Daily Themes For Your Instagram Content

Quickly plan a month of posts and grow on Instagram in 2024!

How do you turn a looker into a follower on Instagram? How do you get your content in front of new people? It’s all about creating engaging content to help you shine on Instagram that converts lookers into followers. Get out your calendars and lets get planning!

Without a doubt, Instagram is a leading social media platform and it is the place to be. At the end of 2021, CNBC reported that Instagram now has 2 billion monthly active users. Instagram remains one of the most downloaded apps worldwide. All that growth means loads of potential for you!

If you want to grow organically and gain real followers on Instagram the number one rule is: Show up consistently with quality content!

There are other very important rules for Instagram, like engage and don’t be spammy. But right now we are focusing on creating a post-planning system so you show up on Instagram on a schedule that is easy for you to maintain and helps you grow!

Do I really have to post consistently?

Yes! For one major reason - Instagram places the highest value on the most recent content. Today’s post will get better reach on the platform than yesterday’s post. If you are in growth mode and trying to get in front of more people, you need to post frequently and regularly, and if you can — that means every day of the week. (If you want to learn more about training the Instagram Algorthim to work for you, go here.)

Some Good News - There are over 200 content ideas to help you fill your calendar in this one blog post. If you would like to print a calendar with 4 weeks of Instagram Content - go to my Free Downloads page.

Even More Good News - Posting more than once a day ends up decreasing the effectiveness of your content. You overwhelm the Instagram algorithm and it doesn’t know which post to promote that day. It ends up choosing neither of your posts. So once a day is the perfect amount. If you are a content generating machine, save those ideas, polish them to a high quality, and you’ll always be ready with something new and fresh to post.

Coming up…The step-by-step plan that has helped me to grow to 5,000 real and engaged followers!

Adult, Youth, Sweat, Tote (Portrait) Listing Template.jpg

What do you mean by ‘quality content’?

You get one chance to make an impression and gain a new follower. It is very likely that a person will never see your content a second time so grab them while you’ve got their attention.

How do you turn a looker into a follower?

Every post should be quality to ensure the top 9 posts of your Instagram Feed are ‘top notch’. Put your best foot forward. Be clear about the type of account you have and the kind of follower you hope to get and you will grow!

Your Instagram Feed is your opportunity to show people what you are all about. Your Top 9 posts in the grid need to be in the best shape possible because that is what viewers are looking at to see if they want to stick around and follow you for more.

Let’s take this Step-By-Step

Step 1: Choose your planning calendar and fill it in with 1 prompt per day

I like to use Trello to plan out my content in advance. Before Trello, I used a Google doc. Any calendar will work, especially something that allows you to copy your captions and paste them into Instagram. At the end of the month, sit down and fill in the content for the next month. Grab ideas from my lists in this post. Be sure to throw in a few special occasion days into key dates and you’ll never run out of ideas.

If you are a writer or a bookstagrammer, check out Writer Friends Challenge on Instagram for a free monthly calendar of content ideas. At the end of every month, I post a new calendar to help writers stay consistent on Instagram and plan their posts quickly. We have a bajillion writers particpating each month and even if you are not a writer, you can still use the ideas for your content creation. If you are a writer and decide to join us, I hope the prompts help you stay consistent and most importantly, I hope you find new writer friends!

I created Writer Friends Challenge with the goal of helping writers connect, find friendship, and grow on Instagram. All are welcome to join. Check out some of our past monthly calendars below and then come on over to Instagram to see all of the fun we are having on the #writerfriendschallenge hashtag. A good place to start is here.

Step 2: Create the content

I spend one day a week curating all the content for the week ahead. Get everything ready so that each day all you need to do is copy and paste your text. Take pictures, film reels, edit images to fit your pages aesthetic, and make graphics. My favorite place to make graphics is on Canva.com and my favorite photo editing app is Lightroom. Remember: You want to creat content that is good quality.

*A Note about Hashtags - Some say they are less important than they used to be. But Instagram still uses them to determine if your post should be shown to new followers. Even this past month, hashtags have gotten as much as 1000+ Impressions for my posts — that’s a lot of reach! Also people follow hashtags, so keep using them to show up in those groups. Just make sure your hashtags are relevant to your post. Random tags won’t help you. You can use up to 30 but be sure they are genuinely related to the content in your post. That’s why I published the Hashtag Handbook. Get it while it’s free.

Susan Leigh Needham on Instagram

Hello Writer Friends!!!

It’s time for the NOVEMBER 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆

The goal of WFC (Writer Friends Challenge) is to help writers socialize, find writing friends, and grow their community on Instagram.

Join the

I don’t know about you…but I just love a word bank resource.👏

Hope this one comes in handy the next time you need to ramp up the tension in a scene and show the fear through body language.👻✨

QOTD: What’s your main character&rsq

Eeeeeekkkk!!!!

Which one is your worst nightmare???

#writerfriends #writerfriendschallenge #writerlife #writingday #authorsofinstagram

Hello Writer Friends!!! Sharing some bonus color calendar options for you!!

It’s time for the OCTOBER 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆

The goal of WFC (Writer Friends Challenge) is to help writers socialize, find writing friends

Step 3: Post daily

Post each day just before your audience gets active on Instagram. Then stick around to engage. Be sure to post content to your Instagram Stories on regular schedule, also. If you need content ideas for Stories, I share 50 ideas in this guide here.

Step 4: Review

Keep track of how your posts perform and repeat what works best.

Stick to this strategy for 2-3 months and then review. Look at your insights and do more of what is working and converting people into followers.

If your post gets you noticed, then a great profile can get you followed. But how?

None of your efforts makes a bit of difference if you don't have a goal for Instagram in mind. If you have read this far then I would say your #1 goal is -- real growth, from real people that you can engage with.

If that is what you are all about then you need to optimize your Instagram Homepage for Growth! That's right - Instagram Homepage! Think of your Instagram Profile as the Hompage of your website or as the front window of your store. Do people find your Instagram Homepage inviting? Will people want to stick around to see what you post next?

What is an Instagram Homepage?

Remember: You most likely have only one chance at grabbing someone's attention and getting them to follow you! So post every day, share good quality content, and make your Instagram Hompage a welcoming place to be!

Just for you - Here is the Instagram Bio Checklist For Growth. And all my friends can download my pdf for free right here.