How to get back to posting after an Instagram break
I get it. Life comes up, business gets busy and sometimes your Instagram strategy falls behind a bit. Or maybe you just finally decided to take time off Instagram for the holidays and give yourself a deserved break.
But now you’re wondering if that was the right move and how to even get back into the groove again.
First of all, stop posting on Instagram happens to everyone, for reasons like:
holidays
maternity leave,
burnout,
a demanding new client,
a big project,
vacations,
weddings,
overwhelm,
or just needing a mental break before any of these things are happening.
While taking an Instagram break can set you behind on engagement, it’s definitely not the end of the world. The bigger problem is not the break itself, but the analysis/paralysis that happens when you’re ready to get back into it.
Trust me on this one:
your followers are not paying close attention on when your last post was, so they don’t expect a big entrance, like you are Moira Rose at your David’s wedding.
You don’t need to overthink what your next few posts will be. But I know it’s easier said than done, so I made a simple plan for you.
But before we lay out the plan, I want to answer a few questions you may be asking yourself before your big re-entry.
"What do I post?"
"Should I explain to my audience why I've been gone?"
"Should I announce to them I am back?"
We will get to exactly what you should post in a minute (that’s the plan we have for you).
Now as for whether you should announce that you’re back and or explain why you’ve been gone, that will depend on you or on the terms of your social media break.
First and foremost, our advice is to do whatever is true to yourself and makes sense to you (and you feel comfortable doing).
Now if you need our guidance getting back to posting consistently on Instagram, here are a few things to consider:
Have you been gone for over a month?
Did you use to do consistent lives and show your face in stories and you have completely ghosted?
Have you not answered any DMs and comments in a while?
In those cases, you can acknowledge that on your first post back and apologize for not answering or thank them for their patience.
If it’s only been a couple of weeks, and you mostly did posts and some stories, most likely people have not noticed, so you can just post and move on.
As for sharing your reasons for being gone, if it’s something newsworthy that makes sense to share, do it. If it’s personal reasons, it’s your choice.
My good friend Steph from The Social Media CEO dove into some very intense projects in her business and took a break. She chose to share why and make a teachable moment our of it, which is completely aligned with what she offers.
If that makes sense to you, you can do something along these lines in your first post back.
If it’s not aligned with your content and you’re not interested in getting personal with your followers at this moment, you can totally skip.
Now that this is out of the way, let’s get you back on the Instagram consistent posting track!
How to get back to posting after an Instagram break
It doesn’t have to be a complicated process, so first off, don’t overthink it! Keep scrolling for your tips to get back in the action.
Here's a simple plan for you:
Be sure to bookmark this blog post for future reference!
We will focus on feed posts and at a small frequency. If you are ready to do Stories, Reels, Lives, more power to you, but the plan here is to get you unstuck, so let’s keep it simple and you can ramp up from there.
You will plan 4 posts in advance:⠀⠀
Post #1
Share your favorite picture of yourself to introduce yourself and your business. Don't forget to invite people to do the same! This will help with your engagement when you first get back into it.
You can even use one of our Introduction Captions from our 125 Captions Templates for Instagram.
COPY AND PASTE THE CAPTION BELOW
HELLO! It’s been a while since I introduced myself! For those who haven’t met me yet, I’m [your name] and I help [your target audience] [results you get for them].
Today I want to share a few of my proudest moments since I started this biz.
[proud moment]
[proud moment]
[proud moment]
Now I want to hear your proudest moments, too. No matter how big or small!
Post #2
One of your top 3 most liked photos with a different caption! Get creative and switch up your topic or the main point within your caption.
Post #3
One of your most commented posts with the same photo and caption (pick one that is still relevant). Here’s the thing, most people may not love this idea because it is recycling content. BUT think of it this way, some people may have not seen your original post in the first place or existing followers may have forgotten about it. ⠀
Post #4
A throwback post of your biggest accomplishment in your career or biz so far (and no, no need to do it on a Thursday or call it throwback anything). Time to brag on yourself a bit! Use this as an opportunity to impress your audience and make them see the great things you do!
Schedule or post 2 of these per week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, then you have 15 days to breathe and create new content and start posting more frequently.
Just follow the plan and don’t overthink it. You will feel so accomplished after your re-entry!
Remember: you’re your worst critic!
If you need help creating content, our Template shop has the best Canva and Caption templates for Instagram (that you can also use for other social media platforms, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, too).
They are created by an experienced Instagram expert (it me!) to grow your engagement and sales, and professionally designed to elevate your aesthetics.
Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content template designed for engagement in their inbox.
Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneur and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.