675 Is It Me or Is Instagram Just Dead? Navigating the Algorithm Without Losing Your Mind

Instagram isn't dead, it's just reflecting how people actually consume content now. Post frequently but make it relatable and personal, show behind-the-scenes moments, and use DMs and events to build real relationships instead of chasing immediate sales.
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Welcome to five minutes of Momentum. These episodes are a short five minute burst of inspiration, motivation and massive action. If you need that little kick up the butt to get things moving and to inspire you to take massive action, then every single Thursday, I'll be sending you through a five minute episode to download, digest and implement to finish your week off strong. Are you ready to get started? Let's go. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the podcast. Today I want to talk to you about Instagram. Instagram is. I feel like this conversation I'm having over and over and over again. And it is because a lot has changed. And I say that lightly, but it also hasn't changed because when it comes to Instagram, these are the things that I'm hearing from people. Feels like it's dead. Feels like it's not working anymore. Feels like it's so hard to cut through the noise. And I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who's also in business, and I was talking to her about content and whatnot and I said to her, I've hardly seen any of your stuff. Like, what's going on? Are you posting like, what's happening? And she's like, oh, I'm posting more than I ever have. And I'm like, I'm hardly seeing your stuff. And she said, I think I've seen two or three of your things in the last week or so. And I'm like, wow, I'm posting probably two times, sometimes three times a day. And I'm also jumping on stories every single day. And she's like, I'm hardly seeing it. And what that says to me is a few different things. We need to create an opportunity for engagement. And what is actually working is engaging posts, ones that show more of you, ones that are entertaining, ones that are super relatable. And for the rest of your information, in your content to land for people, they have to be drawn in with something. So for them to want to read the rest, they have to be drawn to you. So if we're focusing too much, and I think what's happened is that previously what the strategy always was was like, focus on the problem, talk about the problem. That makes it relatable for people. And then people want to read more. But people I think are sick of that and they're just wanting to go to social media for a social aspect. They're wanting to go to socials for an entertainment factor. And also, And I think TikTok has influenced that. So whenever I'm thinking about doom scrolling or just like scrolling For a little bit of a laugh or a little bit of entertainment, I actually go to TikTok. So I want you to think about, like, when it comes to consumer behavior, the way that you interact on Instagram is most likely going to be the way that your ideal clients interact on Instagram. So you want to consider that. How do you interact, when do you interact? What do you engage with? And every time I ask this in my containers, every single person always says, I engage with people who I have a relationship with. Think about that. I engage with people I have a relationship with. So friends, family, colleagues, clients. You know what I mean? Like, the people who engage in my stuff are usually my clients or my past clients or my family, my friends. And so outside of that, you want to go, well, how else am I getting people interested? Because when they have a relationship with you, they want to read what you have got going on, right? They want to read more about what's happening within your business and your life. And so what I found has been working really well for me lately is very much about sharing more about my life. And so I've been obviously doing more reels around my book launch and around all the different things that I have happening and starting to share more of my story. And so that seems to really resonate with a lot of people. And then also what I engage with too, is I want to see what else is happening in people's lives. So it's less about looking for a buying decision or looking to buy something. And I think people are treating it too much like a sales space instead of an opportunity to connect. So here's some of the things that I would, I would challenge you to start doing in Instagram. One, Come back to relatable content and think about how you can share your message. So you may want to share an educational piece of content, but how can you make it fun? How can you make it entertaining? How can you make it something that people want to read or people want to engage with? And then secondly, how can you show more of yourself? Because people want to feel connected to you. And thirdly, how can you create more relationships? So stop treating Instagram transactionally and start looking at how you can develop relationships, how you're interacting in the DMs, how you're asking people to DM, how you're creating those relationships without it going into a sales conversation for a good period of time. Like, yes, if there are sales signals, yes, have that sales conversation. But we're not driving straight to that sales conversation. We want to take the time to get to know someone and develop some type of relationship. And the other thing that also really works is engaging once you've met someone in person. So actively looking at events. And if you're a part of online communities as well, you could take those online communities and then take those conversations from that community into the DMs. That's what I would be focusing on if I was trying to grow right now. I'd be focusing on relatable content, something that's entertaining. How can you stand out from the crowd? Because I think it's one of the things that everyone keeps talking about, how it's out. It's the algorithm's fault or it's Instagram's fault. It's not. It's just reflecting consumer behavior. So you want to acknowledge how we have changed as a consumer and start to change with it. So what are you engaging with? And I think with AI now, like, people are done with any boring content because they want it to be more entertaining. We're craving much more entertaining. And so, like, even with your videos, they need to be short and sharp and they need to be, like, edited really effectively. So then people stay engaged. So really want to look at how can I create smarter content instead of actually just creating content for the sake of content? And then I always just come back to start treating it like there actually are humans on the other side and trusting that your message will meet the right people's needs because they are watching. And I think that this is the same thing, like, why I always ask people, like, who do you engage with? And people always say, with people I know, with people I already have relationships with, it does not mean that others aren't seeing your content. Right. This is also another conversation that I've had a lot where people are like, oh, yeah, yeah, I saw that post. Or they talk about a post. If I'm chatting with them individually, whether it's in the DMs or in person, they're saying they've seen the content, but they just haven't engaged with it. So obviously, I need to do something more in causing them to engage with that for sure. But secondly, I'm also knowing, like, they're still seeing it. They're still seeing it. So I'm not gonna give up on that because I know that that's a platform that works well for me. I know that I actually enjoy hanging out the most in DMS on that platform. And I'm also going to invest a little bit more time in LinkedIn. And I'm going to invest a little bit more time in TikTok because when I go for the entertainment pieces, I am scrolling TikTok. And what was so fascinating when I did my book tour, I went down to Melbourne and my sister's friend who came along to the book tour said to her kids as she was leaving to go to the party, I'm going to such and such a sister for her book launch party. And the kid said, who's that? And she said, my full name. And they go, oh, we've seen her on TikTok. How random is that? Teenagers like what the actual so that tells me that my content is getting reach. It's just not necessarily getting as much engagement as I would hope. So I've got to really work on that. So I'm saying this from a place of, you know, I'm learning through this as well. And I'm also trying all different types of content. So play around with it, get more creative and make sure that you're sharing more of yourself as well. Because the people I'm engaging with are sharing more of themselves and they're the leaders in the industry that I'm looking to for the answers. Or I'm the leaders that I'm wanting to learn from. Or they're just entertaining and enjoyable people that I want to to spend more time with. Right. So how can you think about your content from that perspective and stop blaming the algorithm and just start using it like a human.
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