Over the last year, I’ve seen more people experimenting with the Evergreen or ‘9-post’ grid and having great results for less time spent creating content for Instagram - so I decided to give it a whirl!
I’ve shared my nine posts which act as an introduction to who I am and what I do. These posts will remain static on my profile for six months or so, depending on how things go.
This may seem counterintuitive - we know social media is all about building and maintaining relationships and community. How can you do this if you’re not adding anything new to your grid?
Well, the idea is you still have conversations, interactions, and share new content in stories, lives and reels. And crucially, you also continue to spend time liking, sharing and commenting on other people’s content - one of the most often-overlooked elements of a successful Instagram strategy.
You can also continue to collaborate with other accounts with target audience crossover - Instagram makes it lovely and easy to work with different people and share your reach in enjoyable ways.
I work mainly with writers and other creative people, many of whom want to use Instagram as a tool to reach readers and people who’ll love their work, but they don’t want to spend a long time creating polished grid posts on an ongoing basis. If this sounds like you, the Evergreen grid could be a good option to try.
Why the Evergreen grid is right for me - and might be right for you too!
Instagram isn't a priority channel for me in terms of maintaining my business. But I do enjoy using it - it’s a relatively positive, friendly space and I enjoy the play and informality of stories and reels.
It’s also increasingly the social media platform of choice for a lot of writers so it’s important for me to stay up to date with best practice.
For me, the Evergreen grid is about showcasing what I do - demonstrating, hopefully, the combination of professional expertise and a friendly approach that means people want to work with me. I’d like to encourage sign ups to my mailing list from people who see me on Instagram - but I don’t need to make sales there.
If Instagram isn’t one of your priority channels, or even if it is but you’re most comfortable creating relatively informal content on stories and reels, it could be worth considering an Evergreen grid.
Your grid can be a great platform to convey your brand, include information about your main products or services, and a call to action for your audience - often this will be your mailing list offer and clear incentive to sign up. It's also a lovely opportunity to share some of your personality and engaging elements of your brand story and content themes to show potential customers, buyers, readers or collaborators what it will be like to step into the world of your work.
Would you like support setting up an Evergreen grid?
An Evergreen grid is a tangible way to express your brand, the version of yourself you’re comfortable sharing with the public - and which, crucially, is likely to engage people who'll be interested in your work.
Coming up with the content for my grid was an enjoyable process which incorporated many elements of the ‘writer branding’ work I do with The Society of Authors, Jericho Writers, The Romantic Novelists’ Association, and in one-to-ones.
This is all about the story you have to tell about your own work, the invitation you want to extend to potential audiences, and then expressing that concisely through your nine posts.
If you would like support to develop your Evergreen Instagram grid, I’ve developed an online course to work through at your own pace, Create your own Evergreen Instagram grid. This course is suitable for writers, creatives in any discipline, freelancers and small business owners.
It runs step-by-step through the process I followed to create my grid, and covers what content to include in your grid, looking at personal branding, audience insight and content themes. The great thing about these opening lessons is that you'll come out with content ideas you can use across all your marketing activity.
I then cover the nuts, bolts and practicalities of putting your grid together, from what photographs and videos to take, to creating the images in Canva, to writing effective captions and alt text for your posts.
Get in touch if you have any questions at all and I'd love to see you on the course.
What if I’d like someone to create the grid images for me?
I worked with the multi-talented Hannah Boursnell, to put together the images for my Evergreen grid. I’d be very happy to refer you to Hannah if you’d like similar support with your own grid.
Further reading and watching
These are some of the videos and articles I read about the Evergreen grid before deciding to put together my own.