There are days you’re sick, stuck in work fires that eat up your time, trapped in meetings, or simply not feeling productive. We’ve all been there. That’s part of human nature. And if you’re not in the right place mentally, sometimes it is hard to be inspired to post on social media. When social media marketing isn’t your full-time position, usually this means that it won’t get done for that day, or for however long until you remember to post again.

I have a few tips to help you stay on top of your business’s social media marketing when you’re not feeling inspired.

1. Plan ahead

Seriously, spending a little bit of time upfront can help save a lot of time in the end. And that way you can make sure to post quality content, even when you’re not inspired.

For brands I work with, I like to recommend doing one or two photo shoots a month. This ensures that you have up-to-date content – which is especially important if you’re out in the Vineyards or working at a seasonal restaurant that has a menu change every few weeks. By doing this, you can have hundreds of photos each month to choose from. When you have that arsenal of images, it’s a lot easier to share.

On the flipside, knowing what promotions and national days are coming up can make it easier to remember important marketing opportunities as well. I set a reminder in my phone a few weeks ahead of National Sparkling Wine Day, for example, so I can make sure that I have a good piece of content for that day – whether it be email marketing or social.

Having a plan in place for when you’re not inspired means that you never have to ignore social media. I’m not saying you have to post every day, but if you ignore social media for long periods of time and aren’t consistent, then you’re doing yourself a disservice.
 

2. Schedule out your content

Use a scheduling tool like Buffer, HootSuite, or Sprout Social, or even an Instagram-specific scheduler like Planoly or Plann. Using these, you can curate your feed to have content that looks good right next to each other on your Instagram profile page and is also a good representation of your brand. See my Recipe for Instagram PDF for more insight.
 

3. Have backup content 

Keep extra photos and captions in your saved folder on Instagram for when you forget to do number two. I plan most my content ahead of time, but sometimes things come up that screw with the overall look of my feed, so I end up needing to add something in order to balance my content. Thankfully, I have a backup folder with about 15 different photos that are evergreen (aka can be used any time of year) and can go out pretty much any time.

4. Listen to yourself

The other week I took a class at my new coworking space, coLAB, called “Less Stress, More Spark.” The one-hour class was taught by a local acupuncturist, Christina Ness-Hawks from Thrive Acupuncture here in Santa Rosa. She taught us that there are various states of mind. When you feel like everything is going wrong, you essentially regress into a victimized state in which it’s easy to feel hopeless and unfocused.

She said the state of mind you want to be in, where creativity happens —is called grace. This is the state of mind when you feel good about your work (I see it as when you have an ah-ha moment during the work day). The first step to getting into this creative and clear mind-set is awareness, she explained. Acknowledging that you are in a stressed-out or unproductive place.

After becoming aware of it, try to figure out what makes sense for you to get out of that space. Maybe it’s taking a walk and coming back to work later, maybe it’s getting some sunshine, maybe it’s looking at YouTube videos of cats and laughing your ass off for 15 minutes. Whatever can get you outside of your own negative thoughts — because once you do that, you can finally get into a more present state of mind.

For me, planning ahead definitely helps me stay in this “Grace” state of mind. I know what my plan is, and as long as I stick to it and don’t do derail too far off the path, I’m OK. Granted, I do allow myself some wiggle room in case an email that I have to respond to comes up. This way I don’t stress myself out if the day doesn’t fully go as planned.

These are just some of my tips for what you can do when you’re not feeling inspired to share on social media. Obviously some of them help with other areas of your business as well, like planning in general, being more aware of your energy, and having a backup plan. Sometimes things don’t always work how you want them to, but acknowledging that it’s just part of life makes it a little easier to deal with.