A lot went down over at Instagram the last months and I wanted to talk a little bit about it. I know, I know there are already so many posts on Instagram (follow me here) out there but I hope you read mine anyway.
Now a couple of weeks back all got heated up on Twitter with the whole #BotGate. I didn’t join the actual chats where some people where mentioned but everyone is nosy, aren’t we?! So I just watch from a far (find me here). I talked about the Follow/Unfollow game in this post. So I won’t go into it that much. I just wanna say it’s frustrating and people should just stop. I had in 4 month 1000 people that followed and then unfollowed me again. Like how crazy is this? Who has time or money to do that?! And I personally couldn’t live with myself knowing I hadn’t earned my followers organically.
Anyway leaving the #BotGate, let’s jump right into the algorithm dilemma. We know the old chronological order how posts are shown us will never come back but rather then focusing on the past let’s look forward. I haven’t found the perfect formula for getting your followers up & if you wanna have the truth posting every day didn’t help at all. So I just abadoned that! However the good thing is with the new algorithm it doesn’t matter that much if I missed my posting time – it doesn’t matter that much at all. The likes come in the next few days stadely rather than a lot at the beginning when I post.
During winter I had a really white, pink and blue based theme running through my Instagram but I got tired of it. I can only post my pink jumper so many times until even I get borred of it! And it limited me so much from posting other things! With trips coming up and doing more fashion shoots it just didn’t fit anymore to keep with my white theme. Don’t get me wrong I love theme Instagram feeds. They always look so well put together but I love the loose, random Insta feed too. Some of my fave Instagramers from whom I take my inspiration are @sineadcrowe, @sophierosie & @poschstyle.
As you can see, this is how my feed looks like at the mo. Now I have a new filter and I just post what I want! I still love doing flatlays (like this one) very much which makes my theme somewhat appear consistent – yay to that. But other than that I changed over to a “non-theme” theme. The only consistent thing is my filter and style of editing. (Let me know if you want a post about how I edit my Insta Pics).
With abadoning my white theme something else happened, my mindset towards Instagram changed and it changed quite a bit. I’m a lot more easygoing with how I interact with the app. If I don’t feel like going through the pictures on a day I just don’t. I won’t force myself going onto Insta every day and like pictures & comment. Nothing happens if I leave one day out! Instead I’m actually much more motivated the following day. The pressure to post every day has gone as like I said before, it didn’t help with getting my followers up. (If anyone had the same experience let me know please.)
Going forward with Instagram, I take it day by day and if I can achieve my goal of like 1000 followers by the end of summer – yay. But the world doesn’t end if it doesn’t happen. I rather focus my time and effort on my blog and other social media channels. Don’t get me wrong I still love Instagram. It’s amazing for inspiration and I love following all my fave bloggers. I just don’t see it as a platform where I wanna up my followers every day and get frustrated like so many others when it doesn’t happen. Hope that makes sense.
Without rambling on any longer, congrats to anyone who made it to the end. I just wanted to write my thoughts down and letting you all know how I’m going forward with my Instagram account. Let’s hope after some though month with our beloved app it will get better and more enjoyable again soon! For the time being I just keep uploading what I want when I want and I really do appreciate every like and comment! It’s so nice when I see that someone enjoys my photos as much as I creating them.
At last I wish you all a really nice Sunday evening and don’t forget to follow me on here and my good old Insta. xx
I share the same thoughts as you regarding Instagram, so much is changing and I got to a point where I really don’t care anymore, whatever goes lol
Totally agree. xx
I am so not an Instagram theme kind of gal! There are so many Instagram accounts that look so similiar I just like posting something interesting when I have something to post! 🙂
Totally get that. xx
I only concentrate on instagram and twitter and although I’m pretty new to it I’ve found it very useful to “split” what I post where. When I started reading about themes I knew it wasn’t for me. A colour theme just wouldn’t work when I concentrate on travel and book reviews. I’m not solely going to review books with a certain coloured cover for evermore! Instead I aim for consistency over a theme with a few “life” based “behind the scenes” elements if I see something I just have to share whilst out and about, that works for me. I’m yet to try out a “story” yet, I’ll save that for abit further down the line!
Hannah @ The Northern Writes | http://www.thenorthernwrites.co.uk
I love doing stories. There great for posting pictures that aren’t quite what I wanna post on my Insta but loved to share anyways. xx
Thanks for this. I’m trying to understand Instagram, and I can’t figure out what it wants. I thought it was me, but now I know it’s not ALL me! Yay! Thanks!
It’s not you at all. I guess it will be some time until it sorts itself out. xx
I never had a theme on Instagram, i prefer posting whatever, according to my current mood.
That’s so cool. As I see my Insta as a creative project I still maintain my “non-theme” theme. But I love looking at other Instagrams like yours! xx
With the algorithm changing so often it’s hard to keep up! I have found that instagram is not a direct traffic driver for my blog so much like you I have relaxed how much I put into it.
That’s the same with me. Keeping it casual and just having fun with it works better for me then using it as a source for traffic to my blog. xx
I have a theme but I don’t think it matters if you have a theme or not. Instagram can be frustrating but like you said it least it does not matter what time you post now x
You got it. At least there is one thing we don’t need to worry about. xx
I think themes are pretty but if you’re a serious blogger you can’t just post certain colored photos.
Totally true. I think a loose theme is the best way to go for me at least . xx
I think that insight could be taken with a lot of social media. So much pressure to post or comment or look a certain way. The algorithms are forever changing. Sometimes, you have to just take a moment and enjoy what you created!
Yes to that. We all need to take a moment and just enjoy it. xx
i never really asked myself this question but it’s totally true. sameness can get really boring.
It can so we all should just do what wanna and take others as inspiration but not to copy. xx
I agree I wanted to make a theme, it does look better- but I got bored and theres so much else I want to do!
That was me too at one point. But now a loose theme is so much better. However I still like looking at themed Instagram feeds. xx
I tried to have a theme on Insta and soon realized, that wasn’t going to work for me.
I think most of us bloggers have figured out it won’t work if you wanna promote all your blog posts and not just certain ones that fit into a theme ;). xx
I’d love to know how you edit your pics as they always look stunning on Instagram. This is a great post! I would love to theme my feed, but like you it just feels quite boring. It’s hard to maintain a theme, and show your life.
Love this post! As always, it was awesome.
Lisa
I’m working on the blog post on how I edit my Instagram pics ;). So not long of a wait now. Yes, I applaud people how can maintain a tight theme and still show there “whole” life. xx
I’m glad some people are getting back to the ‘sharing on the go’ Instagram that it was designed for. I really don’t think it was ever meant to be a feed of perfectly edited photos, but rather a collection of thoughts and scenes from your life that you want to share.
I do think it’s original purpose has changed with the rise of bloggers using it as a platform to promote their brand. But my friends use it just like in the old days, so I do see both. xx
I totally agree with what you have said. I have spent so much time over the last few months but things keep changing!
Sophie xx
http://www.sophobsessed.com
Just have fun with it. That’s what keeps me sane when thinking about Insta ;). xx
I also like doing a non-theme. It is actually quite hard to do a themed instagram for me! Plus I love the randomness of a non-theme page!
–Danielle Ruppert
The randomness can be just a beautiful as a themed Insta ;). xx
What a great post Lea – I totally agree that styled feeds are much more popular and they are essentially a must for brands but for personal/blog I think we can get away with making it slightly less rigid and more fun. I have the same editing style as I have on my blog and always alternate between a picture with stronger negative white space and a darker one which I don’t think you can notice on my feed unless I say that’s what I’m doing haha. But I do think it brings cohesion to it. x
So agree with you! I love you Insta, it’s so nice to look at and I think you did an amazing job . And now I know how you do it, I wouldn’t have guessed the play with dark and light pictures ;). Just beautiful. xx
Great post and found I related to that!