a sustainable way? That's what we'll be talking about today, in the specific context of Instagram.

Why do I focus my time on Instagram?

Well, a HUGE part of making your content strategy successful is having a community to receive your content, and Instagram users LOVE the app and specifically go there because they want to see new content.

There are over 500 million daily active Instagram users (source)
68% of people come to Instagram to interact with creators (source)
70% of shopping enthusiasts turn to Instagram for product discovery (source)

Here are a few other reasons I focus my time on Instagram:

Instagram is one of the EASIEST places to share consistently without creating arduous "perfect" pieces of content; the less formal, the better.
Your audience doesn't want you to be all business, all the time. Consumers are buying from companies they relate to, and they need to see you PLAYING, WORKING, RESTING and BEING HUMAN in addition to learning about your product or service. No other content platform lets all of those things shine like Instagram.
It's dead simple to create content on IG first then repurpose to all your other platforms to scale your visibility. Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to see a 6-step breakdown of how I do this.

So now we just need to talk about what CONSISTENCY on Instagram looks like :)

You'll get all kinds of advice on this, but what I've found to be absolutely true is to KEEP YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY EASY so it can be SUSTAINABLE.

To be consistent on Instagram here's all you need to do…

Post at least 3x/week in your feed:

POST 1: teach something
POST 2: coach your audience through a mindset hangup
POST 3: share something personal

Then promote your offer or freebie on the tail end of 1-2 of those posts each week.

For IG stories, show your face at least 5 days/week and share simple things.

Stories are where the magic of Instagram really shines. You don't need to post anything revolutionary here, most people think their lives are too boring but THAT'S where you're getting it wrong.
Your audience wants to see your work-from-home outfit, your work station, what you're snacking on, what you're working on each day, how you're taking breaks, what books you're reading, movies you're watching, music you're listening to, random thoughts that pop into your head...that kinda thing. You could also share your in-feed posts to stories. All DEAD SIMPLE things to do that allow you to show up easily and consistently.
Stories are also where you get to engage with your audience through the app's built-in polls, question stickers and more.

The moral of the story is don't stress about being perfect on your stories and STOP telling yourself that there's nothing interesting in your life to share every day!

Does showing up consistently and promoting your business on Instagram seem more doable and realistic now?

You're super busy running your business and working with clients...meaning your marketing plan should be simple so you can get visible and stay consistent!

Speaking of visibility, that's what we'll be focusing on in next week's blog post. I've got some tips for getting comfortable being on camera and showing your face so people can actually connect with the human behind your business (that's you)!

If you're not already showing your face online, this will amp up your visibility factor like WHOA :)