"Count Your Rainbows, Not Your Thunderstorms..."
I've been thinking about writing this post for a while but to be honest I didn't really know how to word it because I didn't want it to sound like I'm saying "Get over it, it's just Instagram" as I understand that for some people Instagram is their job and it is a way of them earning money and paying bills. I also understand that, like myself, some people spend hours taking photos, editing, uploading etc and put a lot of their time and effort into it. I've learnt not to let Instagram put me in a negative mood so if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about why I think like this then carry on reading...
When I'm scrolling through Twitter and Instagram I'm seeing a lot of people complaining and getting frustrated with Instagram and it's algorithm. Personally my photos aren't getting a lot of likes, they fluctuate and my followers are constantly going up and down and I really don't know what to do about it. This has been happening for months. I've tried posting multiples times a day, posting at 'peak' times, using lots of hashtags, using fewer hashtags, commenting on lots of accounts once I've posted, liking lots of photos on the popular page, replying to comments within the first 30 minutes but none of these have seemed to have made much difference and this is why I am not letting Instagram stress me out. Unless you are buying followers and likes you are not going to be able to grow your Instagram as quickly as you could a few years ago. I know accounts who have 25k+ followers but don't get as many likes per photo as accounts who have under 10k followers. I know accounts who have a similar following to me that get many more likes per photo and accounts that get less. There is no tip or trick out there that I have seen that actually works, so for me all I want to do is create photos that I love, post reviews about products that I love using and interact with accounts that I love following!
For me, that is all there is to it.
I can't change how Instagram works. I don't know if it's trying to make us buy followers and likes and that's why it's not sharing our photos as much but I certainly won't be using any bots. Every time we lose a follower it doesn't necessarily mean that someone isn't enjoying our feed it could be that someone has deleted their account, it could be a bot account-who knows?!
Instagram and blogging is my hobby. It's something I started because I enjoy talking about make up, fashion and positivity and still enjoy doing that! I love it when someone comments about a product I've posted and says "I use this and love it too!" or "I can't wait to go out and buy this" and it's even better when someone recommends a product for you as they've got to know what kind of things you'd like from just following you on Instagram! A few weeks ago so many lovely bloggers were sharing their favourite accounts on their IG story and for me, that's what it's all about. There were bloggers with thousands of followers sharing bloggers with hundreds of followers. We were sharing accounts because we wanted to show everyone what amazing, talented people there are out there!
I will admit months and months ago I was getting so addicted to looking at my follower count and wondering when I was going to reach my next goal.
If I'm not already happy with what I have, why should I deserve to have more?
It's like saying to your group of loyal friends "Why don't I have more friends? Why don't they want to hang out with me? Why have I just got this small group of friends, I want more?"
But maybe I was forgetting about the lovely followers I already had. The ones who like every photo, who watch my story, who comment on my photos and don't unfollow me when I post a selfie! I am so thankful to anyone who follows me and likes and comments on my photos.
You lot must know by now that I am all about being thankful and grateful for things in my life so if you truly want to try and change the way you think about Instagram then try these tips-
- Reply back to all comments saying 'thank-you' as someone has taken the time to post something nice on your photo
- Be grateful for all the followers you already have
- Be proud of every photo and caption you upload
- Scroll back through your feed and look at all of the amazing photos you have taken and all of the nice comments and likes people have left
I really didn't want this post to come across as me being rude, like I said at the beginning I understand that for some people their income is 'Instagram' and unfortunately I don't have any advice on how to grow your account all I can offer is some advice on not allowing it to bring you so much stress and negativity.
I really hope that this post has been helpful in some way I'd love to hear your thoughts on it both positive and negative!
Many thanks,
Jade x
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