Let that be the first point that I make today: your worth is not measured by how much you’ve accomplished during a calendar year. If the turnover of a calendar year has got you feeling a whole lot of dread, please take a moment to repeat to yourself what I just said: “your worth is not measured by how much you’ve accomplished during a calendar year”. I actually think that that is so important that you repeat and believe, so much so that I turned it into an phone background for you that you can download and plaster right on your homepage so that you see it every day this month.

One other thing that I want to remind you before we get into some hands-on social media advice is that: it’s okay to not be able to fully see what your path is moving forward. I think that we get caught up in needing to know all that’s to come, when in reality, it’s not often that we’re shown all of the steps, as well as the “end goal”; in fact, if you can see your complete path--from start to finish--there’s a chance that that’s not your path to begin with.

All you need right now is one step,
One decision,
One nudge.

You don’t need the whole journey, all you need to do is trust whatever shows up for you next; like following a breadcrumb trail, just pick up your next bread crumb, and sometimes that’s all we need to do in order for more to appear.

Okay, are we ready for some real hands-on social media steps that we can start implementing today?

How are you feeling about your Instagram account these days? Or rather, how are you feeling about posting on Instagram these days? Are you pumped at the opportunity to connect and share, or feeling totally weighed down by this non-existent obligation to show up in a social media world?

Wherever you’re falling on the spectrum today, I want to help make your social media life just a little bit better; but, before we even get into today’s post, I want to iterate that it’s okay to go through seasons of ebb and flow when it comes to social media. Humans are not meant to do everything all of the time, albeit trying to do so most of the time; it’s okay to go through seasons of excitement to share everything coupled with seasons of slower and more deliberate posting. There is no formula to how you decide to share your heart online.

However you’re showing up today, I have three simple things that you can do TODAY that will help to boost your Instagram engagement. I know, I know…...you’ve probably heard all of these negative things about engagement, and algorithms, and everything in between; but I promise you that Instagram isn’t out to get you. I bet half of the time you’re not even sure what you’re complaining about and are just following along with the masses who have also decided to complain about the latest social media changes.

The changes that come and go within this platform aren’t detrimental to your life and business, and I promise that if you keep showing up in an authentic, honest, and consistent way, that you’ll be able to see yourself through this change, and every one that happens from here on out.

First and foremost, I need you to let me see what you look like. I’m going to let you in on one of my social media truths: if I go to a new account or browse a recent account that just began following me, if I don’t see a photo of whoever is running the account within the first 9-12 squares, I’m right back out of there. For me, it honestly doesn’t matter how interesting an account might look, if I can’t put a face to the voice and feel the slightest bit connected to whoever’s content I’m seeing, I will not follow the account. For someone who using instagram as a place for connection, it’s important for me to see the humans being the feed; it’s my number one instagram rule.

Next, if I follow you and really love the voice and the human behind the pictures, I’m also going to want to see you showing up consistently in my feed. Consistency is key when it comes to building some solid instagram engagement, so if you’re wanting to make a shift in your engagement plateau, I encourage you to commit to a general guideline when it comes to posting. I don’t want you to go wild and start sharing anything and everything you see four or five times a day (besides, that’s what instagram stories are for), because the counterpart for consistency is quality; so share consistently while also maintaining a good quality of words and images.

I challenge you to try for one week to post once a day, every single day, for seven days. Share with me in the comments how that shifted your profile views and/or follower engagement.

Lastly, if you want to encourage engagement on your account, I need you to start showing up in your Instagram stories. I KNOW that this isn’t something that comes easily to everyone, but I promise you that the more that you do it, the easier it’s going to become. Instagram stories were designed to give you a direct route to connecting with your followers and to share with them extra things that don’t always have a home on your feed.