This newsletter was originally sent two weeks ago via Substack, so you'll be able to see if my plan worked out and whether I started posting again on Monday 19th... clue: I did! 🥳

I haven’t posted on Instagram since February 26th.

That’s six months. Six long months since I graced the Insta world with something more permanent (and useful) than a behind-the-scenes Story.

Here’s the last thing I shared—in case you’re interested.

The point of today’s newsletter is that I want to make a change. I want to break the Instagram funk I’ve found myself in and start posting again.

But like anything I haven’t done in a very long time—running, going to bed at a reasonable hour, reading proper books, flossing—just the idea of Instagram is enough to throw me into a spiral of overwhelm, overanalysis, and ultimately—and not very helpfully—inertia.

I’ve been trapped in that cycle for the last six months and today, right now, as I sit in this coffee shop, I’m going to tell you how I plan to change that.

Don’t start posting again without a runway

The first thing to say is that I will not start posting again without any content in reserve.

If I want to break the cycle of not posting I have to set myself up for success. That means creating a ‘runway’ of content—at least 3 or 4 weeks’ worth—that’s done and ready to publish before I officially ‘return’ to Instagram.

How do I do that?

I start off easy—with b-roll.

Film a batch of b-roll

I’ve spoken before about the value of capturing video snippets (on your phone) as you go about your daily life.*

This is what is known as ‘b-roll’. It’s not professionally shot brand video—it’s the moments you can capture from your everyday (work) life. For example, you on your morning commute, walking the dog, working in your studio, visiting a client, and so on.

If you can incorporate b-roll capture into your daily life, it makes the process of content creation so much faster (and easier!) than sitting down in front of Canva and fiddling with graphics for hours on end.

Now here’s the thing with b-roll. Yes, it takes a bit of forethought. Yes, you’ll need to remember to whip out your phone (+ sometimes your stand) while on the tube/at the coffee shop/on-site. But that really is the hardest part. The remembering. The actual filming is easy.

Case in point: My work phone is on a stand recording me as I write this newsletter. Here’s a photo I’ve just taken to show you. How meta is this getting?!

This morning, when I caught the tube into central London, I made a note of the clips I would capture while working in the coffee shop:

• Me leaving the tube station, walking towards the coffee shop, and inside the coffee shop
• Me working (with the phone facing me)
• Me working (with the phone behind me)
• Me from above

So far, I’ve captured nearly all of those clips. It’s taken me about 15 minutes in total. That includes moving the phone stand around and pressing ‘record’ on and off. The rest of the time—2.5 hours at this point—I’ve been working.

Turn the b-roll into Reels

With a bunch of video clips captured, I save them into my ‘Reels folder’ on my phone. Next, I plan to turn them into a series of Reels. I’m aiming for between 5 and 10.

I haven’t thought properly about what the hooks/topics will be for these Reels just yet. Some (very!) rough ideas I’ve had include:

• This is your sign to book a co-working date with your business bestie
• Writing a newsletter has been the best marketing channel for my business
• Stuck in an Instagram funk? Try this…

Later, when I’m home, I’ll flesh these ideas out further. I’ll draft rough captions for each of them. Then, I’ll create the Reels in one go. It’s not many—as I say, hopefully at least 7 or 8—which shouldn’t take me more than about 20 minutes.

Fill out the rest of my Instagram calendar

If I’m lucky, by the end of this week, I’ll have 8 Reels (+ captions) ready to publish on Instagram.

That’s great. But as I want to try and post 3x per week, I need one other piece of content that I can share alongside the Reels.

I’ve got a few options: film more Reels at home, create carousels in Canva, select some nice brand photos, scroll my phone gallery for some behind-the-scenes photos.

As of right now, I’m undecided. I may do two carousels and two brand photos. The two carousels will promote this newsletter as they’ve done before (examples here and here) and the brand photos will be more personal like updates on my business/the highs and lows of 2024—that kind of thing.

Tomorrow, I’ll make a decision and schedule some time for content creation.

I plan to start posting again on Instagram by Monday 19th August. Normally I wouldn’t need this much time between content creation + publishing, but I’m taking a few days off next week and don’t want to put undue pressure on myself to have everything done before I go away/as soon as I return.

Add placeholders in my diary to stay consistent

Last week I wrote about how I use calendar blocking to stay consistent with client content creation + sharing online—and it’s no different for me.**

If I want to break my Instagram funk long-term, I need to add prompts in my diary to help me do this.

Things like:

• When to create the next batch of 3-4 carousels
• When to film b-roll (I will try to do this as I go about my daily life, but it’s also helpful to align this to days I’m in coffee shops/meetings/doing interesting things besides just sitting at my desk!)
• When to edit b-roll
• When to write captions
• When to schedule content in Later

I’ll add these placeholders into my calendar next week when I return from holiday.

🤝 Shall we keep each other accountable?

Now that I’ve said I’m going to start posting again by August 19th, I’m really going to try and stick to it!

If you’d like to join me in this challenge and keep each other accountable, drop your handle below + I’ll give you a follow. You can find me at @bellafoxwell.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about Instagram, content capture, or staying consistent, hit reply to this newsletter.

Until next time,

Bella

*Read more about the value of b-roll.

** Read more about how I calendar block when creating client content.

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