When is it time to quit Instagram?

Hi everyone, I hope you find this piece useful if you’re finding Instagram a tricky platform to use at the moment. In June I’m launching my Too Much Instagram membership here on Substack (find out more here) and if you join me now you’ll lock in the Early Bird price for as long as you stick around 💃🏻

It’s become quite the fashionable thing to denigrate Instagram, declare it a silly, superficial waste of time, or quit the platform altogether, and while I find the sweeping generalisations about the nature of Instagram irritating, I can understand the appeal of jumping ship.

Compared to the 20teens, reach and engagement have plummeted as the demands of the platform have increased; the feeds are noisier and busier than ever; comparison-itis is rampant; the chance you’ll lose yourself down a scroll-hole instead of working on your writing is high; and the pace of change only ever seems to get faster.

With all this in mind, maybe, like

Anna Pulley

, who left this comment underneath one of my recent posts, you too are wondering if it’s time to call it quits:

‘how do you know when it's time to throw in the towel? i've been 'gramming for a decade, and was once a social media evangelist (getting paid to do it for national mags etc.) but now i feel mostly dread, frustration, and envy. the joy i once got has been usurped. is it a mindset shift thing? is it time to call it quits?’

But maybe something - even if you’re not quite sure what it is - is keeping you there. Could it be FOMO? Perhaps it’s the memory of what the platform once was for you? Maybe you’re still there out of habit? Or, is it possible you suspect the platform still has something to offer, if only you could figure out how to use it in a way that doesn’t exhaust you.

If it’s the latter, then I’m right with you (probably unsurprisingly 😉) - as are two of the loudest ‘quitters’ of Instagram at the start of 2024: Emma Gannon, who ‘quit’ the platform by handing over the keys of her account to someone else, and Farrah Storr, who quit then came back. Zero snark intended btw because it just goes to show that Instagram might still have a part to play.

I’ve written before about Instagram’s strengths as a platform and why it remains my social media platform of choice but in this piece I want to address what Anna says at the end of her comment. What is it that she needs: ‘Is it a mindset shift? Is it time to call it quits?’

Without speaking with Anna directly, I can’t say whether sticking or quitting is the right path for her, but I can say that often, in my experience, writers do benefit from a shift in perspective or mindset before you head out onto Instagram to find your readers. The platform has been around for a while now, and you might be used to using it in a casual way to keep in touch with friends or family. This means you ‘relationship’ with the platform might be one that isn’t helpful when it comes to using it to market your work.

I’m not going to pretend Instagram is easy, but I am going to say that to make it easier, it’s a good idea to get out of your own way!

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You say: Instagram is making me miserable. I keep comparing my life/ work/ success/ size of following to other people and it’s making me feel really crap.

I say: in many of the conversations I have with writers, it seems Instagram is more often an amplifier of pre-existing insecurities, rather than the originator of them, but there is no denying that the amount of access we have to other peoples’ lives (or at least the online curated versions they want us to see) is not at all helpful to our mental health.

BUT do you need to quit OR, could you:

• remind yourself that everyone is curating their ‘show-reel’ so what you’re comparing yourself against isn’t real?

• take control, clean up your feed, and stop watching things that make you feel miserable? The algorithm doesn’t care that you’re ‘hate-watching’ a video - it simply interprets your attention as you being interested in it. This means it will serve you more of the same! Next time you’re scrolling and you see a post that makes you feel weird/ inadequate/ insecure, tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner and select ‘not interested’. That will help keep your feed clear of things that make you feel crap but be warned - it is not a one-time only thing. You have to be disciplined about what you engage with, and every now and again you might need to correct your algorithm 💪🏻.

• UNFOLLOW (or at least mute) accounts that make you feel crap? There are no awards for being the ‘bigger person’ by tormenting yourself with someone else’s success/ family/ beautiful home etc. Give yourself half a chance to deal with your own sh*t and protect your peace first ✌🏼

• finally, interact with the accounts and posts that make you feel good! This is the online equivalent of noticing how people make you feel when you hang out with them in real life. The ones that leave you feeling drained or resentful are the ones you should try to keep at arms length (or cut them out completely if possible 😬?). If Instagram is making you feel crappy, spend your time and energy on the people who encourage and uplift, make you feel seen and heard, or who just make you belly laugh.

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You say: promoting my work/ book gives me the ick 🤢. I feel like such a fraud and when I do post about it, those posts are tumbleweed. That then makes me feel even worse about myself 🙈.

I say: as women, many of us have been conditioned to ‘play small’ and not talk about what we do, or how bloody excellent it is, which means showing up and shouting about ourselves can feel extremely uncomfortable.

BUT do you need to quit, OR could you:

• get laser-focused on the value of your writing?

• write a list of bullet points or even a paragraph that defines the value of your work. What are you giving people? Questions? Entertainment? Resonance? Education? A voice? Support? Resources? Permission to take up space? etc etc etc??? You are not selling snake oil - YOUR WORK IS VALUABLE.

• tag your promo posts to a day of the week e.g on Monday’s I promote my newsletter/ book/ events/ podcast Take the decision-making out of it, and make promotion part of what you do each week on Instagram.

• get clear about what the job of a promo post is? Tbh there isn’t usually much to engage with on a promotional post, and that doesn’t really matter as it’s not the job of those posts. Promo posts act as a nudge or a reminder to your existing audience to go an dread/ buy your work, and as a signal to anyone who arrives at your page for the first time what it is that you do. These posts are not supposed to start conversations so don’t be put off when they don’t!

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Photo by Luismi Sánchez on Unsplash

You say: ok, but what if all of my posts are tumbleweed 😭 No one ever engages with my posts and it makes me feel like no one is interested in what I have to say.

I say: this is annoying, demoralising, and you might even find it embarrassing, BUT do you need to quit, OR could you:

• add more personal stories into your content mix? Tell a story about a time you overcame a problem similar to something one of your characters is facing; or tell a story about why you are writing your book in the first place. Is your book saying something you once needed to hear? Is it exploring an idea you really care about? Or is it purely for entertainment or escapism because that is what you want to give your reader? Bring a personal story to your audience, and often they’ll want to talk to you about their own experiences.

• give your ideal reader something they will find valuable or useful? Tips, advice, exclusive content from your book, reviews of other books in your genre, recommendations that are relevant to your genre or niche… there are so many ways to be useful to your ideal reader. Make sure you’re not using Instagram as a bulletin board where you update your audience about yourself - make it about what they will be interested in.

• look at what is happening in your genre/ niche on or even (god forbid) off Instagram. Is there a conversation you could join in with? Is there something you could offer your opinion on and invite your audience to share theirs?

• use Instagram ‘games’ to generate responses from your audience? Games like Quotation Roulette, anything to do with emojis, or get people to choose between different options.

• be a good Instagram citizen? How often do you leave comments on the posts of other people - especially the people who follow you? Set a timer for 10 minutes a couple of times per week and visit the accounts of the people who follow you. Leave a thoughtful comment on any recent post. Behave in the way you’d like other people to behave towards your posts and see what happens!

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You say: I feel like the loser in a popularity contest because people don’t seem to like me as much as they like others who’re doing the same thing I am.

I say: STOP and go back to why you’re using Instagram in the first place. If it helps, try asking yourself these questions:

• Are you here to massage your ego, or do you want to connect with your readers?

• What story do you think the raw numbers tell about the people with large accounts, or about you?

• Is that a story you believe? What evidence is there to the contrary?

And, importantly, a large following doesn’t mean people will want to read your book. They have to be the right audience and while you want your core audience - the ones who will share your book with everyone they know - to be engaged with what you’re doing, you don’t need tens of thousands of followers to make this effective.

Imagine your ‘small’ audience as people stood in a room - would you be disappointed if 100 people turned up to listen to you speak?

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Photo by Malvestida on Unsplash

You say: I don’t have time to create content!

I say: I can’t wave a magic wand and make Instagram content appear out of thin air. Showing up on Instagram means you’ll have to spend at least some time creating content BUT does this annoying fact mean you need to quit, OR could you:

• set a time limit for how long you spend creating content each week? Whatever you produce will be how many posts you publish e.g give yourself an hour, and if you make one post or three, that is how many you share that week. The aim is not perfection, the aim is to show up. PRO TIP: set yourself the goal of showing up once per week and if you manage anything more than that, you’re already over-achieving 😉 Granted, this will not get the best results ever, but it can get you through a busy patch without vanishing entirely off the platform. I’ve written more about different ‘modes’ of using Instagram here and how you can adjust the time you spend on creating content, depending on the stage you’re at in your publishing journey.

• get clever about your content flow and repurposing content. If your priority is to publish weekly on Substack, could you break that post down into 1-2 posts for Instagram? Could you share an extract reading over a simple reel? If you’re working on your manuscript, could you post about something you’ve researched that week, a quote you’ve found useful or interesting, or a key moment from the story?

I’d also gently point out that all forms of marketing and promotion require energy and time. Other than paying someone else to do it for you, there is no easy way to do this painful, annoying, occasionally enjoyable thing of finding an audience for our work.

I guess what I’m saying is, the energy and time it takes to feel annoyed and angry about the various demands of Instagram could be used to make Instagram posts 🙈

PS. if you struggle to put time aside to make Instagram content, have you tried a body-doubling/ accountability session like the Content Create-a-longs that I host? There are quite a few out there but if you fancy joining mine, the next one is scheduled for Friday 17th May at 9.30am. You can sign up here and I’ll be sending out the link next week.

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Photo by hobijist3d on Unsplash

You say: it doesn’t matter what I post because the algorithm doesn’t like me 😞

I say: first of all, you’re right, the algorithm doesn’t like you. But that’s because the algorithm doesn’t like anyone.

What the algorithm ‘likes’ is to listen to a set of signals that tell it how valuable your content will be for Instagram’s own agenda - that is, will it keep people on the app?!

Now, that’s not your agenda. Your agenda is to reach your readers so they will get off the app to go and order your book, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ride Instagram’s coat-tails 😉

The signals Instagram’s algorithmS (there is more than one) are looking for include:

• on posts: likes, comments, saves, shares, swipes (on carousels)

• on Stories: views, dms, interactions with engagement stickers

• on Reels: watch time, number of plays, likes, comments, shares

These interactions will come from the people who are already in your audience, OR (with the recent changes Instagram has made to the algorithms) might come from new people who Instagram has determined will be interested in your content. Basically, in order to please the algorithm, you have to please your audience first!

So, do you need to quit, OR could you:

• define who your ideal reader/ audience member is, and what they’re interested in, by using the themes and ideas in your book as a guide?

• post about the themes and ideas in your book so that your posts appeal to your ideal reader? Your ideal reader will then interact with your content and the algorithm will get the signals it needs to show your content to more people.

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You say: I find my relationship with Instagram impossible to control. I pick up my phone to check the time and before I know where I am I’ve opened the app and am 10 minutes deep into a scroll-hole. HELP!

I say: trust me, I sympathise! Weirdly, the only reason I think I have Instagram (mostly) firmly in it’s place is because I’ve spent so much time using it 😆 Now, I’m not suggesting everyone should spend 7 years managing account for small businesses in order to work out your boundaries BUT perhaps there are a few things I can suggest to help you with your own usage.

Scroll down to the bottom of this piece from earlier this year…

Ways to stay sane on Instagram in 2024

… and you’ll find some of my suggestions for practical steps you can take to keep Instagram in it’s place.

Since I wrote that piece I’ve also been reading up on screen ‘addiction’ and I’ve been reassured by what I’ve read. In short: we don’t have to use our phones the way we currently are, AND we also do not need to abstain completely.

So, do you need to quit, or could you read up about how phone ‘addiction’ isn’t a real thing, BUT that our brain may be working against us in other ways. I recommend The Phone Fix: the Brain-Focused Guide to Building Healthy Digital Habits and Breaking Bad Ones by Dr Faye Begeti (@the_brain_doctor on Instagram), and I’ve also heard good things about Becca Caddy’s book, Screen Time, as well as Pete Etchells’ book, Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time and How to Spend it Better.

If you’ve reached the end of this piece and are still determined to quit Instagram, then what are you waiting for?! There is more than one way to market your work - assuming that you even want to - and there’s no point forcing yourself to use a platform that you hate! Go forth and use Substack, podcasts, traditional media, Tiktok, the-platform-formerly-known-as-Twitter or anything else you want to try. I wish you well!

If you’ve found this useful, however, I’d love you to tell me in the comments if there was any part in particular you have found useful 😊 See you soon!

Did you know, in June I’m launching my membership TooMuchInstagram, here on Substack? For more details, take a look at this post. Upgrade your subscription now as an Early Bird member to take advantage of the lowest price it will ever be. More details coming soon!

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash