Your January Instagram Checklist: How to make sure you start the new year off on the right foot

Hey there gorgeous,

I know a lot of people started back at work this week and that means a lot of us have that lovely, new year, new energy thing going on.

This is a wonderful time to take stock of all aspects of your life and business and Instagram is no exception. 

Here are my Top 8 things you should do this month, to set yourself up for success on Instagram this year.

I expect this will take 1- 2 hours maximum. If you can’t do it right now grab your diary and block out the time sometime in the next 7 days. Think of it as a tea date with me chatting all things Instagram. Send me a DM when you are doing it even and I will put the kettle on.

And if you’re thinking as you read this “I just don’t have the time right now, I will save it and do it later” can I please suggest you read and complete 1 and 2 on the list right now, because neither will take more than a few minutes and 1 has the potential to save you untold anguish this year, and 2 has the potential to dramatically increase your sales potential.

So, without further rambling, lets get into it.

1.Make sure your Instagram account is safe from hackers and scammers

Before you do anything else, revisit your Instagram security measures.  If you don’t know what I am talking about pop over to this post here where I go through everything you need to know to keep your Instagram safe and sound in the year ahead.  If this is going to be your year to shine on Insta, the last thing you want is to lose your account after putting in the hard yards. It happens all too frequently, and I saw way too many accounts fall prey to scammers last year.  Let’s make sure you don’t join their ranks this year. 

2.Audit your Instagram Bio

At the very minimum, run a quick audit of your Bio.  Is it still representative of what you do and who you do it for? Is the location still correct? Are the links all still working and if you have link tree or multiple links, are they in good order with the most relevant at the top? Is there a relevant call to action?  These are all quick and simple things you can do now, to help make sure that your Bio is serving you in the future.

3.Define/ Refine your Instagram ‘why’

Revisit or, if you’ve not done it before, define your ‘why’. Before you post a single pic, ask yourself - why? What is it you are doing on Instagram? Are you building a brand, sharing your passion, or connecting with a community? Knowing your purpose fuels your content and attracts the right audience. My why has changed this year for the first time in 7 years and while my aesthetic will not change, the content I will be delivering absolutely will be. 

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4.Revisit who you understand your Instagram audience to be

Get clarity around who it is you are talking to on Insta.  Know who your people are. What is it they are most interested in? What talks to them visually, what words resonate with them, what sort of music do they like? Really defining this will help guide the way you deliver the content you create.  

5.Create a posting guideline for yourself

Commit to consistency and diarise it. Look at your different feeds and decide how you will use them and how often. Making that decision removes the ‘should I / shouldn’t I post?’ daily decision making and the decision fatigue it brings.  Know when and where and what you will post.  Then your followers will know what to expect too. 

6.Plan for when you are creating Instagram content

Following on from deciding when to post and what to post, set aside time each month for batch creating as much content as you can.  Diarise it. Some content may never be able to be batch created, but covering off once a month on as much as possible will just make life that little bit easier. 

7.Revisit your hashtags list. 

There’s lots of differing opinions these days about the role of hashtags, but the simple truth is that they are still an extra way for you to reach more people organically, when used right. If you have a hash tag strategy in play that makes using hash tags easy, including them when posting is a no brainer.

That said the start of the new year is a great time to revisit your hashtags list and give them a refresh. And if you don’t have hashtags lists, now is the time to create them.  You can sort them into topics and then save in your notes or your Instagram scheduler for easy access when creating your content.

And if me talking about hashtags is all just a little overwhelming for you right now, have no fear. I’ll do a deep dive on how to choose and use the best hashtags for your account in the coming weeks.

8.Audit your Instagram Favourites

Now this is a little granular, but I think worth doing particularly if you have a full ‘Favourite’ list of accounts you follow. *

First up pop over to your profile page.

On the top right hand side, you will see three lines. 

Click on these to take you into your settings.

Click on the star icon that says ‘Favourites’.

Scroll through you Favourites list and just check that the accounts here are still those you wish to be prioritised in terms of being shown to you more frequently than others.

Remove any accounts that no longer suit your Instagram strategy or purpose. 

Now check if there are any missing from the list, and if there are, search them up and add them. 

There will be recommended accounts at the bottom which you can add too if they work in with this year’s strategy.

Keep in mind there is a limit of only 50 accounts that can be added to your Favourites accounts list, so you want to choose them strategically. 

And there you have it.  Your Favourites is set to go. 

You now know what you are doing, when you are doing it, why you are doing it and how you are doing it.  You know who you are speaking to. You know that your Bio has been optimised to attract the right people and all your links are working. And you are empowered to keep your account safe from all the wannabe scammers.  

You’re ready for the new year. Send me a DM when you’ve done all the steps and I’ll high five you online from my little house on a hill, here in the Barossa.

X Ilona 

*  If you’re thinking wait, what? If you go to the profile page of any account you follow you can click on the Following tab under their Bio and tap on the star to add them to your Favourites account list. This will mean the account is prioritised in your feed and shows up in your Favourites feed too. Your Favourites feed can be found by going to your main feed page, tapping on the Instagram icon drop down menu and tapping on Favourites.