You are not wrong for not being constantly available. No one is mad at you.

Disclaimers

This also applies the opposite way—If you post a lot at one time that is so okay! Your social media page is your space. You get to make it up. You can show up when and however much you want. I am not a super confident person, but confidence is something that I am constantly working on. That plays into this a lot. You should be confident/solid in your business and the value that you are adding to people’s lives. I really believe in my services and the value that I am bringing through them. Because of that I don't feel bad about how much I show up. I am also not a complete social media expert, this is just what works for me!

Respectfully, this is not about you

I have said this before and I will say it again—and I mean this with all of the love and light in the world—your follower’s feeds do not revolve around you. In most cases, no one is waiting around for you to post. This is not life or death. Social media doesn’t revolve around you. And I find that really comforting. If I don’t show up one day, no one is going to be like “Mara where the heck are you”. No one will really notice. It is totally okay. Don't even worry about it.

Social media should work for you

Social media should not wear you out. If you are stretching yourself thin trying to show up every day or so many times per week or whatever, your content is probably not going to have that quality that you want anyway. Take a break. You deserve it and you might need it. Again, your social media is yours, you get to choose when you show up. You are the one in control here.

If you feel like you need to apologize for not making a post, think about who you are apologizing to. Your followers? Instagram? Yourself? What is it that is making you feel like you are doing something wrong? Chances are you will find that you don't really know the answer to that question. I am not sure that there is a soft way to say this—no one really cares if you are sorry! No one cares that you didn't post! Show up with confidence whether it has been 20 minutes or 2 months since you last posted! Your followers will feel your confidence and be so much more engaged by your content!

Your content should be consistently valuable

If your content is valuable, I think everyone will agree that quality over quantity is important. Your account will still be successful because you are consistently showing up with value.

Algorithms usually favor accounts that are consistent over those that just post all the time. So you should show up how ever much you can as consistently as you can. If that means once a week, three times a day, twice a month, GREAT. Don’t feel like it's the end of the world if its not perfect. It's really okay. With Instagram stories, the general rule of thumb is that you should post at least 3 times a day, each day that you post. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once toward the end of the day. This makes your followers feel like they are following along with you AND you will show up on their story feed more. BUT if you don't roll out of bed until noon, or you have kids to take care of, or you just don't want to, IT IS SO OKAY TO NOT DO THAT. People will still see your content. It will be okay. (another tip with stories is that if you are messaging with a follower, you will be more likely to show up at the front of their stories list, so send those DMs!)

Consider hiring some help

If posting doesn't come easily to you, you might want to consider hiring some help. A virtual assistant really could help you to show up consistently by helping you plan, engage, schedule, and/or create (and more). Social media is a GREAT business tool, but if you don't enjoy it, it might not be serving you. Maybe you LOVE showing up on stories and interacting in that way, but getting things together to post on your feed is like pulling teeth, a social media manager is there to help you out! You can also outsource other parts of your business, so that showing up on social media can have a bigger time slot on your calendar. Your life is going to feel a little more whole because you will have more time to spend IRL vs behind the screen.