Instagram was barely a thing when I started my blog in 2013. My cousin, who was in high school at the time, introduced me to the platform and swore that it was all the rage. I pushed back a lot because I could not understand why anyone would want to scroll through such tiny images, but eventually, I created an account anyway and started my Instagram journey. It wasn’t too difficult at the time. Hashtags worked. It was practically magic. You could add hashtags and almost instantly get 20, 30 sometimes even 200 new likes. The photography standards were also way lower. I could post a practically blurry ootd and get away with it. If I did that now, I’d probably lose at least 50 followers in one shot. Users were constantly looking for new people to follow, as opposed to today, when everyone is trying to keep their following count low. There were also no expectations to have a beautiful grid. I’m not sure that concept even existed yet.

Blogging before the days of Instagram was simple. You just had your friend snap some pics of you, maybe you edited them, maybe you didn’t, and then you posted them. Now I can spend up to 5 hours editing a perfectly good photo just so it matches the coloring of my overall feed. It’s exhausting.

One of my biggest regrets is not taking advantage of the newness of the platform. I should have posted more and engaged more. I should have taken the time to build a massive following, but I was busy and I don’t think I realized just how important Instagram would become to my business.

All you hear people talk about these days is the Instagram algorithm. I’m even guilty of it once in awhile. Instagram has made it extremely difficult to grow or even get seen by the followers you already have. It’s frustrating, disheartening, and downright upsetting, but it’s not going to change. Instagram wants influencers to pay to be seen and that’s all there is to it. So instead of crying about the algorithm, we need to just produce better content because when it’s that good, people will find you.

OUTFIT BREAKDOWN:
Pink Sweatshirt Dress: ASOS
Black Over The Knee Boots: Ivanka Trump (c/o)
Pink Earrings: Bauble Bar (c/o)
Black Bag: Chanel

xx Esther