FIVE post ideas to get you back in the swing of Instagram after taking a break
Did you take a break from Instagram over the Summer? I know a lot of businesses that did. And to be honest, I am not surprised. The last few years have been A LOT and it was the first Summer that it was possible to go on holidays without too many restrictions. God knows we all needed a break!
But now it is September and it is time to get back on Instagram. But where do you start after having such a long break? It can become one of those tasks that you just keep putting off, and then it can be hard to get back into posting again. The problem is not the break itself but the paralysis that happens when you try to get back into it.
Don’t worry, we have all been there so here are FIVE post ideas to get you back in the swing of Instagram.
But first do you draw attention to the fact that you have had a break? My advice would be that you don’t owe anyone an explanation. Your first post doesn’t need to be an apology for not posting or giving reasons why you were away. To be honest we all lead busy lives so people may not have noticed that you have been absent from Instagram so don’t draw attention to the fact. We don’t need to be told that you haven’t posted for a while because of x, y and z.
BUT if you have had time off for a reason - you may want to share a post about what you have been doing. Maybe you were having a baby, climbing Everest to raise money for a charity, doing some training for your business - if it is relevant, talk about where you have been and why you have been off Instagram.
Ok, so now some post ideas.
A Summer photo dump - the trend of ‘camera roll dumping’ is a quick and easy way to share what you did over the Summer. Choose ten of your favourite Summer holiday photos and load them as a carousel and say a few words about your Summer. You get brownie points if you can take these ten photos and turn them into a simple reel.
Re-introduce yourself - share your favourite photo of yourself, (we are always banging on about how photos of YOU will help your branding on Instagram!) and introduce yourself and explain what you do and how this will help your target market.
Repurpose old posts - go into your Insights and see what posts have done well over the last 12 months. What posts got the most likes, most comments, most shares? Can you repurpose this content? Perhaps the same photo and change the caption? You are probably thinking everyone has already seen the post but I am going to let you in on a secret. Not everyone has read all of your posts. Some people may have not seen your original post in the first place and those who did may have forgotten all about it. ⠀
Share a testimonial - have you received a testimonial or a review over the Summer? Type this up in a Canva testimonial template, add your brand colours and post this.
Tease us - have you got some new products coming out for Christmas? Maybe you aren’t ready to reveal them yet but could you tease us with just a glimpse of something you have been working on?
My final suggestion is that once you have got a post out there and a few scheduled or prepped and ready to go, get on Instagram and start engaging.
Go through your feed and like and leave genuine comments on accounts that you follow
Go to your list of accounts that you follow and at the top of the page under ‘Categories’ you will see a list of accounts ‘Least interacted with’ - go and like their recent posts and leave genuine comments.
Go back and see who has left comments on your old posts and look at their Instagram pages and like and leave genuine comments on their recent posts.
Spend some time on Stories, and send instant responses or leave messages.
Getting back into your Instagram groove can take time so be gentle with yourself. Sometimes the first post is the biggest hurdle and once you have gotten over that, you will get back into the swing of things.
Oh and buy yourself some beautiful flowers for your desk. Everyone deserves flowers.
