After my recent post about what it’s really like to create content for IG and work with brands, I got several requests to write more blogging tips posts. These kind of posts are really fun for me, so I’m glad you enjoy them and get value from them. One of the suggestions was how to find a consistent theme, or topic that carries through your content. This is applicable whether you have only an IG account, or an IG and blog. I know that this is something I definitely struggled with in the past, so hopefully, this post gives some good insight!

To give you a little bit of my backstory–my IG account started off as a hobby. I was simply trying to hold myself more accountable and motivated when I started my fitness journey. This blog existed but it ironically started off as a place for me to share my fashion and beauty tips (nothing fitness related). After 1-2 years of having my IG account, I realized that it wasn’t necessarily me going to other people’s accounts for fitness motivation and inspiration, but that people were coming to me. I was kind of shocked! It took me a while to realize that my gym selfies and ugly food photos were actually helping and impacting others LOL. Even though I had this realization, not a lot changed. I still continued to post the same type of photos and write the same captions. My photos were gym selfies, photos in athletic wear shot with my tripod, and food photos (and not the pretty ones)! I wasn’t working with brands on sponsored content (was only receiving free product occasionally). During this time I still continued to post strictly fitness content.

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When I first started my account, obviously becoming “healthy and fit” was my main goal so that’s what the majority of my content revolved around. It was easy for this to be the main topic as I was just sharing what was prominent in my life and since I was doing it as a hobby I didn’t put a lot of added thought into it.  Meaning, it was just for fun, and I wasn’t worried about a strategy behind it. As my life “evolved” though I realized that fitness wasn’t my only priority anymore. I realized not only did I have a lot of interests, but I also wanted to start building my hobby into a business. This meant I needed to think about things more strategically and from an overall business standpoint.

If you’re doing something as a hobby, it doesn’t really matter as much what you’re sharing. Like, as long as you enjoy it, you don’t need to think about it as strategically because you’re not trying to build a business. Just write and share what you like! However, if you want to turn your hobby into a business there are a few things I’ve learned when deciding on what to blog about/share on IG.

When deciding on a topic or theme, questions I would ask yourself: What do you enjoy doing? What are you good at? What do your friends always come to you for? These are all good questions to ask yourself when thinking about an overarching theme that will run throughout your content.

In the beginning, it’s usually recommended that you niche down, then you can expand your topics as you start to grow. So for me, I strictly shared about fitness for the first 2 years. After that, I started to transition into more of a lifestyle blogger with an emphasis on health and fitness. Now, don’t get me wrong! I don’t think that you have to eventually branch out. Honestly, the most “successful” accounts (aka the ones that usually grow the fastest) are usually those that are niched down. If your interest is genuinely in one area than that’s great, but for me, I couldn’t keep blogging about only fitness when it didn’t align with my life in that way anymore. It just wasn’t enjoyable or authentic.

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That being said, if there is one topic that you are truly passionate about, and that people come to you for, stick to that! Maybe it’s macros, recipes, fashion/styling, nutrition, workouts, traveling on a budget, home decor, beauty….the list goes on! If your interests are broader though, it helps to have a list of “mini” topics within your overall lifestyle theme that can help you narrow down your focus. This is especially important in the beginning. We don’t want to be all over the place trying to blog about everything! Remember, if you’re trying to talk to everyone, you’re talking to no one.

Let’s take my account for example. I consider myself a lifestyle blogger.  Okay, so what does that mean? If you came to my account what can you expect me to be sharing about? What are the main topics that I focus on? Again this is trickier when your theme is broad (ie. lifestyle). Obviously, it would be a lot easier if I just talked about fitness (ie. topics like workouts and macros).

For me, I try to keep stories pretty broad and general because I know that my audience likes seeing a lot of just “everyday life”, and I allow my blog to be a space where I cover a variety of topics and really dive deep into them. For IG posts though, I try to keep it within the realm of style, finding balance within a healthy lifestyle, and everyday life. If I started sharing a ton of recipes, videos of me working out, home decor, etc., on my feed, it could be kind of confusing for someone first coming to my page. But again, when you’re first starting that is when you really want to try and niche down so you can establish yourself as an authority in that space!

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Getting to this conclusion took a lot of time plus trial and error. You may start sharing about one topic and your interests may evolve as time passes. At the end of the day though, you need to make sure you are providing VALUE in some way. Like, some IG accounts may just have a pretty photo with an emoji for a caption and get a ton of likes, but that’s not really realistic for building a business. Yes, it’s 2019 so taking good photos is a big part of building a successful brand and business, but you also need to figure out how you provide value to people.

I hope this post was helpful! Any questions or anything else you want me to touch on with blogging tips, let me know in the comments 🙂