Automate Your Instagram Strategy

Imagine having a foolproof Instagram strategy that practically runs itself for an entire year. Yes, it's possible, and we’re here to show you how. In this eye-opening episode, we break down the nuts and bolts of scheduling your posts, starting with a solid two to three months of consistent posting to understand your audience. 

Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

you have to post two to three times a day for at least two months , preferably three months , so that you know what your audience wants .

Speaker 1 0:11

Because once you have that body of work , you can go back and look at the analytics and you can say , okay , these posts did really well , these posts did really well , these posts didn't do good , toss those out .

Speaker 1 0:37

I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall . I want to leave a legacy no-transcript and one day join the Power , your Research program , where you can work with me one-on-one Scheduling your content for the entire year . Now you can do this really on any platform if you use the right scheduler , but I'm gonna talk about it specifically on Instagram , because , while I haven't scheduled my content out for the entire year , it is completely possible for me to do so , but I have had my March content on Instagram scheduled out since last month . So I don't even have to log into Instagram if I don't want to and the content is doing really well . Now , why the title of this was called schedule your content for the entire years ? Because I was watching an interview with a hip hop artist who was doing very , very , very well on Instagram . I'm talking about a huge number of followers and he posts . It looks like he posts like three or four times a day , every day . His name is LaRussell . He's an independent artist . Go check him out to see the quantity and quality of the things he's scheduling . So , in this interview , he said his content is scheduled out for the entire year . He said he doesn't even have to log in , and I thought about it , and anybody can do this . I can schedule my content out for the entire year . There are a couple of things that you want to have in place before you do this , though , which I'm going to talk about in a second , but it took me two hours to schedule my entire March content out . That is not a lot of time . That is significantly less time than I would spend if I was trying to create the content every day , and so you take one day , two hours out of that day , and you just schedule everything out Now . On my Instagram , I only typically post on Monday through Friday I'm not talking about weekend posts , but you can certainly schedule that in and then , if something inspires me during the week , I'll create something about it , if it's something timely that I'm responding to , but for the most part in March . I don't have to log onto Instagram at all . Now , the scheduler that LaRussell said he used was Hootsuite . That is the same scheduler I use and I have an assistant who can go in there and help me , so you can have collaborators come into your Hootsuite and help you schedule the post , which is amazing , minimizing the number one complaint that I hear from my clients about not having time .

Speaker 1 3:45

Now here's the thing you got to back up for a second because before you go trying to schedule your content out , you need to know what to post and you need to know what your audience likes . So here is what I would say . This is what you have to do . There is not even a . This is what you have to do . There is not even a . You know this is what you should do . You have to post two to three times a day for at least two months , preferably three months , so that you know what your audience wants .

Speaker 1 4:17

Because once you have that body of work , you can go back and look at the analytics and you can say , okay , these posts did really well , these posts did really well , these posts didn't do good . Toss those out , the posts that did really well . You can repurpose them into all different types of formats stories , reels , posts on your feed . You can repurpose them into all different types of formats stories , reels , posts on your feed . You can repurpose that stuff , re-say it in different ways . So if it was a carousel that worked well , now you can put that into a reel , into a video .

Speaker 1 4:44

Hey everyone , real quick . I don't run any ads on this podcast , so I have to rely on word of mouth . If this podcast has helped you in any way , please share it with a friend and follow me , Dr Sheena Howard on LinkedIn , where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic . If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast , I'll make sure I accept your request . But you need the data first , because you don't know what your audience wants and likes and when you are on these platforms , you have to give the audience what they want so they can give you what you want back , and that's value content , help content based on who you are , your personality and the people that you're trying to reach .

Speaker 1 5:28

Instagram also now has its own scheduler , so for March , my content is scheduled out . I did a combination of Hootsuite to schedule the carousels and I have branded Twitter quotes on my Instagram , but for my videos I scheduled directly using the Instagram scheduler , because I found it more user friendly to add the thumbnail picture , and so , either way , spend two hours , create the content and then go on with your month , and you could use Hootsuite for LinkedIn , twitter , all of the major platforms that you're going to be posting on and make it easy for yourself . Now I also had a videographer just chop up some of my old interviews and create 30 second small videos for Instagram , and so if it's an hour long interview and he's sending me 15 , 30 second clips , well , that's content that I could use for the next two months . I can literally schedule those videos out for the next two months . If you want an example of what this looks like , check out my Instagram at Dr Sheena Howard . So , again , I do use a scheduler .

Speaker 1 6:40

For LinkedIn , I do use Hootsuite . There , you want to make it easy for yourself , giving you free information . Hootsuite does have a free version . That , I think , will get you pretty far , but if you really want to get into it and maximize it to its full potential getting the analytics and all of that stuff and having collaborators there is a paid version . You can pay by the month or the year , I believe . So hopefully this helps with your content game , because content is king . If you want to build a brand and translate your work for a mass audience , reach a critical mass of people , you know these are some of the tools that you need to be using . So you're not out here doing it all on your own , spending every day feeling overwhelmed and like and like it's a chore , because we don't want you to feel like this is a chore . You .