Every now and then, it’s nice to change up or polish your social media—especially if they’re public accounts you use to promote your blog or business. You might be changing directions, or maybe you’ve always used social media for personal updates and you’d like to convert those into more curated accounts. There are a lot of reasons you might want to do a little “clean up” social media-wise, but like all cleaning… It’s tough to begin the process of de-cluttering.
What better way to declutter your digital life than with a check list? Here’s how to clean up your main social media accounts:
• If converting to a branded or curated account, delete super personal photos.
• Choose a filter – Whether using our VSCO filters or not, choose ONE filter to stick to for at least 9 or so photos. You won’t really know if you like it until you see how it plays out visually.
• If your grid is looking cluttered and you want something clean, delete the photos disrupting your style. This is totally up to you – some people prefer to leave the old stuff and just start fresh with the next post. I’ve left a lot of my older, less polished Instagram posts on my profile, but if something sticks out to me, I’d rather delete it than get in a rut.
• Don’t overthink it! If you agonize over the feed, you won’t leave room for experimenting or taking risks, and it might hinder your creativity. Still, keep the overall look in mind.
• Visit your followers and see if you missed anyone you’d like to follow back and connect with.
• Visit those you follow – you want your feed to be a place you like to scroll through, so it’s nice to check in.
• Prepare the next three photos in advance so you’re confident about the reveal.
• Check your DM folder – the message requests are easy to miss
• Look at the photo grid that shows your recent uploads – anything you don’t want there
• Scroll through your follow + follow you lists, like before
• Check your messages and favorites to follow up on anything you wanted to save
• If you’re pushing content from Facebook or Instagram directly to twitter, make sure you have content that breaks it up. Otherwise, there’s no point in having this social media channel.
• Prepare some content in advance to make your profile more robust
• Delete photos and updates that no longer represent you (or if a page, your brand)
• Make sure all your website links on the home page/near the top are valid
• Pages – check your admins and permissions to make sure it’s what you want
• Personal – check your privacy settings
• Check messages and requests you may have missed
All channels
• Update your bio
• Update the email + recovery info associated with your account
• If branding, choose similar photos for each profile
• Make sure all links are valid
• Change passwords if it’s been awhile!
• Delete any pages or accounts you know you will never use again
Have you ever de-cluttered your social media before?
Elizabeth says
Amazing post. When I get back from vacation, I’m going to dive into this 100%.
Rachel @ Countdowns and Cupcakes says
I went through my Instagram a few months ago and deleted a lot of old content and felt so much better about my feed when I was done. I scrolled through it a few days ago and think I want to do another purge.
Lotte says
Great tips! I decided to create a new Instagram account a few months ago, so I have a private one where I follow family and friends and share personal, impulsive photos, and another that’s more curated and business oriented. So much easier to have it separated :)
rena says
totally agree with you! it’s really needed from time to time to do
Karen says
When I re-branded, that was the only time I cleaned up my social media accounts. I feel so much better now that the msg and the profile photo is the same across all social media accounts. It makes them seem more streamlined.