One of the biggest hot button topics right now in the world of instagram is “growth.” I’ve personally always been very growth focused, especially when I worked as a social media manager. Of course you want to stay creative, post consistently and keep the quality of your editing and images high, but in my eyes growth is the MOST important thing, and if my growth slows, I usually try to change something. I never really experienced a pause in growth since leaving my full time job and putting forth more effort into this blog, BUT I did make some conscious shifts at the end of 2017 and entering 2018 that I’ve seen have had a huge effect. I wanted to share them, in hopes that maybe they’ll help you re-asses your own business!
1.Get back to my roots – When I started this blog, it was a FASHION blog. It has since morphed into a lifestyle + travel blog as well, but fashion has remained the content that performs the best for me. I was so so excited after having Hudson, and made him a big part of my instagram feed, but I realized that most people are’t super interested, and also it isn’t the direction I want to go with my business. Yes, Hudson will still appear from time-to-time, mostly organically or in working with a brand focused on kids clothing, but he is not going to be a huge part of my instagram moving forward. The posts you seem to be most interested in seeing are focused on shopping, styling tips, clothing, etc, and since I’ve gone back in that direction, my engagement has increased.
2. Engaging with the camera – This one is sooo small, but I think it has made a big difference. For a while, I would look down, or look away from the camera and not smile. I am not sure why – maybe it was self consciousness, or because it was easier than having to find a silly face that fits “me,” but I since realized that I LOVE to smile, I am silly, and being myself and posting the fun faces I make, or smiling photos feels more me.
3. Creating a consistent blog schedule – This one felt huge to me. It has forced me to post more regularly, find the content you’re most interested in seeing weekly, and organize my weeks like a real full-time job. Every Monday I post about new arrivals I am loving or a trend, Tuesday is an outfit post, Wednesday is a personal post, and Thurs/Fri are open-ended, but I’ve been sticking to this schedule every week!
4. Shopping more / investing in my blog – So, what I mean by this is YES I’ve been buying more clothing so I can show you what’s new in stores and how I’m wearing it, but ALSO I’ve been making an effort to go out of my way to buy balloons to shoot with, or order photo props that I know will work for an upcoming shoot. I never ever did this, but I’ve found it to be fun and challenging. For new years, I ordered a banner and a disco ball to shoot with, and it made the shoot way more fun.
5. Shooting in more NORMAL/ Mundane places – This is another huge epiphany I’ve recently had. When I started to blog, I would literally shoot instagram photos in shopping garages before walking into the mall. Instagram then morphed into this monster, where people began traveling all over the world to get THE shot at THE place. Of course photos in gorgeous locations are stunning, but I realized that it isn’t always possible to do that, and you all once loved seeing the mundane parts of my life and still probably do. Those are the moments that make me ME, anyway. So I started to shoot my bagel in front of my local bagel store, or coffee on the way to the post office, and these have been doing so much better than posed perfect pictures.
So my conclusion is that small things make a huge difference. Take a look at your own work, and think about what works the best, and if growth is important to you, focus on the top performers! If growth doesn’t matter to you, than do you and who cares what people think! 🙂
Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful!!