Hi everyone, and welcome to May’s helping of Instagram Agony Aunt ❤️
I hope you find this month’s questions and answers useful. As always the time stamps are below so you can have a look to see what we covered this month, and find what is most relevant to you.
🚨 The next AMA date is Thursday 26th June, 2-3pm (GMT). The link to register will be shared in the Dates For Your Diary post at the beginning of June.
If you’d like to come along, upgrade your subscription and become a members of TOO MUCH INSTAGRAM.
Paid subscribers/ members have access to a weekly content planning check in where I’m available to feedback and advise; a monthly Ask Me Anything sessions like this one; fortnightly Content Createalong sessions where you can create posts in company and get some guidance if you need it; plus every month I create self-paced resources such as tutorials, how to guides, and banks of post ideas to support you with your use of Instagram to reach your readers. Check out the full archive here.
⏳Time stamps
⏳00.01 Introduction
⏳01.32 question from Kathleen Whyman: ‘I saw recently that you'd advised against just sharing posts as stories. I've been doing this, as I thought that it's better to put something out than nothing. I share funny posts that are related to mums doing too much. Does it work if I add a comment to my story or would it be better to hang on to the ideas and put them together myself when I have time?’
⏳08.21 question from
: ‘How long do trending posts “stay relevant”? Like I did the “girls be like” thing even though it might not have made the most sense because I “didn’t want to miss it.’ + follow up question from Kathleen about how to find trends.⏳ 15.58 ‘I'm often asked by author friends/contacts to promote their books. Obviously I want to do this, but the books often aren't the genre I write. Does having a pic of their book, or the author with their book, on my grid dilute my brand that I'm trying to get across or does it not matter? If it does dilute it, should I stick to doing stories only to support these authors?’
⏳ 19.31 ‘Is there anyway to save carousels as drafts? If so, I can’t figure it out and it makes me sad, since I prefer to batch my creation outside of posting time. And also, it also makes me more liable to post something as a reel since I know how to save those for later.’ I talk through this on the call but I’ve also recorded a quick walk-through:
⏳21.48 ‘I set out to do an 'About me' anchor post. Should I do this as a carousel or a reel or doesn't it matter?’ For some ideas about how you can introduce yourself, check out this post:
⏳ 26.42 ‘I’m a non fiction writer who wants to write fiction but every time I attempt a book review post it flops big. Is this just a “keep doing it until the algorithm understands this is part of your content” thing?’
⏳ 31.06 ‘I feel like I’m missing opportunities and missing the point. What do I do to improve the results I’m seeing?’
⏳ 40.32 ‘Does responding quickly to comments matter?’
⏳ 44.33 ‘On one of your posts, you said it was a good idea to use stories to expand on a grid post. Could you give me an example?’
Coming up…
Sunday 25th May, THE GRID monthly round up for all readers
Sunday 1st June, Dates for Your Diary for June will land in your inbox, including a free gift for all readers PLUS exclusive live sessions for TMI members
Thursday 5th June exclusive resource for TMI members: a bank of story-telling hooks to use with Reels
and more!
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