Instagram Talk II: Survival of the fittest

 

Today, we’re gonna get to the bottom of how to survive on Instagram if you have a 9 to 5 job + freelance projects + it’s getting dark at 3PM. 

 

 

Yes, there was a time in my life when I was carefree and unaware of importance of a perfect lightning on an Instagram shot. It was a time of complete anarchy full of elevator selfies and badly framed coffee shots. Although I’m still often in denial, I am slowly starting to see my Instagram for what it really is: beautiful small business of mine. It’s like a diary but less personal. You get to be a curator. A content creator. You get to give yourself a nice pretentious title in your bio and not even be sorry about it. I, for example, am an editor-in-chief around here. Nope, not ashamed, well deserved. I find blogging and micro blogging very empowering these days. It gives you freedom to express yourself, broaden your horizons, develop your own aesthetics without even knowing it and – if you know how its done – you can even earn yourself some bucks. I’m not here to talk about making money on Instagram, but if you plan to do so, or are already doing so, you know the magic word – persistence. Having my day job and freelance work I do throughout week, time management had to become my number one priority and these are my go to Insta-rules when the going gets tough.

 

 

SCHEDULE

 

No, I’m not saying you should plan your coffee breaks based on how bad you need a cute photo. When I say schedule, I mean getting to know your habits and working hours well enough to know how to manipulate them and create a perfect action timeline for your social media content. For example, weekends are my go to days. I’ve noticed I’m usually getting most of my content on Saturday/Sunday so I went with the flow. Again, not saying I’m not shooting anything during the week – it’s just that I rely on weekend so I can relax during the week and do my job. It may sound funny, but I really wish I figured out this sooner.

 

 

 

PRE-EDIT

 

When you already have few shots you know you’re gonna use, go on and edit them right away (you can even plan the captions ahead). That way, when the time comes, you can just click share. I usually do my editing in bed, before sleep so I don’t have a feeling I’m wasting time or neglecting my loved ones 🙂 Also, I was thinking of maybe writing another post about how I usually like to edit my photos, what do you think?

 

 

FEED PREVIEW

 

Number one thing when it comes to planning in advance. Personally, I like to see how it all goes together before I share anything and most people I know tend to do the same. I do most of my planning in VSCO Cam (because filters), even tho they changed their algorithm and it kinda sucks. Other free scheduling apps I love are Preview and Planoly.

 

 

STEADINESS

 

After some time you’ll develop a personal style and people would be able to recognize your photo on their feed without even looking at your name but in order for that to happen you need to develop a certain steadiness. When I say steadiness I mean your own pattern: a special mix of filters; always posting at the same time; posting once a week/day; posting only themed photos… and. so. on.

 

 

BACKUP

 

There is a moment in every Instagram profile owner’s life when there’s just nothing you can post. Nothing fits, light is terrible and you’re running late so you can’t really do a quicky (it’s kind of sad I’m using this word to explain this but oh well…). That’s when buffer photo comes in hand. As explained by me some time ago on Instagram, buffer photo is a go to photo that works every time. You post it when you don’t have anything better on your camera roll. My favorite buffer photos are flower close ups, latte art or shoes on interesting tiles (see the photos above <3) and I tend to have few of those as a back up at any times. If you really got nothing, you can always search Pinterest or other Instagram accounts and repost a photo that fits perfectly into your timeline. In the meantime, deal with the fact that your feed WILL have good and bad days. C’est la vie!

 

 

 

 

 

I hope my routine was helpful and inspiring to you!

I’ve been, however, writing this tiny post for five days straight now and honestly – keeping your shit together at all fronts is hard and, at some times, impossible. And that’s ok. We’ll get there!