1. Create content categories for your feed

As a business and brand you should be very clear and intentional about the content you are sharing on your feed. Create 4 to 6 content categories that pertain to your services and overall business. These will help guide you to create content – especially on those days you just don’t know what to post! If you need help getting started on a few categories, look up your favorite IG accounts. Analyze and study what the types of things they post and find a way to make them applicable to your business.

2. The holy grail caption formula

Instagram feed captions are a science and I’m going to break down the formula for you.

Headline – start with an eye-catching headline that makes someone intriguied enough to “read more”. The headline should intice the reader to find out more without giving away the juice. Headlines can be questions, interesting or shocking facts, a teaser, etc.

Then get into the juicy body of the caption. Just like you learned in school, your body paragraphs should tell a story. Take the reader on a journey. Give them an experience. Maybe there is a low to high point. Maybe there is a problem/solution. Or a slow build up to a catalyst. Whatever it is, make it interesting and change throughout the body.

End your caption with a call to action (CTA). This can be inviting the reader to leave a comment or answer a question. You could also notion the reader to click the link in your bio or send a DM. Be clear and straight forward with your CTA if you want people to engage. There should be no guessing game!

3. Making the best of your highlight icons

Your highlight icons are a great way to create intentional content that you want potential consumers and clients to binge on. You can create a highlight icon for the following: about me/personality, service, process, testimonials.

Schedule a week where you focus on creating the baseline for each of these categories. Have a few slides where you share about yourself, why your services are amazing, what makes you unique and your services special.

Next, have a highlight that shares exactly what services you offer. Include details like that the package includes, how long it takes, the transformation, how they can book, etc.

Then, take your audience BTS on your business. Show them the juicy behind the scenes of you actually doing the work you do for one of your clients. Talk them through the whole process, the before/during/after. My biggest motto for a successful business is “Show, Don’t Tell”.

Lastly, rack up some client testimonials for your highlights. You can initiate this by posting work you did for the client, tag them and just see how quickly they will respond saying how much they loved your work! Save that sh*t to your highlight icons. If you get video testimonials or other ways, you can include all of that in here as well.

4. Create goals for posting to get into the habit

Posting on Instagram regularly and showing up on stories everyday doesn’t happen overnight. And when it does, it’s not sustainable. You want to create smaller goals that you can eventually build up on until it becomes an easy habit to keep up with! Here is a list of goals a beginner can start with:

1. Post on your feed 2x / week
2. Post on your story 3x / week (this can be resharing others work, showing your work, etc)
3. Show your face and talk to your audience 2x / week

5. Have a pattern for your feed

Planning your feed in advance is a lot of freaking work. I don’t depend on having a whole month’s of content preplanned out to make sure it looks aesthetic. Instead I rely on a pattern of photo/graphic/photo/graphic to ensure that my feed has an aesthetic strategy and also allows me creative freedom without needing to preplan all that shit.

6. Stick to your branding

Alongside with your pattern, stick to your branding. Don’t introduce a bunch of new fonts and colors. In order to create a brand, you need to have visual brand consistency. Stick to the colors in your color palette – for your photos and graphics. And use your fonts – exactly how your designer intended them to be used.

7. How To Show Up On Stories Authentically

This is by far the biggest struggle that everyone has. And by everyone I mean even the girl that has 10K followers, had this problem in the beginning. Everyone is awkward and nervous in the beginning. Everyone.

And now that you know that, know that it’s okay if you are also awkward and nervous. Post it anyway. Suck really hard so you can get better. There is nowhere to go but up! So show up, try, and just start posting. I promise it gets better. Also, don’t try rerecording it a bunch of times. Post it with all the fuck-ups from the first time. That’s the authentic you. People reasonate that much more than the version that’s been perfected and tried over and over again.

8. How To Show Up On Your Feed Authentically

Brand photos are fantastic and necessary. However, don’t block your entire feed with overcurated, perfected and editted photos. Every once in a while, post a real life, real time selfie! Break down the barrier. Let people in and they will start to connect with you. Build a brand = building a connection. Let people connect with you, like you, trust you – so when you offer something to them, they can’t wait to buy from you! Share things about your journey. Be real. Don’t be perfect.