Don't Overcomplicate Your Social Media Strategy. Do This Instead 🤳
on the value of creating a series 💡
Today’s newsletter is part-time saving advice, part-social media strategy.
Not just any social media strategy. Really good, really effective social media strategy.
It all started when a workshop attendee asked me:
"Can I really share the same type of graphic again and again? Won't it get boring for my audience?"
Before I share my answer, first cast your eyes over this joyous lot ↓
These are the feeds of psychotherapist Helen Marie above—sharing daily advice—and copywriting duo, Maha Copy below, posting tips about how to write better across email, websites, social, and more.
Fair fashion campaigner, Venetia La Manna, with her fantastic “Let’s make a…” cooking series featuring unethical brands.
Oh, and one extra-extra gorgeous feed for good measure from Petalon 🌷
They're all in different niches, talking about different things, with a different content style and tone of voice—but there’s 1 thing they have in common.
They post the same kind of graphic, photo, or Reel again and again and again.
There's a consistency—a predictability—to their feeds, which never feels boring. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It feels like a warm embrace from someone familiar.
As a follower, you instantly know when it's a '[insert brand/person you love]' post in your feed.
All it takes is a quick glimpse of their distinctive colour/font/design to recognise the creator.
And as the person running the account, their content creation process is so much simpler.
I can't stress that last point enough.
The benefits of sticking with a consistent design/format/style are too juicy to ignore:
You save huge amounts of time (that was previously spent trying to be original with every post)
You save huge amounts of time. I had to say it again because honestly... this reason alone should have you convinced.
Your account looks more professional (cycling through 1-3 brand colours/templates/Reel covers looks so much better than choosing a new colour/font/approach every time you create a post in the name of 'variety').
You increase (or even kick-start) brand awareness. People start to recognize that it's you - the amazing [writer/ceramic artist/financial advisor/new mum coach] in their feed. They look forward to seeing your content!
With time saved, you can actually start to maintain some level of consistency with posting and as a consequence, grow your account.
Have I sufficiently piqued your interest?
Here are some tips when trying to find *your* style:
Give your content a chance to gain traction. Don't post 3 graphics using your new Canva template and then give up because you don't go viral overnight. These things take time.
If it's a signature design (i.e. Canva template) you're going to try, make sure you don't use more than 3 brand colours (for the background at least), choose a large, legible font, and ensure there is strong contrast between the background colour and the font colour. You want to be as eye-catching as possible. Oh, and if you want to include a logo, keep it very small (your IG handle or your name written out is preferable every day of the week).
You don't have to stick to your signature Reel/graphic/carousel exclusively. You can absolutely weave in photos of you/other kinds of Reel content. Just make sure the 'signature' style is the majority.
Your signature style can be 30-second talking head Reels (with a killer hook ofc - see the Financial Diet's Reels for a lesson in this) or 10-second Reels of various coffee shops with an actionable piece of advice shared as text over the top. It doesn't matter! The point is you choose something you can create again and again with some ease.
Ask yourself: Is this format going to be helpful/engaging to my audience? A series of 60-sec (too long!) Reels panning around a garden with advice shared as a voice-over without text overlaid or even a compelling question/thought-provoking statement voiced at the start will… bomb. I'm sorry. The rules of good content still apply.
If you're a maker or someone whose work doesn't naturally lend itself to the written word/text-based graphics, that's ok. What I've shared above are principles to apply to your own content. Like Petalon, it might be that you start to hone your signature style of product photography. Or Reel.
In short: I want this email to be your permission to be repetitive.
Spend a bit of time creating a brilliant template in Canva or storyboarding a simple-to-make but engaging-to-watch Reel or planning your unique photography home studio.
Head to your analytics for content ideas if you need them.
And never ever feel bad about being same-y again 😉
Question for you
What Instagram account do you love that sticks to one graphic/video/image style? Hit reply or comment below. I’d love to hear.
This makes so much sense! I love iamthirtyaf, joelwood and newhappyco do this.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be like this, but I have to confess that I am far more likely to follow accounts with a consistent look than the higgledy piggledy ones 🙈✨