About a month ago, I made a pretty drastic change in my social media, specifically on Instagram. I actually blogged a little bit about it (which you can read here), because I honestly was feeling super stressed about the need to be perfect. To only post perfectly coifed photos, with hair and makeup done anytime a picture of me popped up, only using my “big camera” for any type of photo, putting together perfectly styled lay flats and letting myself feel not good enough as some of the other people in the Instagram Success Game. I’d literally spend hours each week thinking of content, planning out shares and photos and trying to make my feed look as cohesive and awesome as some of my favorite photographer-celebrities that I look up to.
But then, it hit me. It hit me hard like a ton of bricks, in a break-down-sobbing, Oprah-a-ha-moment epiphany.
I realized something: I’m not Jasmine Star. I’m not Jenna Kutcher. I’m not Natalie Franke.
They are them, and what they do – it totally works for them. I love seeing their feeds, I love seeing them nail the marketing game on social media and running with it, making a damn good living at it, and influencing people to be better at marketing. I genuinely love it, and I specifically go out of my way to check in on them a couple times a week to see what they’re up to (and what I’ve missed, because Instagram doesn’t always show me their stuff. So irritating!).
They all consistently do the same things, and have built a massive following as a result of doing these things:
- Post pictures of themselves
- Encourage others incessantly
- Talk about things outside of photography
- Open up with their vulnerabilities, insecurities, struggles, wins, losses, strengths, etc.
- Always post the most amazing pictures
But what they do?
It doesn’t necessarily work for me, and that’s okay.
But wait a minute … I also do all of those things!
I definitely do all of those things, because being an educator and influencer is something that feeds my soul. But if you look at mainstream influencer feeds and mine – it’s not the same thing. This year, and more specifically over the last few weeks, I’ve forged my own path to finding success in marketing.
Here’s where I have taken Instagram marketing into my own direction:
- I’m not a perfect person, and I don’t have a perfectly put together house. My hair is in a messy bun 98% of my life. I live in ripped jeans + yoga pants.
- You’ll see me without hair + makeup done on my Instagram Stories.
- I don’t always post “big camera” pictures, because honestly my iPhone takes some pretty awesome shots on its own and I can use VSCO or Filmborn to edit my images to be consistent with my professional work.
- Instagram is NOT just another extension of my portfolio. I mean, it is a little bit … but more than that: it’s an opportunity for me to tell my story. Sure, I’m a wedding photographer: but I’m also many other things.
- I want to be present and not stuck in the app, BUT, I also see value in sharing glimpses into my life in the here and now.
- I’m not a light, bright and focused on white photographer … so why should my feed look that way?
I don’t want to make the time to be perfect, or make it seem like my life is 100% put together. I spend roughly 4 hours a day Monday through Friday driving kids around, being with my kids for their various after school activities. I spend Saturday mornings on the football field. I spend my early mornings working out. At least once a month I go get a massage. At least once every other week, I try to grab a cup of coffee with a friend. My life does not revolve around my business – so why should my social media only highlight that one aspect of my life?
So how has life been since I stopped stressing so much about Instagram Perfection, mixing business and personal on Instagram?
It’s been nothing short of incredible. There have been so many positive reactions to
- We have received more inquiries from Instagram for weddings and sessions in the last 5 weeks than we have in the last year.
- I’ve increased my following by nearly 4%, compared to only 2.5% the month before.
- I am getting more DMs daily than I ever have, people are relating to Posts + Stories like never before.
- I am spending less time on social media
- I’m seeing posts from friends I actually want to see instead of random people I feel obligated to post on because of some pod or Facebook group I’m part of.
- I have been able to focus my time + energy elsewhere, including:
- staying on top of editing during our busiest travel and wedding season we’ve ever had (saving me roughly $2,500 in outsourcing editing costs)
- I’ve been able to invest more time into my health and fitness, and I’ve dropped nearly 10 pounds as a result
- I’ve been working on some projects with 17hats to be part of their new Marketplace (ooh, did ya catch that little exciting bit of info??)
I mean literally, you guys, my quality of life has improved drastically over the last few weeks with this simple mental shift.
So if you’re struggling with whether to have multiple Instagram accounts or finding a work/life balance with social media, I triple dog dare you to take a step back. To lessen your grip on the reigns, and realize that the only person who genuinely cares about how curated and perfect your feed is … IS YOU.
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