The key to social media marketing is consistency.

Creating a content calendar for Instagram will help you plan ahead, organize your content, and never run out of ideas. It will make it easier for you to stay consistent and ensure your posts align with your marketing schedule. So, how do you get started?

In this post, I’ll walk you through everything you need to set up your content calendar for Instagram, including 30 days worth of post ideas! Ready to dive in? Let’s get to it.

How will creating a content calendar for Instagram help your business?

We all know by now that systems and processes are key to scaling your business. Planning your content in advance will streamline your Instagram marketing, saving you time and stress. Rather than posting something last-minute because you’ve run out of ideas, you can relax knowing that everything has been planned out and scheduled ahead of time.

The most important advantage is that you can plan your content strategically to work together as part of one large marketing campaign, rather than random individual posts. Successful marketing takes your audience on a journey that leads them to the sale, and in order to do that, you need many pieces of content to work together.

By laying out all of your content in advance, you can also make sure you’re hitting all of your content pillars (more on those later) throughout the month, as well as strategically align your content strategy with any upcoming launches you have planned in your business.

Lastly, another advantage of using a content calendar for Instagram is being able to see all of your posts laid out in advance. This will help you stick with a consistent theme on your profile, and build brand recognition, which is key to standing out in a crowded online space!

How to create a content calendar for Instagram.

1. Choose your schedule.

Some entrepreneurs like to plan their content months in advance. Others like to work month-by-month or week-by-week. It doesn’t really matter how often you plan out your content, as long as you set a date, create a workflow, and stick with it consistently. 

I personally like to plan my content out at the beginning of each month. This gives me the ability to add or change content as I see fit throughout the month if needed, but I can rest assured that I have quality content going out the door ahead of time (remember, consistency is extremely important!). 

2. Create your strategy.

Before you dive into creating content and filling up that calendar, you need to have a general idea of your overall social media marketing strategy. If you need help, check out this post. 

Here are some questions to consider the logistics of your plan for Instagram specifically:

• How often do you want to post?
• What general categories or content pillars do your posts fall under?
• What is your strategy for engagement? 
• How often will you post to stories, reels, and IGTV?

To create your strategy you want to ask yourself:

• What am I selling?
• What are the pain points, desires, etc. of my ideal client?
• What information can I highlight to educate my audience to be an informed buyer?
• What stories and perspectives would inspire my audience to feel an emotional connection to my brand and what I’m selling?

You can also dive into your Instagram insights and take a look at your analytics to see what posts your audience responds best to, and when they’re most active. I highly recommend you do some market research to know what your audience is looking for. Remember, you’re posting content for THEM, not you.

Related Post: How to Create a Content Strategy for Social Media (5 Simple Steps) 

3. Choose your calendar and scheduler.

Next, you’ll need somewhere to store your content calendar. ClickUp is my favorite tool for this because it allows you to view your content in a weekly, monthly, and list format. You can see exactly how I use ClickUp to stay organized in the video below!

Related Post: 8 Best Online Business Tools Under $50

Other options include tools like Trello, Asana, Airtable, or Google Drive. Hootsuite and Hubspot both offer free Instagram content calendar templates to help you get started. 

Some of the details you might want to track in your calendar include:

• Date and time of post
• Post format (regular, video, IGTV, Reel, Story)
• Copy/Caption
• Photo or graphic
• Link to published post after it goes live

You’ll also need a tool to schedule your Instagram posts. Popular options include Loomly, Hootsuite, and Later. These platforms will help you schedule your posts automatically, coordinate with team members, and view more in-depth analytics.

Related Post: How to Make Money on Instagram in 2021

4. Fill in your Instagram content calendar.

Now you’ve got your systems set up on the backend, it’s time for the fun part–filling in your content calendar! Use the strategy you came up with in Step 2 to fill out each week. You may want to color code and categorize your posts based on their format or topic.

In order to simplify things, you might also come up with a weekly content flow. For example, on Mondays you promote your podcast, Tuesdays you share a blog post, Wednesdays are education-based, etc. This will make it easier to fill in your schedule. 

In case you missed it, click here to grab my free 30 Instagram Stories Calendar!

Need help coming up with content ideas? Watch the video below!

Related Post: 5 Social Media Post Ideas for Business

5. Start posting!

Yay! Congrats on creating your content calendar–you’re officially in the Instagram game. Planning out your content in advance is a great way to get ahead, but it’s only the tip of the Instagram iceberg.

If you want to see real traction on this platform, you’ll need engaging captions, great photos, a stand-out personal brand, a hashtag strategy, DM scripts, and more. That’s why I created the Instagram Business Blueprint.

IBB is the ultimate Instagram course for entrepreneurs, designed to help you master the platform and make 6+ figures on Instagram alone. It includes modules, resources, and templates on everything from IG stories, DMs, hashtags, engagement, analytics, IGTV, personal brand, sales, setting up and optimizing your account, converting followers to clients, and more. 

Ready to take your Instagram marketing to the next level? Check out the details here!

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