Not sure about you, but around this time of year it starts to feel like December 20th — hear me out.

Remember that feeling before you sign off for Christmas holiday break? It’s that sentiment of “This can wait until the New Year” … Well August feels that same way: “This can wait until September.”

But we have a different outlook on this: now is the time to start planning for the fall, because once it arrives - it’ll be too late.

Now before you tell me “Jaime I just want to enjoy the last bits of summer and not think about social media insert pouty face here.

What if you already had your schedule nailed down so you can cruise into the fall with ease? I’d much prefer to be organized and remaining consistent with a posting schedule rather than scrambling to post and engage on Instagram, along with getting my kiddo’s school supplies all labeled and trying to remember where her lunch kit is? Ya that sounds stressful.

Something you can start with right now is setting yourself a realistic posting schedule for the fall. We are huge proponents of pre-scheduling out static photo posts or carousel posts in advance within the Instagram app so you have SOME content being pushed out for you, just don’t forget to Engage surrounding these scheduled post times or it will likely be a flop - and nobody wants that!

On top of scheduling your posts, you can take some B-Roll footage now of views or spaces you find eye catching or visually pleasing to use as background imagery in your Stories or Reels. These little mini-clips are perfect for tossing up on to your Stories and asking your audience a Poll question (and voila! you just created more content).

Next up: Map out your timeline and goal setting for the fall and winter seasons. Have a goal of reaching 1000 Followers by Christmas? GREAT! Let’s start you on a heavier community engagement regiment that will expand your Reach. Nudge nudge - September/October is teh time to start planning out your Christmas content (have a give away to run? Community support or outreach program you’ll be participating in?) - map this out on your calendar and start EARLY. Because we all know that come December, you’ll be pushing things to the New Year and wish you would have started sooner.

If you ever have questions about setting a posting schedule or getting more engagement on your Instagram posts, please feel free to reach out any time to myself or Dana at Hello@sociallyacceptable.ca

As always, thanks for being here and sharing in our social media adventure,

Cheers!

• Jaime Bergman, Instagram Strategist & Co-Founder of Socially Acceptable Media