The title of this post is total clickbait, but I wanted to tell you about a little Instagram experiment I did this past week, that paid off by being featured on Martha Stewart’s Instagram account. So here we go:
In the past months I keep hearing people complain about Instagram’s new algorithms: you don’t see any content from people you are actually love following, Merry Christmas posts pop up in your feed on New Year’s Day because there is no chronological order anymore and for some it even became harder to grow their followings. There’s a lot of frustration and a lot of “Instagram was better in the old days”.
Now, I don’t like complaining. Believe me, I’m really good at it (ask my husband!) but I very rarely complain online because venting just for the sake of it, doesn’t make the world a better place. In the past months, I sometimes really felt the urge to complain online (somehow Twitter always feels the right place to do that!), so I decided to write these tweets in a textfile that I keep to myself. It’s like keeping a journal, it can be helpful to organize your thoughts or just get the anger and frustration out of your system. It made me feel calmer and forget about the futilities that bothered me.
I do agree Instagram changed a lot and at times I’m completely bored by all the superficial stuff people are sharing or the things I don’t see anymore. For creatives that rely on Instagram to sell their products or services, it’s tough when the engagement suddenly drops. On the other hand I really love Instagram Stories with little raw peeks into people’s lives, or complete tutorials and how-to’s that learn me new stuff. Some Instagrammers are really good at telling their stories in creative ways, where others just use it to push their new Instagram posts by reminding “new photo on the grid” or “new blogpost, link in profile” kind of stuff. Ughhh.
So instead of giving in to complaining about Instagram and its new rules, I decided to do a little experiment and post 1 photo every day for one week (instead of +/- 3 times a week). No scheduled or old stuff, just taking a photo every day, with a bit more context (photos, videos, Boomerangs) in Stories. It required a little bit of time to take an Instagram worthy photo every day, but I liked it! It got me back in the IG groove and it also worked to get more followers! I gained over 400 new followers in 1 week. Which may not seem like a lot (especially compared to our Urban Jungle Bloggers account that grows twice that per day), but the amount of engagement, likes, comments and DMs grew too. Maybe it’s the spontanetiy that shined through, or simply the Instagram algorithm that favors people that upload more content. In any case, it worked and one of my photos went a little bit viral too as it was shared on several accounts, including Martha Stewart‘s (with a whopping 1.6 million following), the Houseplant Club and A Beautiful Mess.
So my key take aways: create more content, post more often, have fun, be kind (reply to people commenting/asking questions), tag a few brands that are in the photo and share some extra peeks in Stories. And repeat! When you shoot a photo, take a picture from a different angle that you can post a few days later. It may seem boring and repetitive, and it actually is (!!), but remember that we don’t see all your photos in our feed anymore because of the new algorithms.
Also: be consistent. If you have been following my Instagram for a while now, you may remember the #joelixruns photos I used to share after all of my runs? After 400 pictures, I stopped for two reasons: it didn’t fit the content I wanted to share in my feed anymore (I lost followers every single time too) and it became quite annoying to stop and take a photo when I was simply enjoying the pace of my run.
Hashtags? Some of my most performing posts in 2017 didn’t have more than 3 hashtags, so I don’t think they are required for a post to be pushed by the Instagram algorithms.
And the most important part: if you don’t enjoy Instagram (anymore), then simply don’t do it: focus your energy on something else. This little experiment gave me the confidence to continue and set new goals for Instagram. Through Instagram I met some amazing people and it allows me to do and discover new things. With this said… I wanted to finish this blogpost with some of my favorite creative accounts on Instagram that continue to inspire me with their content and/or stories. What are some of your favorite accounts?
@matagalanplantae (Caroline is so talented, she creates the most amazing compositions with her ceramics and plants. And she’s lovely in person too!)
@etrine (Eric is hilarious, witty and clever and has the coolest Friday Fancy Dance videos ever)
@storiesbydeepa (Deepa tell stories like no other and always finds the best places to indulge in yummy food)
@amandajanejones (Amanda and her family are the cutest. Simple, slow and her Stories are so easy on the eyes)
@lrnce (Laurence and her team work with the most soothing color palette and sunshine
@mamieboude (LisaLou and Guillaume just moved to Biarritz (from Bordeaux and before Paris) and I love following their adventures in style
@miriam.barrio (Miriam is such a talented interior designer and I really enjoy her videos from contruction sites all around Barcelona and beyond)
@hebdomania (Mister Instagram Story himself: his travel stories capture the best and most delicious spots around the world)
@gnambox (Riccardo & Stefano are such a cute cooking couple and always use the new Instagram features right away)
@padoune (Alex lives on beautiful Corsica <3, need I say more?)
Ohhh I really needed to read this right now, thanks for posting Judith! You're so right, algorithms or not we really should be getting back to why we started posting on IG and that is to enjoy making and sharing photos every day and really 'looking' at what we see around us. I was just talking to Mario the other day that we never really go out with the cameras anymore and just enjoy photographing. Thanks for the reminder, IG is still my favorite online place to be. Have a great week ahead xx
So happy you liked this as a reminder, Yvonne! Hope you're enjoying the weekend and taking out the camera just for fun! xx
Thanks for sharing your experience, I have seen similar growing when I was posting on a daily basis, too… once I stopped posting on a regular basis, the engagement dropped, also on the first post I made after this longer pause… IG wants to keep us inside the app at all times and posting often, continuously and lots of commenting seems to be the secret ?? big hugs your way and I hope to see you soon!!! Ps: oh, and congrats on your feature on Martha ??
Thank you Anastasia! I think that's indeed what Instagram is after: more time on the app. It's just up to us to decide whether we want that or not (if we have time for that at all!). Hope to see you soon too!! Big hugs!
Goed om te lezen. Elke dag gaat me niet lukken maar ik ga wel proberen om meer spontaan te posten. Want dat schiet er vaak bij in! x
Dankjewel Iris! Klopt, iedere dag is best pittig, zeker als je buiten de deur werkt en graag foto's van je eigen huis deelt. Ben benieuwd naar je spontane posts ;)
Heerlijk leeswerk (en ik houd eigenlijk niet zo van veel-tekst blogposts) en inderdaad geruststellend. Instagram is zo 'dubbel', het is leuk en lastig, interessant en vervelend, lachen en irriteren …
Maar fijn te lezen dat er nog vanalles ontdekt kan worden en idd, zelfs gelijklijkende foto's kunnen leuk gevonden worden.
En ook fijn te lezen dat jij de Stories ook zo leuk vind (ik voel me af en toe een gluurder, maar zo leuk om een beetje met anderen mee te leven ;) )
Enne, top van de Martha Stewart regram!!!
xx
Dankjewel Nannette! Er valt inderdaad nog vanalles te ontdekken en met die constant veranderende algoritmes blijft dat vast ook wel zo ;) Ik probeer gewoon te focussen op het positieve en de iritaties en frustraties te laten voor wat het is. En jaaaaaaaa Stories zijn zo leuk met 'n kijkje in andermans leven, mooie verhalen of prachtige reizen ;) Sommigen zijn daar echt goed in hè? Heb jij favorieten die je graag volgt in Stories?
Jaaa, meerdere! En dat verandert ook steeds natuurlijk … ;)
Ben wel benieuwd welke jij graag volgt :)
Thank you so much for this excellent information from such an experienced Instagrammer/blogger as yourself. I am fairly new to this world and was happy to see that what I've been doing is in line with what you are recommending. I do have a question, though about “tags” – I wonder if it's best to tag accounts that repost specifically (such as urbanjunglebloggers, houseplantclub, etc) as opposed to use the hashtag, or both? I don't want to annoy anyone and am curious what you would recommend if you have a moment. Thank you again for this and all of your inspiration!
Hi Christine! Very happy to read that you found this blogpost helpful. As far as Urban Jungle Bloggers is concerned: we only watch (and repost) photos with the hashtag #urbanjunglebloggers but occasionally look at the ones that we are tagged in. I would recommend to do both: use the hashtag and tag the brand/community in the photo. Now that everyone can follow hashtags as well, this is a powerful way to get your photo out there and seen by many. However, make sure you only tag brands or use hashtags when the photo is related to the brand/hashtag. It doesn't make sense to add #urbanjunglebloggers to a photo of a beautiful flower bouquet for example ;) Have a nice day!
Wat een fijne post! Ik ben het er ook heel erg mee eens dat het ranten omdat het kan, soms z'n doel een beetje voorbij schiet. Het bijhouden van kritiek in een privé omgeving zou iedereen een beetje beter maken denk ik :)
Daarnaast: ik vind Instagram ook af en toe erg lastig, het is (naast Twitter) mijn favo social media maar ik mis ook vooral heel veel foto's van mensen die ik met veel plezier volgde omdat ze niet meer in mn timeline verschijnen. Maakt ook dat ik het pushen van nieuwe foto's via Stories niet zo erg vind, zo weet ik in ieder geval dat er wat nieuws verschijnt! Ik probeer nu ook wat vaker foto's te plaatsen, er zat eerder geen plan achter maar probeer nu dagelijks (dat lukt lang niet altijd) iets te posten. Misschien wel interessant om ook eens bij te houden wat voor 'n effect dat heeft.
Oh ennn hoe tof dat de foto zoveel gedeeld werd! Way to go!
Dankjewel Eva! Zeker weten dat dagelijks posten effect heeft ;) Het is ook zo dat als je vaker content van iemand ziet, je het sneller mist als diegene niets plaatst. Maar goed, het moet natuurlijk wel haalbaar zijn om iedere dag iets te plaatsen. Leuk om te lezen dat jij 't niet zo erg vindt als mensen hun foto's pushen via Stories. Ik vind het dan vooral zo jammer dat ze er verder niets delen ;) Anyway, fijne dag en ik ben benieuwd naar je bevindingen!