If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed things have looked a little different this month.

I’ve broken all the so-called rules and turned my Instagram feed into a monthly e-magazine cover that allows you to click in to read carefully-curated tips, trends, insights, education, motivation and encouragement to help you navigate the constantly-evolving world of small business marketing.

“But wait. You’re a marketing strategist… is that really a good idea to post all of your content at once! What about the algorithm?!” 

Ha! I knew you’d have questions, and I’ve come prepared! Let’s dive in. 

Why did you decide to do this?

I always tell my clients to lean into the marketing that feels most enjoyable for them, whether that’s writing, video, audio or even in-person events. When we get enjoyment from our marketing, our audience can feel it, and that feeling is what helps generate more connection with our brands. 

Earlier this year I noticed I was struggling with creating my social media content. Upon reflection, I realised I was no longer doing what I loved *most* → Long form content writing. With Instagram captions not really conducive to long-form writing, I had to rethink my approach. 

I thought: What if I could treat my Instagram feed like a free monthly magazine, with my newsletter being the “subscriber only” edition? 

→ I could drop an issue once a month with 9 fresh “articles”, aka posts. 

→ Those posts would be valuable on their own, but for the people that want more—more details, more examples, more context—I’d deliver the deep dive in my newsletter. 

So that’s exactly what I did! The MixTape is the result of me acting on this idea. 

But won’t it tank your engagement to only post once a month? 

Potentially, yes. (It hasn’t yet!) BUT, while all of the content will go live on one day each month, I have the option to share the posts into my Stories and talk about the content across the entire month. I can also—if I choose to—create additional Reels to share. (I just wouldn’t share these to my profile feed, as it would disrupt the awesome magazine cover graphic Luminous Lines created for me. 😉)

Are you worried about a drop in your engagement? 

No, I’m not. And here’s why. 

1. I’m not trying to grow a huge following on social media. (If I was, this would not be the right strategy for me.)
2. I’m not reliant on social media for most of my inquiries and sales. For context, out of the 40 clients I have worked with so far this year, just 3 of them have been cold leads via social media (knowing nothing about me outside of discovering me on Instagram). Every other client has been a referral. Referral clients do still engage with my Instagram, of course, which brings me to the next point. 
3. New clients use my social media as a “vetting” tool. Let’s say my name has been suggested to you by a biz friend. You will absolutely jump to my Instagram profile to check me out. (And do some stalking, obviously.) What are you looking for as you scroll through my feed? You’re trying to find content that helps you decide whether you can “know, like and trust” me, right? Sure, you’d notice if I hadn’t posted in 6 months—that goes without saying. (Not ideal for a marketer!) But are you going to decide against working with me because I posted 9 pieces of long form content on May 1 instead of across the entire month? Of course not. 

This is why a drop in engagement isn’t going to destroy my business. My Instagram is still functioning as a content hub for people to take a deep dive once they’ve found out about me. 

But if you’re not regularly active on Instagram, how will people find you in the first place? 

This is a good question. I’ll pay it. 😉The answer comes back in part to the fact that so much of my business comes from referral and I (at present) don’t have capacity to grow my business any larger than it already is. I’m not needing a tonne of new leads. But secondly, I don’t put all my eggs in the Instagram basket. In other words, Instagram isn’t the only way people find out about me.

→ I’ve guested on 10+ podcasts so far this year. 

→ I give a workshop or conference presentation to a new audience every other month. 

→ I’m part of several women’s networking groups. 

All of these other marketing activities expose people to my brand and get them signed up to my email list, which is by far my most valuable marketing tool. 

Will you continue doing The MixTape? 

For now, yes. But I might change my mind at any point and I’m okay with that! So much of marketing is about experimentation, which is exactly what this different approach is allowing me to do. 

Could this approach work for me? 

This is a tough one to give a straight answer on, because it’s very unique to each business. If you resonate with anything I’ve shared above, then there’s every chance this could be an approach worth trying. My fav biz friend Penny, from Sick Happens is giving it a go too, so you can check out her profile to see this approach applied in a different context. If, however, your social media is critical to generating a large number of inquiries or sales in your business, I would not be advising that you move to a once per month posting strategy. 

Any reflections from the first month of The MixTape? 

I’m SO grateful for it. And honestly, I haven’t had the capacity this month to maximise and optimise the content across my other marketing platforms like I had every intention of doing #realworld. But that’s okay! I haven’t been left feeling guilty about that, because I know the content I have shared is valuable and of quality. Not a single one of those posts in The MixTape is “content for the sake of content”. It’s all about connection over consumption—which is something I’m really passionate about. I also haven’t had a single day of worry about what to share. Instead, I’ve just an excited brain spinning about all the content I want to share next month! And that motivation in my marketing was exactly why I wanted to shake things up in the first place… so I guess you can say that so far, it’s working! 

Did you ask ChatGPT to help you with this? 

Ha! I couldn’t resist! And the answer it generated was too good not to share. (I’ve “trained” ChatGPT to have a thorough understanding of my content and brand voice. I’m sure I wouldn’t have received such an accurate response otherwise.)

Are you taking requests for The MixTape?

ABSOLUTELY! Comment below and let me know what you’d love to learn more about and I’ll add it to the “monthly marketing compilation” in the months ahead. 

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