Consistent Doesn’t Mean Constant: Why I’m Using a 9-Grid on Instagram This Season

Do you really have to post on Instagram all the time for it to work? The short answer: nope. 🙅‍♀️ In this episode, Ruthie Sterrett, founder of The Consistency Corner, shares why she’s swapping daily posts for a strategic 9-grid on her agency’s profile — and how you can use the same approach to simplify your social media without losing traction.

You’ll hear Ruthie break down the “consistent doesn’t mean constant” philosophy that guides her content planning and why seasonal strategy shifts matter more than algorithm hacks. Learn how to decide if a 3-grid or 9-grid fits your business, what to post when life gets busy (hello, Q4 holidays), and how to keep your Instagram working for you — even while you’re not posting every day.

Whether you’re managing multiple profiles, running a brand that serves moms, or just ready to breathe again on social, this episode will help you build a content strategy that’s intentional, sustainable, and actually fun again.

✨ Want support? Explore our done-for-you 9-Grid service or grab the 9-Grid Planning Pack to DIY your own and step into the season with less overwhelm and more consistency. 

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@ruthie.sterrett
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Transcript

Ruthie Sterrett (00:01.038)

Do you really have to post on Instagram all the time? No. And here's why I actually just put up a three grid instead of consistent posting. By the way, I'm Ruthie, the founder of the Consistency Corner, a social media marketing agency that serves moms. And while I may be the queen of consistency on social media, I want you to remember consistent doesn't have to mean constant. Here's where I'm at right now. Q4, freaking busy. Holidays, sports.

family, client work, I need to simplify. Also, I wanted a little space on my Instagram for some fun, lighthearted, personal content without losing momentum on my business profile, which we're gonna get into why I have two profiles in a minute and whether or not you should too. And then finally, a nine grid is a way to keep my business profile working for me even if I'm not posting regularly. If you're curious,

about nine grids. have a full podcast series, a mini series breaking down exactly why I use, like why you should use a three grid and what it is. So I'll link that in the show notes if you want to dig deeper. But here's where I really want to dig in today and talk to you about like, why am I using a three grid in this season? And maybe that will help you decide if it is.

Ruthie Sterrett (01:25.548)

Okay, stop. I'm starting this episode all over again. we're going to stop right there. Start over. Okay. Listen, do you ever wonder, do I really have to constantly or consistently post on social media to make it work for my business? Well, what would it look like if you didn't? Enter the Instagram nine grid, or as I like to say, the nine grid has entered the chat. Hey.

I'm Ruthie, and welcome back to the Consistency Corner, where we help founders and CEOs of brands that serve moms stop spinning their wheels on social media, get it off your to-do list, and create a strategy that actually works. Today, I'm pulling back the curtain on why I decided to use a 9-grid on one of my profiles in this season. Not just in theory, but like in practice. You can go look at it. It's actually up right now.

because sometimes the decision making behind the scenes is just as valuable as a step-by-step tutorial. So I'm sharing how I landed on this decision. Now, if you're like, what is a nine grid? I have a full breakdown in an episode that we'll link in the show notes where we go over exactly what is a nine grid, when should you use it, frequently asked questions around the strategy and how to create one. But in short, it's like a magazine cover

or mini website, or just a static nine posts on your Instagram where you don't post anymore, but it's really intentional in what content we put in that grid so that when someone lands on it, they realize like, these posts all go together. So today, I wanna talk a little bit more about why I personally chose to use a nine grid this quarter. So we're going into Q4. My plate is freaking full, all right? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday.

fall sports, football games. Like it's busy, life is busy and it's fun. And I wanted to have a little bit of fun on social media in this particular season. And after a big launch at the beginning of the fall of our agency, I felt this pull to kind of ease up on the selling accelerator. I didn't want to be cranking out content at full volume that was really focused on selling. I wanted my content to feel lighter, more personal, more fun.

Ruthie Sterrett (03:43.532)

And I really wrestled with the decision of do we keep focusing on both profiles? Do we just focus on one and not the other? If we do that, how do we handle it? Which profile do we focus on? Y'all, I have wrestled with this for a long time. And I've talked about it even on the podcast about what was the right decision for me and when and why. So in this season, what I was feeling called to do was share more content that is personal.

my family, my life, the things that I'm into, and fun, right? To connect with my people on a human level. And I decided that my personal profile was the right place to do that. Now, why am I running two profiles? Listen, that is a very personal decision for every business owner, and there's a lot of nuance into building a personal brand and a company brand. For me, the consistency corner has always been about more than just me. I have a team.

The intent is to grow the agency, to hire more women, give more women the opportunity to do work that they love, that lights them up, and have a flexible working environment to be able to care for themselves and their families. So the consistency corner in essence is about so much more than just Ruthie staring. And so I wanted a place that was focused on the agency. And then I also like to post on social media for me and want to make sure that there is a face behind...

that brand of the consistency corner. So I keep my personal profile and post not just family stuff on there, but ways to connect with other female entrepreneurs and mom entrepreneurs on that profile. So what I decided to do in this season is put a nine grid up on the business profile, the agency page. That way we have static intentional content that is showcasing how we serve clients, how we can help them.

who we help and it's an example of a 9 grid which probably wouldn't apply to you but applies to me because it's an example of one thing that we can do for clients that's right there on my page. And ultimately what we do is we take social media off your to-do list and the 9 grid is one of the ways that we can do that. And then it gave me room to go back and focus on my personal brand and hang out more there.

Ruthie Sterrett (06:03.532)

Now with the podcast, we do produce reels from this content and I will continue to still post a weekly or two a week reels on the consistency corner page. But what's cool about a nine grid is you can post reels and just not share them to the main grid. They live on the reels grid only. So that way we can keep the content fresh. We can post reels when we have them. But our main

grid, our storefront, our window, if you will, into our business is static, intentional, and really strategically designed in that nine grid. And not every season of your business is going to be heavy sales pushing. You know, we talk about campaign calendars and that's because there should be times that we're really pushing on the accelerator and selling and having a launch or a specific campaign around an offer.

And then there's gonna be times that we're gonna pull back and we're gonna have more nurture style content where we're just connecting with our audience. There's gonna be times that we're more focused on top of funnel and getting more new eyes in front of our content. And so for me, this season feels like a season of nurture, a season of fun, a season of connection with my audience. And I'm gonna do that on my personal profile. But that nine grid is still over there keeping my business profile consistent.

with the content that my ideal audience may need. And that is the exact same kind of conversations that we have in strategy sessions with our clients. Like, where are we in your campaign calendar? When should we be pushing to sell? When are we pulling back and nurturing? And we honestly look at it at like a whole year overview. The year can change. We revisit it quarterly to kind of make sure and do a pulse check of where you are.

But it's nice to know that you don't always have to be selling all the time because guess what? People don't go to social media to be sold to 24 seven. They go to social media to connect as humans, to feel something, to be entertained. Are they sold to there? Yeah, absolutely. Do you need to sell on social media? Yes, you do. But it's okay to pull back and not do it all the time. And for me, every time I've used a nine grid, honestly, it's been after a launch because it's felt good.

Ruthie Sterrett (08:25.794)

to just take a breath for a minute and know that the content I have up there is working for me. So if you're like, hmm, this sounds like a really interesting concept and I might want to try it, but I don't know if I want to go all in with nine posts, like that's a lot. Well, a three grid is a great way to kind of dip your toe into this strategy. And it's a simpler, faster way to do the same job of immediately letting someone know when they hit your profile.

who you are, who you serve, and how you support them. And I talked about that in an episode earlier this month, so that's linked in the show notes if you want to go back and learn all about a three grid. So, if you want to explore the nine grid more deeply, check out the previous episode linked in the show notes where we do a deep dive on it. Go check out my nine grid on the consistency corner Instagram profile. And if you're ready to put one in place for your own brand,

so that you can really step away from social media before the rush of the holiday season, we've got two ways to support you. Number one, done for you nine grid service. You hire me, my team and I create a nine grid for you. We do all the graphics, we do write all the captions, we post it for you. It's done in a couple of days. Or if you want to DIY, we have a nine grid planning pack, which walks you through exactly what to put in each post.

And we have Instagram Canva templates available to design. Now, just like a three grid, the grid doesn't have to be connected. But you want it to be visually cohesive so that when someone lands on it, they can immediately see and be visually signaled that all of these nine posts go together. So either way, we have Canva templates to help you there.

And you can think of the nine grid almost as like a safety net for this season. It keeps your profile working for you, even in the busiest seasons of life. And listen, if you are like me and you have struggled with, wrestled with the decision of personal profile, business profile, how do I manage both? What the heck do I do? Let's talk about it. We talk about things like this all the time in our social media mixer. And I'd love to have you in our next one because it's part networking group, part.

Ruthie Sterrett (10:45.25)

social media workshop and we can have conversations with real women who have real questions about social media and help each other in figuring out how to make it work for you or how to get it off your to-do list. So thanks for being here friend I appreciate you so much and we'll see you in the next episode.