📸 Why I left Instagram. And Why I'm going back

Hello, beautiful people of the Internet! 👋

Happy Wednesday! No chit-chat. Let’s jump right to the juicy part, shall we?

🎈 Goodbye Instagram… It has been “Reels”.

If you don’t feel like reading, you can just watch the following video and get on with it. I've got your back. 👊

As you can probably tell from the few sentences I wrote before, I left Instagram back in September 2022. Yep, I did it. I’ve been on Instagram since 2012 posting both personal and professional content, and I had over 4,000 followers, but I had to take a break.

🏳️ Why I left Instagram

Long story short, I left because:

• I had no strategy.

• Poor organic reach.

• Poor engagement.

• I could not take more Instagram drama.

I mean, I would post anything and everything, from my breakfast to my cat's poop. Yeah, I was that kind of person. I had no niche, no strategy, and no plan. I was just posting whenever I felt like it, without any regard for my personal brand. But hey, I built a personal brand, so at least there's that.

Oh, and let's not forget about my follower base. Sure, I had accumulated over 4,000 followers, but many of them were inactive or simply not interested in my content. You know why? 💀 I did something that no one should ever do. 💀 I tried a "like-for-like" scheme back in 2017, and that experience brought me a bunch of followers who had no real interest in what I was posting. So, I had low reach and engagement, and I couldn't achieve the results I wanted on the platform.

And finally, I just couldn't take the Instagram bullshit anymore. I mean, the platform had lost its essence; it had no real vision for the future. It was trying to be everything by incorporating features from other platforms, like stories from Snapchat or reels from TikTok. I mean, it just became too confusing for me. I feel like Instagram is only staying relevant because of the sheer number of people using it and not because it's a cool platform anymore. But hey, that's just my unpopular opinion.

🤓 So, I did this…

Basically, I ghosted Instagram for a while. But don't worry; I didn't leave the platform entirely. I just wanted to see what would happen if I disappeared from the algorithm. So, I unfollowed everyone, removed my followers, and made my profile private. It was like social media witness protection! I didn't want to delete my account entirely because I didn't want to lose my coveted handle, @vanessamaral__. Plus, let's be real, it was a fun little experiment. It was like playing hide-and-seek with the Instagram algorithm, and I was curious to see who would come looking for me. Spoiler alert: not many people did. 🫠

🤔 What have I learned?

The first thing about being a social media manager is that you test stuff. You test, you learn, and then you test again until you get results. It’s iterative. The bad news is that the testing never ends because social media platforms are always changing. Sorry kids. But it’s fun! 😬

After my little experiment, I learned a few things:

• People apparently enjoy my boring life. Who knew? My Instagram Stories used to bring me engaging moments of conversation with my followers. The real ones, the ones still breathing.

• It is difficult to leave Instagram without deleting your account. I forgot I was still following hashtags, and the algorithm still remembered my interests, even without followers or without following anyone.

• I need to put my words into action and create a solid Instagram strategy for my personal brand. No more winging it.

😄 What’s next

You guessed it. I'm going back to Instagram, but this time with a completely different approach. I’m going to build myself a strategy as I would for my own clients. To do that, I’ll follow this framework:

1. Figuring out my niche. Done. ✅ I’m going for Social Media and Content Creators like me. Check out Millie and Dominik, as they were the first ones I added to my benchmark lists.

2. Studying and gathering insights from my benchmarks and “competition”.

3. Some of these insights should be:

   • What should I post? When? What format should I use?

4. Create a report with the right metrics to track my progress.

5. Start posting!

Feel free to copy my examples above for your own tracking. I hope it helps. 🙂 I also have one for YouTube, and I’ll share it in some other issue of this newsletter.

🔨 Usefull Tools

I’m a giver. Here are the tools I will use in my Instagram crusade:

• Google Sheets - I like to extract the numbers right from the platform's analytics. I was taught that way, and I believe I have more control over how I work the numbers. I seem to have a trust issue with third-party analytics platforms. If you know one that’s good enough, please shoot me an e-mail.

• Canva - a cool tool for creating images for your social media presences. Here’s a trick using A.I. to help you create images 10x faster 👉 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYSsLU28/

• Figma - It’s where I keep most of the design templates for my brand.

  

• Repurpose.io - This tool can assist you with video creation by repurposing content for each social media platform. It’s a time saver. It has captions and all! ^^

• Premiere Pro - I’m a premiere fan girl. I still edit all my YouTube videos on Premiere, and I’ll probably still go back whenever I need something more specific than a simple repurposing.

• Notion - It’s where I organize all my posts and my content creation schedule.

• ChatGPT - A.I. has been a great help for me, and ChatGPT is my winner. I use it to brainstorm ideas and to help me write all my content.

These are what I’ll use for now. I’m sure this list will be updated as I go.

👋 Want to work together?

When you’re ready, here are 6 ways I can help you:

1. Social Media and Content Strategy

2. Social Media management (Editorial calendar management, content creation, community management)

3. Personal Branding

4. Social Media Career Advice

5. Education (workshops, social media classes)

6. Speaking Events

👉 Book a FREE 1:1 session with me

📅 I'll be back...

But first, I need to thank you guys. Last week, this newsletter surpassed the 200 subscriber count, and my YouTube channel has 914 subscribers.

Thank you for being here and sharing in my journey. You are deeply appreciated. 💖

In the meantime, if you can’t wait until the next issue, you can find me on Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, and now also Instagram.

Thank you for sticking with me to the end. You’re a brave one! 💪

See you next time!

– Vanessa

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P.P.S. Thanks for reading me. If this newsletter ever becomes a burden, please feel free to unsubscribe. I’ll be okay. 🙂

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This newsletter is edited by Filipa Guedes