Sell Your Badass Book on Instagram: Overcoming "What to Post?" Overwhelm
Growing your Instagram audience helps you build a group of followers who are eager and engaged – and ready to buy your book! And one of the keys to a successful growth plan? Posting consistently.
What does consistently mean? Does it mean 7 days a week? No. Does it mean once every time you have a great photo or idea? No.
Most of the data on IG engagement and growth recommends posting 3-5 times a week.
I know. I know. That feels scary and overwhelming.
Believe me, I know. I know the feeling of looking at that blank month calendar and feeling absolutely overwhelmed by what to post.
I want to help you overcome that feeling of overwhelm the same way I did. Once I discovered the idea of “content pillars” my IG stress reduced considerably.
What’s a content pillar? In the world of Instagram, content pillars are those subset of topics that reflect your brand mission and are relevant to your target audience. (You might also see them referred to as “content categories”, “content buckets” – you get the idea. All the same thing).
Here are my four content pillars –
· New Books
· Book Adjacent (author interviews, towns that are featured in books, a playlist created for a book)
· Other Entertainment (shows, movies, podcasts for and by badass women)
· Empowerment
Go over to my feed right now and pull it up. You’ll see that on Tuesday I posted a new release. As you all know, Tuesday is the day for new book releases. Boom! I always now have content to post for every, single Tuesday.
The day before I posted an empowering quote. And if you look further into my feed, you’ll see that I generally post quotes like this on Sundays or Monday. I’m trying to maximize some beginning-of-the-week motivation! If you decide quotes are your thing – maybe encouraging quotes for authors? Even better – quotes from your book! Pick one day out of the week and decide you’ll post a quote on that day. A quote from your book, quote from another book, an encouraging quote – you get the picture.
You now have two days of your week (and at least eight days of your month!) filled!
Continuing on…two days before the quote, I posted a TV show recommendation. Same thing for the week before. I often switch in movies and/or podcasts for this pillar. I want to promote the idea that it’s okay to take a break from a book now and then – and I know my audience welcomes these recommendations, too.
Finally, content pillar four - my book adjacent post? It was a magazine spread that featured some cool and colorful reading nooks.
I’ll admit, I am a bit OCD and I do tend to stick to the same days for the same content pillar. But, again – that works for me and helps me feel more organized than overwhelmed. You definitely don’t have to be as rigid about that as I am!
You’re probably thinking, “Wow, Gina, these content pillars are broad!?” Yes, they are broad. But they are also strategic. By limiting myself to these four areas, I can best determine what content I want to share with my community. Each of the four content pillars relates to my mission. And, the data and feedback I’ve received and reviewed over time has helped me realize these are the topics that will best engage and inform my audience.
And – almost best of all – they make my content planning so much easier! On those days when I just don’t feel inspired, I know I can turn to my content pillars to help me fill out my content calendar.
What are 3-5 content pillars you could identify to help you think of the right content for your audience? Look at some accounts you like and follow. What are they posting? What topics get your attention? What is the content in your book that could be captured in a content pillar?
Brainstorm a big list. See if you can combine some of them if necessary. Remember, broad is okay as long as you can consistently tie it back to your mission and your message.