How would it feel to stop posting for a while on Instagram? Relieving? Like a dream? Scary?

Let’s reframe… IF you took a break from posting on Instagram for a while (for sake of argument, let’s say two or three months), how would it feel when you started thinking about posting again? Stressful? Overwhelming?

Earlier this year I took almost two months off of posting on Instagram. I found out I was pregnant with twins and quickly became very sick to the point where I wasn’t able to get out of bed, let alone sit at a computer to create content. My body forced me to take a break, so I took the opportunity to lean into it and learn some lessons. (If you want to read about what I learned, check out my blog What I Learned after a Two Month Instagram Break.)

While I do believe posting consistently is an easier route to building an audience, we are all human and can’t do everything all of the time. Not to mention, mental health is far MORE important than audience building, therefore; breaks happen and it doesn’t mean you lose all of your progress.

If you have taken a break from posting and engaging on the ‘gram, it doesn’t mean you can never get back the progress you were making. With a few simple actions, your audience will begin supporting and engaging with you again and, before you know it, you will feel like you never left.

5 actions to revive an audience after a posting break

Review the accounts you are following

This is like spring cleaning your mental space on Instagram so that only accounts that inspire you show up in your feed. *Don’t unfollow more than 7 accounts in a single day, or you risk having your account locked and reviewed by Instagram.*

Engage with your followers

BEFORE you start posting again, get back into the swing of engaging by watching your followers’ stories, responding to any stickers, asking questions in DMs, etc. No selling, this is just your warm up period and, honestly, the most valuable element of marketing on Instagram (IMO).

Use simple IG features first, like Notes and Stories

If you are doing the work to revive your account the last thing you want to do is get bored and stop posting AGAIN shortly after you return. Notes and Stories are not only easy to use features on IG, but GREAT tools to encourage engagement from your audience.

Plan to post at least 3 days per week

You want to give your audience content that they can really sink their teeth into so mix it up with different media types. Do what works for you, but I suggest mixing in some humour or inspiration (if it aligns with your brand), personal content like lessons learned and ‘get to know me’, and a whole LOT of value giving content like education, tips, myth busting, and problem solving.

Include video content

I know you may be saying ‘NOOOOOOOO’ to this one, but honestly, short videos are easy to consume and engage with. They encourage MORE time spent between your audience and your brand. Keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be Reels with fancy transitions and editing. If you are more comfortable doing Lives or filming short videos of yourself or your products, that works too.

It’s important to note that the hardest part of reviving your account isn’t these steps. It is much harder to re-develop the motivation, creativity, and habits of creating and posting content consistently. Be gentle with yourself. Start slow and set realistic posting goals.

Think of this time as an initiation period for yourself. You are more likely to be successful if you start slower than you think (I suggest setting a goal of fewer weekly posts than you were posting prior to your break), and stay consistent. Only once you’ve hit your weekly post goal for several weeks or even months (and feel good about it), THEN you can think about increasing the number of posts you commit to.