Does this sound like you?
- You made it your mission to post every day only to fall off the wagon the very next week.
- Or maybe you were in a good posting groove but then just gave up because you weren’t getting very much engagement on your posts and it felt like no one really cared.
- Or maybe you’re someone who really wants to post consistently but you feel like you don’t have enough time to take pictures and write captions.
I’ve been there before. I’ve felt like I didn’t have enough time, like no one cared, and like my captions sucked. You might be feeling this way because…
You’re Making It About You
One of the reasons why posting on Instagram might feel so hard sometimes is because you’re focusing too much on yourself. Instagram values sharable content more than anything else at the moment and people share content that resonates with them. Focus on serving your audience with valuable content instead of stressing about what will get you the most likes. For authors, this can look like book reviews, writing tips, productivity tips, mindset tips, organization hacks, quotes, inspirational posts, journaling exercises, or even recipes.
You Don’t Truly Understand Your Audience
Maybe you’re someone who understands you need to bring value to the table, but when the time comes to do so you’re stumped because you have no idea what your audience needs right now. This means you might have to do some research. Poll your followers and ask them what they want to see you post about and give them a few different options. You can DM a few of the followers who you see interact with your content the most and ask them the same thing. Once you understand your audience better, it will be so much easier to create content, and once your content is aligned with your follower’s desires, you’ll see an uptick in your engagement.
You Keep Putting It Off
So, you might be the type of person who keeps putting off creating content for the reasons above but your biggest problem might be that you’re waiting. The longer you wait to post, the harder it becomes because you realize that you don’t actually know how long it takes for you to create a week’s worth of Instagram content or write a blog post or a newsletter. And when you’re unsure how much time it takes to complete a task, you’ll put it off because you’ll always feel like you don’t have enough time.
Plus, the longer you wait the more pressure you’ll put on yourself to make your next post really REALLY good and you’ll waste a lot of time overthinking it.
You’re Trying Too Hard to Be On Trend
It’s easy to want to try out the popular trends whether you’re into them or not because the trendy accounts tend to gain a lot of followers really fast. However, If you keep hopping on the latest trends you’ll begin to create content that’s misaligned with your brand and your strengths and you won’t attract your ideal readers (which is the entire point of book marketing!) Before you share anything publicly ask yourself:
- Does this post help my audience get to know me better?
- Does this post inform, entertain or inspire my audience?
- Does this post help me get to know my audience better?
We make content creation way harder than it needs to be sometimes because we get too in our heads and procrastinate. However, understanding your audience, providing them with value, and showing up as your authentic self will make creating content much easier than you ever thought possible.
