I heard on a podcast a few weeks ago (James Nord’s Drink With James) that if you feel burnt out, let down or frustrated with instagram at the moment, take a step back, say no to work, and find a way to use your platform to help others. It was one of those AHA moments for me that shifted my thinking. I think I am one of the rare few that doesn’t feel betrayed or frustrated so much with the algorithm. YES, it’s disheartening when I post something that took me hours to shoot and edit, only to see that it flops or is not well received by all of you, but it doesn’t ruin my day. It drives me to want to do better, test new things, and figure out WHY it failed. Maybe it’s the social media manager in me, but I see it more as a numbers game, in which I am trying to figure out ways to increase mine, and I don’t take it too personally. BUT if various different images flop for many days in a row, it’s only natural that I’ll start to feel a little down about it, or defeated.
What I realized a month or so ago after hearing that podcast, was that I was looking at things the wrong way. I always saw my platform as a “styling service” of sorts – a destination where readers could come for styling ideas, shopping links and home decor inspiration. I always cringe at instagrammers who post videos of themselves walking through a European city (or insert beautiful vacation destination) on their feed, because for me personally, it feels like that video isn’t giving much to an audience, other than creating a feeling of envy or making someone else feel like less than. I always hoped and strived that my feed didn’t make people feel that way, but instead made them feel like everything I wear or create is attainable. Most of what I style is budget-friendly, and I like to think down to earth. Every week I try to share an easy-to-save styling video, a mommy + me matching outfit, and something home related that can be recreated. But I realized I was still doing it all wrong. Somehow in the confines of sharing, I still felt like I wasn’t showing the full story, but glossy images that only showed half of it. I looked through some of my favorite content that I’ve saved, and I realized that what I was saving the most were city tips, recipe ideas and photos of people actually creating them, not just sharing the final product and workout tips that I could easily pull up and apply at a later time.
Since then, I’ve been using the Carousel feature more than ever, and in my opinion, it has made instagram a much more transparent place. I see my feed more like mini blog posts now VS just a snippet of my day. I try to capture THE JOURNEY ITSELF rather than just that perfect, glistening cover photo, and in exposing what’s underneath the cover photo, I’ve felt such a deeper connection to all of you, my audience. I’ve been pushing myself to share more recipes, and to snap photos of myself actually cooking them. I’ve been sharing more aspects of my day, some that aren’t picture perfect, and I’ve been showing the nitty gritty that goes into all of the final reveal photos in our home renovation. Maybe the shift is small, but it makes me feel better about my work, and it somehow takes the pressure off of me a little bit to need to be “perfect” and instagram worthy all of the time.
Last year, 2018, created this unhealthy drive for “perfection” on instagram. It was an internet black hole of a year, in my mind. I saw the effects it has had on so many of you, who share stories, and so many influencers who have been working to try to undo what has been done. I think we’re getting closer to sharing our more authentic selves. I saw Danielle Bernstein of We Wore What share 22 acts of kindness last week, and it brought tears to my eyes. Noelle has been sharing photos of herself around the house without makeup, making it acceptable to take a day off and relax (something I felt we never saw last year!). Christina of NewDarlings shared an honest postpartum photo showing the reality of being a new mom a few days after birth. It starts with US being honest, and it trickles down, so it makes me reinvigorated to think of all of the good that this platform can bring, just by being more open and honest.
So while 2019 started out on a weird note, I like the direction that is has gone in. What are your current thoughts on the platform? Let me know in the comments.