During September, I challenged myself to post to instagram everyday and create one story a week. I wanted to try something different and learn a few new things. In an age of social media where people post daily, this might sound like an easy task. However, it’s not! As an entrepreneur, I wear many hats which means I don’t get to dedicate all my time to making jewellery. As such, it’s essential I manage how much time I spend on non-jewellery-making tasks (such as social media).
I did a lot of research and got some great advice before and during the challenge. I want to share what I learned through this experience in case anyone else finds it useful!
Here’s what I learned:
Less is more. A posting challenge doesn’t have to be 30 days to be successful. In fact, starting with a shorter challenge might be best. Jenna Kutcher from The Goal Digger Podcast has a couple great podcasts on challenges (listen here and here).
Plan ahead. Life is busy and if you’re looking for something to post last minute, you probably won’t end up being true to your brand/style. As mentioned in the podcasts above, people lose interest quickly and if you aren’t posting things of value, you will lose people. I used Later.com to schedule posts.
Know your style. If you’re not sure what your style is or want to make some changes to improve on what you already have, check out what some of your favourite influencers are doing and play around with a couple of your photos. Later.com and thepreviewapp.com let you see what your feed will look like ahead of time which is essential if you have a certain style. For example, I like black and white with pops of minimal colour so I wanted to make sure this combination was balanced. Also, keep in mind that your brand/style isn’t just about the photos you post but also about the words you choose. IMPORTANT: you don’t want to end up with a feed that looks just like everyone else’s, so be inspired, but also keep your brand/style top of mind.
Find your tribe. Although I don’t have any metalsmith friends, I have a lot of entrepreneur friends who I’ve had great business strategy chats with. I found my metalsmith tribe online (especially at the Metalsmith Society - check our their instagram here). If someone gives you a good idea, mention them! If you find a cool resource, share it! Let’s support each other!
Hashtags. Some people hate them so much that they just don’t use them. I will admit that they aren’t my favourite thing, but they are essential. After you’ve found your tribe, see what kinds of hashtags they’re using and start using any new hashtags that apply to your business. Some people may only ever see your posts if they follow one of the hashtags that you use. If you don’t use hashtags, only the people who follow you may see your posts.
Stories are important. Apparently some people only look at stories instead of scrolling through feeds. Stories are the place where I started posting things that don’t “match” the style of my feed and even then, I still aim for a certain look when possible. There’s a ton of things you can do with stories and I’ve barely scratched the surface with my story attempts. It takes time to make a story that doesn’t look super amateur, and even when you think you’ve gotten the hang of stories so they don’t look “amateur”, you may still screw up! Which brings me to my last point…
Relax. The point of a challenge is to have fun and learn. The only way to learn is by trial and error. So who cares if you make a couple mistakes (that most people won’t even notice)!