Instagram – My way….
This week I was advised by a company that the quality of my Instagram wasn’t up to standard.
I’m not going to lie, it hurt.
Shortly after, I considered what this really meant to me, it was nothing personal and there was/is nothing wrong with my Instagram feed. Chances are, there’s nothing wrong with your’s either…
Instagram can be a beautiful place; filled with creativity, striking images and lust-worthy locations and products. It can also be a place for people to feel emotions of inadequacy, fear of missing out and encouragement for eating disorders or other health issues.
Some day’s it builds you up, your followers love your content and you are revelling in feelings of being successful and content. Other day’s you awake only to find a number of your ‘followers’ have gone. Was it something you said? Or something you posted?
The truth is, you can make it as professional and number focused as you wish or you can make it completely private and personal, it’s completely up to you.
We don’t all have to conform; I enjoy perfectly placed photos with white backgrounds, but I also absolutely love natural photos that capture the moment. It would be boring if we all were the same? I find posting photos of myself looking ‘less than perfect’ empowering, I want that level of honesty to be displayed in my photos, I don’t want to conform to ‘perfect’.
There are a lot of posts around discussing how to increase engagement and followers on Instagram, I think the number one point is to be active on the application:
*Like other peoples photos.*Use sensible hashtags that relate to the picture (save these on your phone to copy and paste and use in the future).*Post thoughtful comments.*Post frequently and use the analytics feature to discover your most popular posting times.*Don’t follow people who make you feel bad about yourself.
Whilst I’m on the subject, I thought I’d take a moment to share some of my thoughts on the most frequent Instagram situations…
Do I sometimes daydream about having the time and budget for photoshoots?
Yes. However, I don’t begrudge the people that do this, the end photo is often fantastic.
Do I dislike #sponsored posts?
Absolutely not. As long as they are honest and in keeping with a theme, then why on earth should we not be happy for people making money out of Instagram?
Do I like Robots and people who buy followers?
NO! I’m sick and tired of spammy comments ‘That’s so inspiring’ on a picture of my oatmeal? Buying fake followers won’t increase engagement, chances are that you’ll eventually get caught and look untrustworthy and fake.
What do we need to remember?
The simple fact that someone has a lot of Instagram followers, doesn’t automatically mean they are happy, popular in real life or a nice person. It also doesn’t mean that they are qualified to make recommendations to you in relation to diet, health or fitness.
The person with fewer followers isn’t less attractive, interesting or fun! It could be they are more content, more popular in real life or less concerned about chasing high numbers. It’ll also mean the fact you took the time to comment on or like a picture, means a lot more….
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This feels like a good time to share my ‘Best Nine’ and thank you for liking a picture of my oats, as much as I like eating them.
I don’t know why you decided to follow me, but I’m very thankful that you did.
How do you feel about Instagram?
Katie
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