Creating a Static 12-Grid Customer Attracting Machine on Instagram

How would you feel about posting a dozen posts to your Instagram feed once and never posting again?

Sigh of relief?

Or does it feel constrictive? 

If it feels like an exhale, you'll appreciate this case study from a client. 

It's all about a set-it-and-forget-it Instagram 12-grid copywriting strategy.

Of all the conversations that come up with my writing community, this one comes up at least once a week — social media. 

Many business owners have what they call a love-hate relationship with social. 

They love it for the connection it brings but hate… 

• Endless scrolling

• Comparison

• Creating

If you LOVE creating on social, this article isn't for you. I've got plenty of other pieces for you to read here and here. 

When Instagram first came out, creators were obsessed with the grid. 

The grid is simply the first nine posts someone sees when they click on your profile. 

It's not even that important for most service-based business owners. You can see I give zero fucks about my grid except for sticking to my brand colors and some black for boldness. 

Every year (sometimes less), I have a designer create social templates for me so I can simply update them with my content. This is the rough process I've followed for about a decade to always have something new to talk about.

This is enough for most business owners, but some spend a lot of time, energy, and/or money creating fresh content for the gram. 

What you might be seeing more of lately is the 9-grid strategy. Technically, I think it's a 12-grid strategy (and you'll see why I say this in a second).

Meet Stacey, a long-time client who just breathed a massive sigh of relief when she posted her own 12-post grid.

Stacey runs a digital product business and membership with a specific niche (this makes my heart sing!) at Harmon Enterprises.

🤩 Take a look at her shiny new 12 grid.

It's beautiful, right?

I can't take credit for the design. I wrote the copy for each caption and edited the slide copy.

While it looks great, you might wonder if a 12-grid Instagram strategy is right for you. 

• You've been tracking your website traffic analytics and you get very few leads from Instagram, even after changing your strategy

• You loathe creating content constantly on Instagram

• You'd rather put your energy into writing newsletters or another social media platform where your ideal clients do hang out

• You consistently promote the same offers throughout the year (otherwise, you'd be updating it regularly and a static grid would defeat the purpose)

• If you still love the gram, you might prefer to create reels (you can keep them separate from your main grid) and stories — where you have complete creative freedom

Maybe you’re wondering if you could simply delete Instagram completely. You could. If some of your ideal clients are there, this shows that you have a presence there. 

Still, you can have a successful online business without social media, so you get to choose. After personally taking breaks from social media a couple of times in the past, I returned all the way in full of love for it after completely transforming my relationship with it. 

How we created this static Instagram puzzle grid.

Step 1. Stacey purchased this Canva template pack from Tara Reid to start. Then, she invested about eight hours tweaking the design to work for her business. She has a strong eye for design, so she didn't need someone to create the entire thing for her.

Step 2: We strategized about the items she'd display on there and brainstormed the copy for each square.

Step 3: I wrote! You can do this yourself. If your website copy is current with your offers and ideal client messaging, the good news is that you have most of it written already. Content for each square mostly came from her website, past sales emails, and Instagram posts. Repurposing at its finest! Each square required significant editing. Writing for Instagram is different from writing for a blog or your website copy. You can have fun with emojis, shorter, less complete sentences, and abbreviations.

Step 4: We went back and forth on edits and the writing. It took me about a week, or about 10 hours total, to write.

Step 5: Update the bio and links, and streamline her highlights. Peep her profile and posts on Instagram.

Step 6: Post the grid from the bottom right to left, moving backward and counting down from image 12 to image 1, one at a time all in one sitting.

Notes: 

• Even if your website copy isn't up to date yet, you could still write for your grid first, then use your grid content to inspire your website copy

• To do this, you'll need to clearly define the main action you want visitors to take for each square

Let's look at the content of each square of Stacey's puzzle grid.

For a 12-image grid (4 Instagram rows), the total image size is 3240 x 4320.

Yours might look different depending on what you're promoting.

Square 1: Introduction (About)

Establishing authority as the expert to trust

Square 2: Target Audience

Details the audience and their problems and desires in their words

Square 3: More About Me – USP (unique selling proposition)

Further authority building — what maks her unique. 

Square 4: Product – Starting Fresh with Evernote Course

Product promo

Square 5: Product – Academy

Product promo — this is her always-open membership community. Note: If you want to learn Evernote, Stacey’s membership is the BEST.

Square 6: Product – EverDone

Product promo

Square 7: Lead Magnet – Quick Start Guide

Freebie promo — having ONE strong freebie helps with this strategy otherwise, freebies would be all over the place.

Square 8: CTA – Podcast Guest Bookings

To further establish authority, Stacey is looking to book more podcast interviews and speaking engagements — so let's feature this prominently.

Square 9: Lead Magnet: Newsletter CTA

With a weekly newsletter strategy and a large and healthy email list, we want to send people here. It's the best way to get a taste of what it's like to work with Stacey and grow her email list — not her IG followers.

Square 10: Testimonial 1

Square 11: Testimonial 2

Square 12: Testimonial 3

All three testimonials were to highlight Stacey's authority using social proof.

I really enjoyed writing the copy for Stacey’s static puzzle grid! The strategy part is always fun for me!

❤️ Here's what Stacey said about her grid: ❤️

"This grid strategy has saved me from spending $12-24K in copywriting and designing for a year….not to mention the time savings. A total no-brainer for a biz like mine where IG isn’t essential for sales. So happy!”

Implementing this grid on Instagram can save a team hundreds of hours a year! For the investment to get it done professionally, it's a no-brainer!

Find out if this strategy makes sense for your business. Grab time to chat with me personally about creating your own custom grid. 

The investment for this grid if you outsource copywriting and design is around $1500-2000.

Once we chat, I'll happily personally pair you with a designer I work with. I work with a handful of talented women and will recommend different designers for differnt styles.