Slightly different posts than usual but here’s few thoughts about Instagram from a perspective of now, a full-time blogger.
- Life is not always as colourful and amazing like on Instagram photos. Waking up in the morning and first thing that you do is Instagram scrolling? Some people would look at it as inspiration for next holidays, lovely way to wake up looking at all magical hotels, fashionable outfits, flower baths, perfectly set up breakfasts. The others seeing these things over and over again every morning before going to the office find it depressing. As it’s extremely hard not to crave the same life, I mean who wouldn’t like to ‘wake up like this”? We’re the people responsible for educating our audiences- what y0u see here is our job. Of course we love what we do, we get invited to the most incredible places and it all may seem so perfect. However let’s keep in mind- this is the job like any other. We get paid to create and inspire. Brands expect that through our content the sales will increase. That’s why what you sometimes see may seem “too much” or “non-realistic” but we need to make sure it catches the eye and “sells” really. Our job is to make sure it will inspire, it will make people dream about going to this particular cafe, hotel or a destination. But it’s important to understand that our life is not always as glamorous as what you see on our feeds. We’re also humans cleaning the house, shopping groceries and having ups and downs. So don’t compare yourself thinking “they have perfect life” and your one’s crap. Believe me or not but there’s people in the industry who’ve got no money in their bank account, they are literally homeless but playing the perfect feed game while staying in free hotels, eating in free cafes and wearing clothes they were gifted – all in exchange for Instagram photo. You should be aware of that before starting all the negative thinking about your own life. Don’t feel bad about going to work, having your career, making a living and going on holidays from time to time. As this is real. That’s a real life and you should be grateful for it everyday.
- It’s not all about numbers. I see a lot of new bloggers who just started and they are already stressing about numbers, likes, algorithm doing all they can to kind of “speed it up”. What I would suggest is to find you niche, style and focus on the content and message more than just desperately looking for likes and follows, playing follow for follow game, buying followers and doing million shoutouts a day. Firstly you need to organically find people who would simply enjoy watching and reading what you do. Nobody said it’ll be easy, but I can promise it’s so worth it. Numbers will come after time and you’ll feel more proud knowing that what you created is real, the followers are real people who actually love what you do and love you and support you through the whole journey.
- Be yourself. Be true to who you are. Don’t lie to your audience and don’t be afraid of your weaknesses- they are real people following you so they will understand and feel your ups and downs as they are facing the same battles. Open up with them and support one another. My audience helped me so much through this journey and I know I would have given up long time ago if I didn’t speak loudly about the struggles and didn’t get the support. Remember – they are real people. Let them share this journey with you and see your growth. Let your photos define you, your personality and your style. Take your audience to your dream places. Let them live this dream with you.
- Be proud of what you create. Sometimes we let likes decide if the content we created was good or not- I get that a lot too and slowly learning to accept that likes are nothing I can control, they come and go, each post is different. But as long as I put the same amount of time and effort, and my heart into it – that should make me proud no matter how it performed as I created it with love and passion.
- Get inspired but don’t copy. Remember “one thing about following people and copying what they do, you will always be one step behind”. So don’t. Find your own style and work on it. After some time you will laugh at it (omg I do all the time!) but this is when you see your progress. Put the real you out there and let the world the world love you and accept you as you are. It will make the whole journey easier than constantly chasing and pretending someone you’re not.
- Take a break sometimes. They all say- engage, engage, engage. It’s true- by liking and commenting others posts you will more likely get some extra attention on yours. However imagine we all would spent everyday and all the time liking and commenting others posts. We would probably forget that we actually have lives! So do it, but know the limit. By spending too much time online you’re having less time for your family, friends and real life experiences. So do it all but don’t get crazy . I like taking a morning/ afternoon or even the entire day completely off to recharge my batteries, look for inspiration outdoors, meet people rather than chat to them online all the time and give my eyes a well-needed break. Your Instagram won’t die if you do so!
Here’s few images! Found them on Facebook haha! 19 year old The Blonde Flamingo
Unfold This app is my quite recent and absolutely favourite discovery. This is where I create all the beautiful designs for my Instagram stories. The choice is great and honestly I love playing around with it. You can be editing both- photos and videos. I promise you can do the magic! The app costs few pounds and it’s so worth it. The new features and frames are added very often to make sure you never get bored. You can choose from many beautiful frames, fonts and colours. Here’s few examples :
