How I plan my social media content

Hi guys! What are you up to?

I’ve been letting myself be lazy over the last weeks because since the first days of September I’ve been working super hard to launch the two shop updates, in October and early November, so I think I deserve to chill out now ★

I’m not the queen of consistency when it comes to social media, and I know I’ve been a bit silent on the internet over the last weeks, mostly because I wanted to take a break, but also because I’m taking the chance to work on client projects, this blog and portfolio, and my CV/résumé.

And I want to remind you that it’s okay to be away from social media from time to time, it’s healthy and won’t hurt your engagement as much as the “gurus” make you think, at least from my experience. I’ve noticed if you stick to your “posting ethics”, you’ll grow an audience that likes you for who you are and will still be there once you get back to posting new content again. Obviously it’s better if you share something with your audience every week, but it’s also okay if you need to step back for a while, and it will be only a matter of time until you catch up with your usual engagement again.

So now that I’ve made it clear I don’t want any of you feeling stressed to post new content every single day, I’d like to take you with me as I plan my content for the next weeks, and hopefully it will be helpful to some of you! LET'S START!!
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​CONTENT CALENDAR
I don’t use any automatic scheduling apps for my posts. The way I see it is: I only want to share something with my audience when I’m actually available to reply to any messages and comments they might leave. So I see no point in scheduling a post to go live when I’m having lunch with my boyfriend or family, commuting, traveling or anytime I won’t be able to reply to people. This is especially relevant when social media algorithms pay attention to how a post is doing the first hours it goes live. So if you’re not able to engage with your audience once you post something, I seriously recommend you save it for some other time.

This doesn’t mean I can’t use a calendar to know when to share stuff. If there’s any special date on the way (a holiday, shop update or other events) I want to make sure I’ll be posting something meaningful on that day.
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You can use the best calendar/planner that suits your needs. For me, in the last months I’ve been drawing a very basic timeline on my journal, but I will probably switch to a calendar, since my journal is a bit small and an A4 calendar will give me more space to write.
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​After writing the days of that month, the next thing I do is take note of the most important dates and write down what I’d like to share on those days.
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If I already have an idea of the things I want to share on other specific days, I go ahead and write those as well. If I still don’t know what or when to share more stuff, I’ll jump to the next step.

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ORGANIZING IDEAS
I like to organize my content ideas in folders in my laptop. I’m including here a diagram on how I arrange the folders according to each social media platform I’ll be posting.
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I don't plan my Tumblr and Twitter posts that much. In these folders I mostly copy stuff from the Instagram "feed posts" folder, ​to make sure they fit each platform's format

Now I begin by filling my feed posts folders with pretty things! If I already have some illustrations and photos that I want to share I copy them to this folder.
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Once I have the first post ideas, it’s time to think of what other things I’d like to share this month. For this, I like to save ideas from the internet, which can be photos, illustrations or screenshots of anything whose concept I’d like to include in my future posts. For example, I can save a photo of a lady with some pretty dress, to remind me I’d like to make an illustration of some character with an outfit of a similar vibe. 
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And pleeease don’t understand this as me telling you to copy other people’s content! It’ so much better to grow a community of people that likes the way YOU do things, so the idea here is to use these pictures as reminders of fun concepts you’d like to include in your own content. Using an illustration of a lady in a Victorian dress to remind you to draw one of your characters in a fancy dress is different of drawing your character in the same pose and with the same Victorian dress. 

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PLANNING POSTS, IMAGES AND CAPTIONS
Now that I’ve filled my folder, it’s time to look back at the calendar and check when I want to share each of post. I then write them down on the corresponding days, making sure to leave some space between each post, not to overwhelm my lovely audience and also to ensure I have enough time to prepare good quality content.

It’s nice to be tolerant in case I need to delay some posts to give space to others, or if something comes up and I won’t be able to post that day. For example, I was fortunate to collaborate with brands on Instagram who asked me to feature them on my page. So I need to ensure my calendar is flexible enough to change some of my own planned posts with a sponsored post that comes a bit unexpected. 

Now that I have a timeline for my posts, I go back to my folder and rename the photos so they’re in the right order. I like to name them with numbers like “01, 02” or “01a, 01b” for posts with multiple pictures. You can name them with the exact date, but I peronally do it this way.
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After that I just need to write the captions in a text document to have everything ready at the time of posting (and because I haaaaate to write on touch screens ;D). I usually write the captions for the first 3 ~ 4 posts, depending on their length, because I’m a lazy potato and also because I like to take some time to think about what I want to write.

​​And that’s it! Now I just need to make content for the new posts and share them with you!

I usually like to post around the same time every time, so I set an alarm a few hours before to remind me ;)

I also like to plan one or two ideas for stories, but I like to keep them as casual as possible, so I only use a calendar for them before shop updates or big announcements.

Q&A TIME!!
I asked around on my Instagram if you wanted to know how I handle my content or if you needed some friendly advice, so let’s answer all you questions!
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Do you ever feel unmotivated or uninspired to post consistently? If so, how do you deal with it?
I had so many of you asking about this! And I totally feel you! There are times when I have no idea of what to share, am too busy or I’m just feeling tired and unmotivated to create new things. I try to keep my Instagram page a bit more curated and consistent now than a few years ago, so when I don’t feel like posting I simply don’t. During these times I share more casual stuff or personal projects once in a while in my Stories, Twitter or Tumblr,  since I like to keep these places less planned and more open to random posting!  But that’s only if I feel like! I really don’t like the idea of posting just for the sake of an algorithm and flooding you with meaningless content.

And when I step back from social media for a while, I like to compile a bunch of ideas for future posts when I come back.

Oh! And this is easier said than done, but when you’re feeling unmotivated and decide to roam around social media in search of inspiration, pleeease try not to compare to other people that are posting consistently at that time. We all have these less interesting moments! Most of us that make a living of our art and share it on social media, keep a backlog of content and plan stuff in advance, so it’s only normal to perceive us as being super productive when in fact we’re all tired potatoes every now and then!

So if you need, look at your surroundings for ideas, read books, looks at objects, go out, and don’t just rely only on social media for inspiration ♥
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Do you make posts in advance or do you create them on the moment of posting? And how often did you post when you first started vs now?
Oh boy you made me check my old content from years ago *hides away in embarrassment*! When I started on Instagram maaany years ago, it was as a personal account, so I really paid no attention to what and when I was posting. I would post a random photo one day or a sketch a couple weeks later, so that was super inconsistent, but it’s perfectly fine if you’re keeping it as a personal account for friends.

I started to take my account more seriously in late 2019 and if you check my posts from April and May of 2020 you can see I was posting almost Every.Single.Day! And I was actually creating the content on the same day, because I was a masochist and felt it was kind of cheating to have things planned! That was so tiresome and I remember I was making a drawing almost every day to post it in the afternoon, or drawing at night after working a 9-6 job to post it right away. Even though I love every single drawing I made, Instagram was starting to feel like a burden and I felt like I ruined the fun of it. That was mostly because I didn’t plan anything and I was making all the posts on the go!

But then I read somewhere that you can look at your Instagram as a magazine and your posts as the articles, so it finally made so much sense to have some content planned in advance, to make sure I was sharing quality stuff with everyone.

Now, on a nicely planned month without any shop updates or big announcements, I’ll be posting on average every 3~4 days. But this might change in case I was super inspired one day and made lots of small illustrations, which I’ll post more regularly. And ​since I’m not posting every day like crazy and keep a backlog of content, Instagram got a lot more fun again and I don’t feel as tired anymore!

Before shop updates I usually try to post every 1~2 days, to share illustrations and product previews to get you all excited! ;)

The only things I still make on the same day are stories, a few Twitter and Tumblr posts, since I want to keep these more casual.

Just a reminder that I don’t schedule automatic posts. It’s perfectly fine if it works for you, but I personally like to post only when I can be active.
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What’s your criteria when taking and then selecting your product photos for IG? 
​For complex and big illustrations I always prefer to scan them instead of taking photos. For product photos I try to use natural light, so I always take them close to a window, and use a sheet of paper or something white as a reflector to make shadows a bit softer. I also like to keep the background quite simple to make the product or drawing stand out, so I use one or two decorations but nothing too busy.
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Which are the posts that get more interaction? And does audience reaction shape your art much or do you purely stick to what you like to create?
Social media can be super random with this, so I don’t worry a lot if a post doesn’t get as much engagement as I’d like. But I’ve noticed pigeons in cute clothes, seasonal themes, and things people somehow can relate to, usually get more attention, receive more feedback and get shared around more often. When sharing products and shop updates, I’m always super scared of sounding too salesy or not beaning as meaningful as with my regular posts, so I hope I’m doing it decently ahaha!

Oh! And sponsored posts and collaborations sometimes don't get as much engagement as we'd like, so it’s important to pick those that are as meaningful as possible for your audience. I’ve had a few brands proposing collaborations that I kindly turned down simply because they didn’t align with my audience. So it’s always good to think well before accepting an offer that might come out as spam to the people that follow you.

If likes and comments define what I create? I must say that I’m basically doing what I actually love and I’m such a lucky potato that people like my art too! I’m the biggest supporter that if do what you love and post what really makes you happy, you’ll find an audience that also supports you for who you are.

Trends are easy to join and your page might blow overnight. But what happens when you post something a bit different? Is there a big part of your active audience that still interacts with your posts? Or is everyone just expecting you to post a certain type of content? As a creative this is super important, because our art changes over time, so it’s better when our community values us as a person and not just our work and products.

​This was a suuuper long post, but I hope it helps some of you!
Until next time, stay brilliant!
Inês D.