Out of ideas for Instagram Content? Do this!

There are times I stare at my content calendar and nothing ... my mind is blank. I will think to myself, I have already talked about everything there is to know about my niche, what value can I even bring to my audience. But let me tell you, there is always more value you can provide to your community, it can just sometimes be difficult to think of the ideas. In this episode I want to give you some actionable steps you can take with your juices aren’t flowing, so you never run out of ideas for your Instagram content.

Now, these steps I am going to share with you are the order I recommend doing them to help slowly open your mind to new, valuable, and effective content ideas.

Step One: Take a Break

Taking a break will look different for everyone, but one of my favorite ways to “take a break” is by going on a walk. It’s actually funny how just walking outside, taking in the fresh air, and observing your surroundings can generate ideas - but it’s also just a time to clear your mind and step away from a task that is causing you trouble. Coming back to your content brainstorming after fully clearing your mind might give you the mental break you needed to start pouring out tons of ideas. This might look different for everyone - instead of a walk, you might want to take a hot shower or make an afternoon cup of coffee. But make sure to give yourself a true and honest break to clear your mind and give yourself a hard reset.

Step Two: Consume Other Media

If I took a break and still nothing, I will begin consuming some other forms of media. This could be reading a book, article, or magazine, watching a YouTube video, or listening to a podcast. One example of me doing this recently was when I read a book about climate change, which suddenly inspired an entire YouTube video about productivity.

There are many reasons why consuming media can inspire ideas. For one, it helps with your critical thinking skills. While you are consuming the media, you can ask yourself questions like, “What do I think this is so great?”, “What am I taking away from this message?” or “Why do I disagree with this message?” Not only will this help you bring a similar thoughtfulness to your own work, but if this form of media is related to your niche, you can also pull from these critical thinking questions to help inspire your own content.

It also exposes you to new ideas and techniques and recharges your creative juices for your content, but also your business in general. My suggestion? Make consuming media part of your regular routine, making this a habit gives you the daily opportunity to happen across ideas that inspire you. You can keep a little notepad around to jot down ideas that you can reference when you’re working on content creation or create a brain dump section in your Notion (that is if you use Notion - if not, you should definitely look into it - we just launched a Notion content creator bundle if you want to check it out. You can find it at www.katiesteckly.com/bundle - I will also have it linked in the show notes.)

Step Three: Research Others in Your Niche

If you’re still drawing a blank after taking a break and consuming some media to inspire content and harness your critical thinking skills, it’s time to start digging deeper by doing some research into other folks in your niche. Now, this isn’t about just going to their Instagram page and taking their ideas, here are some ways you can get inspired by a competitor's profile.

Take a look at the performance of their most recent posts. What Reels are most successful? Which feed posts are doing well? Then put on your detective hat and figure out “why?”. Is it the topic, the style of the graphic, is it the Reel formatting or quality? Ask yourself these questions
Another way to get some ideas from exploring others in your niche is by reading the comments of their posts. What are their followers asking? Can you answer those questions in your content?

Step Four: Have a Conversation With Your Audience

I know some of you might be thinking, I barely have an audience, but big or small - there is probably at least ONE person who is following you that you can reach out to and have a genuine conversation with. This is another thing that should be part of your normal routine. Not only is it a great way to build a relationship with your community, but it’s also a natural way to come up with ideas for content. Just reach out, get to know the person, ask questions, give answers, and by the end you might see that there were a few topics in your conversation that could be made into an Instagram post. Your audience is the people you are trying to serve, so figuring out what they need and their struggles is probably one of the best ways to come up with effective content.

Step Five: FINALLY Use Those Resources You Purchased

Maybe it’s just me, but I have purchased a number of courses and resources from other creators and businesses, but then after being super excited the first couple of days after the purchase, life hits and you run out of time to finish your studies. This. This is the time when those purchases can finally pay off. If you are still really stuck after all of the previous steps or if they just didn’t generate enough ideas, start consuming the content you purchased and haven’t made time to truly utilize. If you are on top of it and already finished the course or read through the resources you purchased previously, maybe run through it again. It might just reignite some ideas!

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After all of this, if you are STILL not coming up with anything, we actually have a replay of a content planning workshop we did back in late 2021 that is still 100% relevant and it could really help you iron out some content OR check out my free YouTube videos at **www.youtube.com/katie** - where I share content planning videos monthly and a lot of other Instagram related tips!