5 Ways To Repurpose Your Atomic Essay Ideas On Instagram

Last year I went all-in on writing. Writing over 300 atomic essays helped me get clear on ideas that I had wanted to write and talk about for years.

But I miss flexing my other creative muscles.

A conversation in our weekly writer's space with Derek Moore and Jenna Redfield got me thinking about all the ways atomic essays can be repurposed for other platforms (like Instagram).

Instagram Reels. You might think reels are just stupid little videos, but they are where ALL the attention is right now. If you can get their attention with a fun video, you can then share your atomic idea with them in the caption.

Carousel Posts. Atomic essays are perfectly suited for slide style carousels (especially when you write in the 1-3-1 framework). Take your essay and split it up into slides with some text on each. Canva has some great templates for this.

Twitter Screenshots. This is the easiest way to create content for Instagram. Screenshot your tweets and then post the screenshot on Twitter. These are some of my best-engaged posts so far.

Illustrations. If you're on the #pencilpirates train then Instagram is the perfect platform to show off those illustrations.

Long-Form Posts. Images still work on Instagram so choose an appropriate image and then use the caption to post the contents of your essays (make sure it's nicely formatted).

So while I'll still be writing more essays this year (because they are the start of everything), I'm excited to explore all the different ways we can communicate ideas across mediums and platforms to keep reaching an ever wider audience.

PS. If you want to follow my experiment, come follow me over on Instagram.

Come join the conversation on Twitter, it's much more fun with friends.