9. Canva templates = everything
thoughts and reflections on getting active on Instagram
Hi again! Guess what? I’m practicing being persistent, not consistent. 💗
Another thing I keep telling myself: I’m just getting started.
I’ve been posting daily updates on Instagram (I call them indie logs, and yes I’m also inconsistent with them) and numbered them starting the day after my last day at work. It’s been 16 days.
It’s been barely over two weeks and there’s a voice in my head that says I should have it all figured out by now. I should know what to do and how to do it, and it should all have been done yesterday.
But that’s ridiculous. It’s been sixteen days. So, thank you voice in my head for expressing your fear of being and knowing enough, but like, chill. Take a few deep breaths. There is no timeline we *should* be on. We’ve figured out what we’ve figured out, and we’ll keep figuring things out.
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My content approach
I haven’t been an active Instagram user for a long time. My last post on my personal account was in 2020. I remember when Instagram was more about seeing photos from your friends’ and family’s lives. But now it’s that and so much more. It’s a knowledge base, and a marketplace, and a photo album.
It’s both overwhelming and exciting. It feels daunting to think about how much content I could make.
My thought is to bring some structure to my profile. I find it frustrating when I go to other people’s profiles and can’t find the reel or post I was just looking at, and I end up clicking around on different ones in search of it.
So I’m using emojis to display topics/categories of a post, and I’m designating the different types of posts for specific content (for example, reels and stories are for showing work in progress and behind the scenes). I’m also adding covers with notes to all of my reels so it’s easier to browse through them.
I don’t know if I’m going to fully stick to those rules, but I’m hoping they’ll make making content a little bit easier for me and my profile more navigable for others.
Another thing I did to hopefully make things easier: I made a few Canva templates (and plan on making more), so that it’s easy to plug in content. I’m also planning on batch making content (but only for a week or so), and scheduling it so that I don’t have to be creating something complex every day.
My Instagram goals
Right now, my main focus is on building a cadence of posting, figuring out my voice, and how I want to represent myself and my work. I think that’s turning out to be a recurring theme for this quarter.
While making money and building an audience are important goals, I’m realizing that the more important goal for me right now is to take up space and express myself. For me to get in the habit of sharing what I’ve created, what I’m working on, what my thoughts are, regardless of what other people think or say (or don’t).
I think next quarter I’ll focus on actual quantitative goals around followers, engagement, etc.
✌🏽+💗,
SJ
instagram: @themostawful
youtube: SJ’s Screen
Next week:
celebrating myself and what I’ve done so far
bc fuck that voice in my head that says it’s not enough