I got lots of feedback in the last couple of months about me being so consistent in posting on Instagram everyday and with a new video every other day. Even though that is changing now a bit, I think my approach is still interesting to some of you.
To be able to make a good post everyday, you need to know in advance what you’re going to post, so you can prepare your pictures and videos, think about themes and get enough variation. Since some of you were interested, here’s how I do it (or did it).
Warning: If you’re not into lists and planning, you should probably stop reading now…
This probably sounds a bit overwhelming and it can be. But I try to break it down for you.
Ideas
The most important thing I need to fill my Instagram are ideas. What songs do I want to play? What pictures do I want to post? As we all know, ideas usually strike at odd times – so I wanted to make sure, that I have a possibility to write my ideas down. For me that’s a dedicated google doc. It has all my ideas, schedules etc. in it. I have my smartphone with me all the time (well, most of the time), so I can write down anything that comes up.
Here’s a screenshot of my phone – you can see, that there are two google docs on my home screen – one for my instagram and one for my original songs. That way I can access it easy and write down any ideas I have.
Themes
Something I like to do is make weekly themes. It doesn’t always work out but it’s a nice structure that can help me with planning. What I do is I take a week and give it a theme, like Christmas, Amanda Palmer, Paris,…
I then try to figure out what songs I want to play that fit the theme and what pictures would go together with the theme and the songs.
Themes could also be about certain events like Christmas, the birthday of someone special (like your partner or your favorite musician) or an historic event that took place in that week.
Schedules
I then put everything in weekly schedules in my google doc. Which could look like that:
KW 37 Duets
Pictures:
✔️Di: waterman and violet in Tetris
✔️Do: 2x kala + mausis
✔️Sa: Nikky+2xortega
Videos:
✔️Mo: Just give me a reason – Pink
✔️Mi: Islands in the stream – Dolly Parton
✔️Fr.Need you now – Lady Antebellum
✔️So: Where the wild roses grow
That way I can check off as the week goes on. I now also add a category for my blog posts. That way I can make sure, that I don’t forget anything and know well in advance what I’m going to do.
I usually plan weeks out like this 1-2 months in advance. This gives me plenty of time to prepare pictures and learn songs.
Videos
I have a long list of songs I want to play. First of all I usually set up a spotify playlist with the songs I want to play in the next couple of weeks. I listen to them as much as possible. Then I learn to play the songs. I usually record 1-2 weeks worth of videos in one session. That means I only have to set up all the equipment once for about 7-8 songs. I’ll get into more detail on how I film my videos in a special blog post in a couple of weeks.
I give myself enough preparation time and don’t want to be rushed with my videos. Therefore I always try to have at least one week worth of videos as a reserve. This gives me enough time to practice new songs and not have to record a video last minute.
Pictures
It’s nice to have snapshots for IG stories, but for me feed I only want good quality pictures. I’ll get into more detail on how I take the pictures in an extra blog post in a couple of weeks. But it’s important to plan out what you want to post. So I usually take my ideas and notes and try to take those pictures in longer sessions. That way I get lots of pictures to chose from. It’s important to do this way ahead of time. So if I want to post a picture today, it’s most likely not a picture I took today.
Hope all you list makers out there are happy – if you’re not one of them and read all the way through, thank you for listening.
xoxo Nikky