80: What to Post on Instagram: The #1 Secret to Organic Content That Works
If you’ve ever wanted to show up on Instagram but found yourself paralyzed by “what should I post today?”, you are not alone. In fact, even seasoned creators get stuck in overthinking, comparison, or falling out of rhythm.
You’ll learn how to differentiate between internal intentions (like practicing being on camera, finding your voice, or building the habit of consistency) and external intentions (like growing your waitlist, deepening connections, or driving sales). Once you know what you want your content to do for you, posting becomes easier, measurable, and way less stressful.
If you’ve ever ghosted your account for weeks, struggled with comparison while scrolling, or felt like your content isn’t “good enough”—this episode will help you reset, get unstuck, and start posting with clarity and confidence.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
04:48 – The most common struggle creators face: “I don’t know what to post”
05:46 – Why falling out of rhythm makes posting 10x harder (and how to reset)
06:44 – The trap of overconsumption and comparison that kills creativity
07:44 – The big truth: clarity doesn’t come before action—it comes from doing
08:42 – Why unclear intentions keep you spinning in circles
09:57 – The difference between internal intentions vs. external intentions
13:18 – Real examples of external goals (like building a waitlist or growing your email list)
15:32 – A Hot Reels client story: why knowing your goal is everything
16:31 – How to ask “what is my intention here?” before creating content
16:58 – Why practicing—even if messy—is still success
18:26 – Free Visibility Jumpstart Kit: optimize your profile, clarify messaging, and automate DM leads
Key Takeaways:
Clarity doesn’t come before action. Clarity comes from doing.
Without clear intentions, you can’t measure success. Likes and views alone don’t tell the whole story.
Internal intentions (practice, building consistency, finding your voice) are just as valid as external intentions (sales, sign-ups, growth).
Falling out of rhythm makes it harder to get started again—commit to showing up consistently.
Content success looks different depending on your goals: sometimes one new client, subscriber, or connection is the win.
Links Mentioned:
Free Instagram Visibility Jumpstart Kit:
A Truth You Need to Hear:
“Clarity doesn’t come before action. Clarity comes from doing.”
S3 Ep80 Transcript: What to Post on Instagram: The #1 Secret to Organic Content That Works
00:00
If you've ever stared at your phone thinking, what the heck do I even post today? You are not alone. In today's episode, I'm sharing the one shift that will finally help you stop overthinking your content and start creating with confidence. Are you ready? Let's go.
00:19
Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole led work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.
00:48
Let's dive in.
00:58
Welcome back to the show. This week I am celebrating that this is my 80th episode in a row. That's right, I've been dropping Instagram marketing tips and strategy for you every single week on Monday for 80 weeks. That is something to celebrate because I will tell you this is season three of this podcast and you probably didn't know that. You see, I'm always teaching you to take
01:26
action before you feel ready. And this podcast is a perfect example. In season one, the podcast was actually centered around a totally different niche and that was body confidence and confidence in who you were. Because at that time I had a coaching offer around that energetic. Season two, I pivoted again and went narrow into entrepreneurship and being a small business owner, being a CEO and
01:55
really exploring all the different various topics around entrepreneurship and business growth. And now in season three, I have niched down even more into Instagram marketing strategy and tips, right? The podcast really highlights part of my journey. And that is the road of business ownership and entrepreneurship can often be a windy road. It's not just A goes to B and B goes to C.
02:23
It goes up, it goes down, you go forward, you go back, you think you figured it out and then you realize, oh my gosh, I'm starting over again. I shared the story with you to know that it's never too late for you to discover your thing. It's never too late for you to do the thing that has been in your heart for so long. I hope that today's episode is gonna fire you up and help you get unstuck, especially when it comes to content creation because
02:53
I really understand that we have a struggle as business owners, creatives, entrepreneurs, and marketers. The social media marketing world of today is so different than what you may have learned if you got your bachelor's in marketing 20 years ago, right? It is so different. That's why this is a skill. It's a skill worth investing in. It's a skill worth learning. It's not going away. And you clearly know that because you're here and you're listening. So thank you so much.
03:22
for being here and today's episode I hope will help alleviate that question you have in your heart of what do I even post today? Like I have no idea what to post. Before we dive in, I do wanna say I've been receiving so many incredible voice memos and DMs on Instagram. If you're not already following me on Instagram, make sure you give me a follow over there at Elizabeth Marbury, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.
03:49
Send me a message, let me know what you think of the podcast, if it's impacted your life in any way. I wanna hear from you. Every time I get a message from one of my beloved listeners, it makes my day, I share it with my team. It keeps us going and showing up for you each and every week. So please don't be shy. I'm a real person. I don't have an assistant looking at my DMs. It is just me. I love being in touch and close contact with my community over there. So please don't hesitate to reach out.
04:18
I would love to hear what are you loving about the podcast if you have any other ideas for future episodes. I'd love to hear that too. And I cannot wait to connect with you over there. And on that note, if you are loving the podcast, if you're listening every week, if you're binging these episodes, please take 30 seconds to rate and review the show. I cannot tell you what a big difference it makes in the podcast algorithm. It helps us get in front of more incredible, brilliant people like yourself. So I really appreciate you taking the time to do that.
04:48
Okay, so today's episode really came from a common struggle that I hear of, I know I should be posting more on Instagram or I want to be posting more, but I just kind of freeze and I don't know what to post. And sometimes this happens because you're overthinking, maybe you feel a little stuck or overwhelmed, or maybe you're scrolling everyone else's content and suddenly all your ideas feel not good enough.
05:15
First, let me say this, that feeling is completely normal. Even after years of creating content, I still have days like that, seriously. It happens to all of us. And the key isn't to eliminate those moments, but to have a way through them so you don't get stuck there, so you're not hanging out there for days or weeks or months. And I wanna highlight that nothing is wrong with you if you draw a blank when it comes to posting content.
05:46
You know, sometimes not knowing what to post shows up for me when I have fallen out of my content rhythm. For example, if I am focusing on something else in my business or prioritizing something else within my family or whatever is up in my life, I've noticed that if I stop posting consistently, it is seriously 10 times harder to get started again. Here's the truth about that.
06:15
So whether you're in that place of, okay, I've gotten out of a rhythm, like I post consistently for six weeks and then I ghost my account for months and then I come back. I'm telling you, when you do that, you're making it 10 times harder for yourself. I also think that sometimes we get stuck in the consumption cycle where you are going on Instagram to maybe get ideas or to do some target market research or whatever your goal is.
06:44
And then we start consuming other people's content and we have that little voice in our head that says, wow, she's better than me at this. Or, oh my gosh, she just said the thing that I wanted to say, now I can't say it. Or, how did that person edit their real video so it looks so good? Like, I can never do that, I don't have a video editor. like, we get in that habit of consumption instead of creation. That is definitely something that I've experienced, I've definitely seen my clients work through.
07:14
And I think today's episode is gonna really help you just get out of that spot wherever you are at. Here's the truth, and this is the goal that I really want you to walk away with today, and that is clarity doesn't come before action. Clarity comes from doing. I'm gonna say that one more time because I really want you to soak it in, take a deep breath, let this land in your heart. Clarity.
07:44
doesn't come before action. Clarity comes from doing. You can't sit down with a Google Doc and write out all your perfect ideas and suddenly feel motivated to post. It just doesn't work that way. I wish it did. For most of us, it doesn't, right? You've got to just jump in the pool, right? Your clothes are on, you're like, I'm not ready. I don't have my swimsuit, I don't have my sunscreen. You gotta just jump in the pool. You've gotta start.
08:13
creating even if it's messy. And that act of creating will give you momentum. And from there, I promise the ideas start flowing. Here's the deeper reason that many people feel stuck or they're asking that question of what do I post today? They haven't clarified the intention behind their content. So if you don't know what you want a post to do for you,
08:42
Of course, you'll spin in circles. And here is the key. If you don't know the intention of your content, there's no way to measure the success of it. Let me explain what I mean. And remember, what I'm teaching you is from this lens of you're not here just to grow a following and become an influencer.
09:05
You're here because you have a product or service or maybe you're a nonprofit with a mission and you need to raise funds, whatever it is, you're wanting to show up on Instagram to achieve your visibility goals for your brand. You're on Instagram because you want to build community behind your mission. You're on Instagram because you want your content to work for you while you're offline.
09:29
enjoying time with your family or working in your zone of genius and allowing that content to drive leads and sales for your business. That's why you're here. Let me explain what I mean about why this intention piece is really connected to measuring the success of it. There are two different kinds of intentions that I want you to think about because you might be asking yourself, well, okay, my intention is to grow my business on Instagram.
09:57
We need to be more specific and I'm gonna tell you what I mean. I like to look at this from the lens of there are internal intentions for you as the creator of the content and there are external intentions. Internal intentions are about you. And I'll give you some examples of what that might be. I want to find my voice. I want to practice talking to the camera.
10:27
and feeling less awkward and weird in doing so. I want to figure out how to edit a reel faster. Right now it's taking me two hours. I want to get it down to 60 minutes or 30 minutes. I'm building the habit of creating content consistently. That is my intention right now. I'm trying to build a new muscle through practice. Those matter, right? The internal goals are what help you grow as a creator and business owner.
10:56
And for some of us, depending on where we're at in our business and in terms of knowing our ideal clients, being clear on our offers, being clear on our sales funnel, like someone's on Instagram now, where do they go? Some of us aren't even there yet. We're still trying to find the messaging. We're still trying to figure out who is our ideal client, right? Everyone's coming in at different points here, no matter where you're at.
11:23
these internal intentions can be really helpful. So maybe your intention for the next month on Instagram is, I am trying to refine my messaging and find my voice. That's literally all I'm gonna measure and look at. So it doesn't matter the views. It doesn't matter if I got followers or not. It doesn't matter how many likes I got. I can't control that. There's only so much that we can do to control that. But we can control how we show up. And so,
11:52
maybe you're starting with an internal intention. Then there are external intentions. The way that your content serves your audience or your business, right, really moves the needle for your business. Some examples of that might be, I want this reel to reach new people because I want to grow my following. I want to grow an audience of people who are interested in what I have to talk about or
12:21
my perspective or my products or my services, or maybe your external intention is, I want this post to deepen the connection with the audience who already knows me. And whether you have 100 followers or 10,000 followers, that could be an intention you have. There's people watching you right now who are just waiting for you to connect with them and invite them into your offers.
12:49
invite them to donate to your cause, invite them into whatever it is that you're wanting to create for your life and business. Or maybe your external intention is, I want this piece of content to help me build a wait list because I'm releasing a book this winter. Or I want this post to invite people into my freebie or my free masterclass because one of my goals is to grow an email list and that is
13:18
going to be my focus for the next month. So notice how different those intentions are. And I use the word intention. You could use the word goal too. But how they change the way you would measure the success of your content. Because one thing I know for sure is that if you're just looking at your professional dashboard and your KPIs, your key performance indicators, and you're looking at follower growth and engagement and when people are hitting the like and
13:46
All that data is so important and there is absolutely a time and place for that. I'm not saying it's irrelevant, it's actually super important. But the problem I'm seeing with businesses and creators on Instagram is they're focusing on that. And when they don't get the numbers they want, then they're disappointed. And I'm like, but what did you actually want this content to do for you? And they have no idea.
14:12
So if your goal was practicing being on camera, because you're really new to it, success isn't about the views or likes. It's about, did I put my face on camera and did I hit publish? If the goal was to grow your wait list for your program or your book or whatever it is you're launching, success might be 10 new signups, even if the post didn't go viral. Shoot, sometimes for me, if I get one new podcast listener,
14:40
from one of my posts on Instagram, I call that a success. Why wouldn't I? Because I'm thinking about my goals, my business goals. So I wanna give you an example. One of my Hot Wheels clients recently did a beautiful seven part series called Seven Days to Softness. And she's a healer and she poured so much of her heart into it. was beautiful.
15:03
She came to our group coaching call last week feeling a little bit discouraged because her engagement, know, views and likes, it just wasn't as high as she had hoped. So I asked her, what was the goal? Like, did you want to sell more books? Because she has books she sells. Or did you want to promote your virtual private healing sessions? Or did you want to send people to the music you create? I mean, this woman is such a beautiful creative. She has so many different offerings. And I said,
15:32
Like, what did you want? What did you want from this? And she said, I don't even know. And that was the aha moment for her. Without a clear intention, there's no way to know if your content is working for you. know, a lot of people are like, how do I measure the success of my content? I always say, well, what are you trying to do, right? If she felt disappointed, it was because she didn't know what success would even look like.
16:01
And this happens all the time. We put our content out there, we look at likes, we look at views, but we don't actually tie it back to what we wanted in the first place. So my support to you is the next time you don't know what to post, don't spiral. Just start by asking, what is my intention here? Is it internal or external? What do I want this post to do for me, my audience, or my business? Don't let that question throw you into another spiral, my darling.
16:31
Your one piece of content, yes, it can do many things for you. I'm not saying it can't, but what is important is that you are clear on what you want. Remember, you don't have to get it perfect. Sometimes the intention is simply to practice. I posted a reel almost every single day for a year for my personal brand, Elizabeth Marberry, and I didn't grow.
16:58
past a thousand followers. It was up a couple, down a few. I kind of just stayed at the same level, but you know what that year taught me? It taught me how to write incredible hooks. It taught me how to edit my reels in less time. It taught me how to use Instagram and all the features, and it was so worth my effort. So sometimes your intention might be to simply practice. Sometimes it's to connect with the people who are already watching you.
17:26
Sometimes it is to sell. All of those are valid. If you get clear on your goal or your intention, you'll not only know what to post, but you'll know how to measure success. And that clarity is everything. Thank you so much for joining me for this short and sweet episode and content pep talk. If this episode landed with you, please share it with a business bestie or colleague or friend who's ever told you,
17:57
I wanna show up on Instagram, but I don't know what to post. And if you want more actionable, tangible next steps, I created a free kit for you. This is an Instagram visibility jumpstart kit. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Essentially what I do in this kit is I teach you how to optimize your bio and your profile because if that piece is not working for you, it's not aligned with your intention or your goals for your business, we have a problem.
18:26
Right? So that's a super important first step in leveraging Instagram to grow your brand. So I walk you through step by step how to do that. The middle section, we do some high level content strategies. You can really think about how do I develop the messaging and the hooks to activate my ideal clients or my ideal followers so I can grow my brand. And then the final piece is
18:49
how I leverage DM automation. I have a special link in there to the platform I use. You get to try it for a month free and I walk you through exactly how I get podcast listeners, people gobbling up my freebies, joining my email list every week while I am offline hanging out with my two kids. It's pretty awesome. So if you want that free visibility jumpstart kit, you have two options. One, we will drop it in the show notes below or even easier.
19:18
Make sure you're following me over on Instagram at Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y. Send me a direct message with the keyword kit, K-I-T. And my robot assistant will send you the link to download your free guide there. It's gold and I know you will get so much value and benefit from it. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today and I cannot wait to start it with you next week.
19:47
Thank you for listening to Struttit. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free Monetize Your IG Guide, where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies.
20:14
to get my monetize your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.
