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How to schedule Instagram posts like a social media ninja

MERCEDES March 14, 2018

How to Schedule Instagram Posts

Planning content for social media can be a big stressor when you have so much to do. In this post, I want to share an Instagram content calendar that will help you schedule Instagram posts with ease.

One of the biggest hurdles to scheduling your Instagram posts is figuring out what you’re going to post in the first place can cause stress for any online business owner. We often think it’s the graphics and images that are the main cause of stress when it comes to Instagram content but just understanding what you should and shouldn’t post and what will resonate with your audience is a huge deal too.

Planning Instagram content

In general, social media marketing is something we all do with trial and error. We only discover the perfect way to schedule Instagram posts with testing and seeing what works for you and your brand. The message that you’re trying to send out is different from even your closest competitors. Your branding, images, graphics, and of course your message have to represent you, not the industry you’re in.

Your content will be different because your company can’t be like all the others, you have to be you.

About This Instagram Content Calendar

With all of that in mind, today I want to introduce you to a new tool for scheduling your Instagram posts. This tool is a PDF worksheet that contains a 31-day content calendar designed specifically for Instagram. I’m not talking about thirty square blocks with a post type.

This content schedule has subject ideas for every day of the week for 31 days but when you couple it with the post suggestions and apply it to your niche you will have a killer Instagram feed!

Download This Planner

If you would like a copy of the content planner you can grab it from the link below. But don’t just grab and go, I have a lot of great ideas on how to use this calendar to schedule Instagram posts that goes far beyond just a theme of the day. All of that is packed inside this post.

Scheduling instagram posts plan worksheets display as three sheets of paper stacked on top of each other

This Is Only A Test!

I know you’ve seen these before, like with any other planning printable this one should be considered a starting point. Everything begins with testing. This content calendar is your first benchmark. A place to start.

I want that to hit home because someone else’s plan will not fit perfectly into your business. I don’t care how famous or talented they are in their business, you need something tailor-made for your business. Guess what? Only you and your social media manager know what makes your follows tick.

I recommend that you start here with this content plan, use it to schedule Instagram posts and then check your analytics to see what’s working for you and your brand.

Tracking and Scheduling Instagram Posts

The only way to get the perfect Instagram schedule is to put out your posts and evaluate the specifics. Here are some things I track on all my social media accounts:

The type of post (photo, text, graphics, video, etc.)
Type of message (promotion, inspiration, behind the scenes, etc.)
The images that I used
The time of day I posted the content
Engagement on the post (likes, shares, comments)

You might also want to track hashtags, what you said in the post and other keywords that might have attracted attention.

You’ve Got Info, Now What?

Sit down at the end of the month and go through your posts. Focus on the posts that got the most engagement. What did they have in common? What images attracted the most engagement? Did the time of day affect engagement you received?

Do this basic evaluation for a couple of months to see if engagement changes from post-to-post. Always benchmarking from the month before to see if there is a difference in how people reacted to one post versus another.

If You’re a New Account

People always recommend that you are focused and intentional in your marketing plan and I wholly agree with that.

The problem is, at the beginning throwing spaghetti at the wall is your marketing plan. You won’t know what works until you try it. So, if you’re a beginner at content marketing, social media or at blogging, you have to do everything and try everything until you find the workflow and the tactics that work well for you. This process will be different for everybody.

What Works For Them May Not Work For You

Unfortunately, you can’t read a blog post and get recommendations for tactics that worked in another business and expect it to work for you. Someone else’s plan may or may not have the same effect, simply because the circumstances and the environment are different.

Yes, we’re all talking about social media and content marketing for online businesses but there are a whole lot of other factors that determine what will make you successful versus another business. In particular, the size of the audience, the interests of your audience, the way you speak to your audience.

All of these things resonate differently from one group of people to another.

Your Voice, Your Content, Your Tribe

You may be part of two separate “tribes” as I’ve heard them so often called and expect to hear and see certain things from one tribe versus another. For example, I am an avid listener of the Amy Porterfield Podcast. I expect to get step-by-step actionable teaching from that podcast.

In a podcast like Carrie Greens, which I also love, I expect to get extreme support and a bigger sense of a women’s community. Carrie Green talks about business but in a different way than you expect it from Amy Porterfield but both of them are inspiring and educational.

I am a diehard fan of both of these women but I also expect different things from them and relate to them in different ways.

General Ideas Tailored to Your Followers

With this in mind, understand that the Instagram 31 day planning printable with all its pre-filled ideas are simply that, ideas. Ideas that will get you started on your journey for testing, analyzing, failing, and, adjusting. This process is how business works.

I have also included a blank copy of the content planner so that you can keep what works and plan new content for testing until you find something that is 100% solid and workable in your own business.

The last thing I want you to do is to take a plan created by someone else and expect to have the same success. Not just my plan, any plan you find online. I know there are a lot of worksheets to choose from and they’re great but if you’re not doing your own analysis and testing then you’ve missed the point.

Take What You Need and Adapt

This expectation is one of the biggest reasons people fail in the first stage of starting an online business. There’s too much information out there. There are too many people telling you to do different things because it worked for them.

All of this is very well-intentioned but sometimes contradicting information. All of the overflows of information will just keep you stuck. Use what all of those who came before you so graciously give away as a stepping point into a bigger plan.

This is advice I wish I had when I was absorbing ridiculous amounts of information and trying to make sense of everything that I was hearing.

In reality, I only learned from doing. I hope this content calendar for Instagram serves you well and serves its purpose in your business. I hope that some of the ideas that I’ve planned out in this content calendar resonate with your audience and you’re able to use it toward your 100% calendar.

This next section will go over each category of this Instagram content calendar in more detail.

Stories

What stories could you tell in one picture? When I think of stories I always think of things that have happened in the past. The history of a company, brand or person. Where you were. How you got to where you are. Stories are more than history lessons though.

Post a picture of an award or an event and share what it’s for. Post a picture of what your customers have to say, reviews, comments, how they’ve used your product in their work. It’s always nice to see the wins people have had with a brand they follow, give it to them.

Conversations

The best way to get feedback from your customers and clients is to talk to them. If they’re on Instagram ask them a question. Get an opinion on something. What color should your next product be? What new product do they want to get from you? What designs to they like the most? This is a great way to get some feedback and insight into what your customers want.

Show Your Work

If you haven’t read “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon you need to do that! After reading this book I was drowning in ideas for these types of posts. This book is a goldmine for social media content. People really do what to see how you work, where you work and all the other little details of your process.

Educate

Schedule Instagram posts that show your followers some tips and tricks using your product or something related to your product or services. Show them how to use your products.

For example, if you’re a web designer you could show elements of good vs. bad user experience or web design elements you love. A Graphic designer could show a visual of a vector image vs. a JPG up close. You could share a resource or online tool they might find helpful.

You might explain something about your business or industry that you get asked a lot.

Inspire

Something “inspiring” is an idea that ignites your followers, either to take action or to provoke thoughts and imagination. A graphic designer might show one of their products in a finished design or share their favorite color palettes and typography.

For example, I post a lot of color palettes. It serves a double purpose, I share what I like while I’m planning color schemes for projects I’m working on. All that’s left behind from brainstorming doesn’t have to go to waste, reuse it. What wasn’t right for your project may help someone else out, you never know.

Schedule Instagram posts that show people using your product or share pictures of how others have used it in the past. What are the things that will help inspire your followers in their work and in their lives?

Encourage

We all feel unmotivated every once in a while. Why not be that spark of encouragement your followers need? Encouragement could be sharing quotes, images of nature, beauty, things you love. A visual of what life will be like when they’ve done the work. A visual of the ideal outcome.

If you know their “why” schedule Instagram posts that show it to them. Encouragement doesn’t have to be linked to your product or business. You can bring it down to the basics like gratitude and reminders to live life.

Encouragement is different than inspiration or at least it’s different within the context of what you share on Instagram. When we schedule Instagram posts, inspiration is moving your followers forward, giving them ideas. Whereas encouragement is supportive and helping them find the strength to move forward.

We’re not philosophers and poets but you never know, your post might come up in the right feed at the right time. When it does, that person will always remember you and your company.

It’s the nature of a blogger to want to help in any way we can, that’s why we blog. If you can use your Instagram feed to spread your message and help people in the process, it makes it that much better.

What’s Next?

Don’t forget to download the blank and the prefilled Instagram content calendar so you can schedule Instagram posts in a snap! Also, check out our blog content planning calendar and our blog content brainstorm worksheet and many more free planning worksheets on the blog.

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Until next time have a great week!