Is Instagram DEAD for Influencers?

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Instagram has been getting a bad rep recently!

If you’re a part of the blogger/influencer world - you’ll notice lots of talk about the Instagram Algorithm. Usually influencers are not speaking about it in a positive light. People are complaining about stunted reach, being action-blocked, and being “punished” by the algorithm.

I see more and more instances where people are begging their followers for engagement on their most recent posts. I’m seeing more of my blogger friends quit or take extended breaks from Instagram because the comparison, poor performance, and negativity is just getting to be too much for their mental health.

Everyone likes to talk about “the good old days” when reach was higher and people were getting so much more engagement on their posts. So what changed? A lot honestly.

Is Instagram DEAD for Influencers?

It’s not dead for all, but it is for some! Probably the number one thing that is stunting everyone’s reach is that there are WAY MORE influencers on the platform than there ever was before. Competition is STIFF. Everyone’s a blogger these days! And their platform of choice? Instagram! Which isn’t a bad thing, it just means that you’re not going to be able to get the reach you’re hoping for organically. AKA for free.

How to Improve Your Reach

You can pay to fluff your numbers (buying likes, followers, etc). But that won’t fool the algorithm. The second you stop paying, your likes will go down along with your follower count. So that’s out. Also it doesn’t accomplish much in the way of ACTUALLY connecting with real people. Which if that isn’t your goal, then it’s just to appear well-liked and successful and you might be a narcissist? Look into it.

But most influencers I come across are creative, wonderful humans who just want to share, inspire, and yes- make money doing what they are passionate about! Is that such a crime? If you’re working hard and providing value, I don’t see any issue with that. But I digress.

Another approach? Giveaways! Those must work! And they do sometimes! But you don’t always get followers who are following you because they actually like YOU or are interested in your content. Which can mess with that dreaded algorithm. If someone is only following you because they wanted to win a prize, they’re likely not going to interact with your content. So when it pops up on their feed they’re just gonna scroll right past. That tells the algorithm your content is “no good” (spoiler alert, it’s great and you’re awesome), so it shows it to less people, and your engagement will suffer. But hey at least you have 200 more followers!

Okay so not loving that approach- what else ya got?

RUNNING ADS. Yes, it appears Instagram has got you cornered. Ads work. You can really target who it is you want to see your content! Which is far better than a bunch of people who are only following you to win a Target a gift card or fake likes and follows from bots (they’re not exactly going to purchase from your affiliate links LOL)

So sure you can run ads if that’s something you want to invest your money in. It’s the only way to really see quick, targeted success. But I would guess there is a strategy involved and if you don’t hire someone to do it you’ll be guessing a lot in the beginning and throwing a lot of money out the window. So it could get pricey! And it’s not like it’s a one-time payment. You pay DAILY to run ads.

The FREE and better approach

Use other, less saturated platforms and share your content and find your followers THERE.

If you’re hell-bent on Instagram growth for free then direct the people who discover you through these other platforms over to your Instagram! Or you can just enjoy your success on the other platform(s) if it’s working for you! Instagram isn’t the be-all, end-all.

So what are these platforms?

TikTok, Linkedin, Pinterest, and your ACTUAL BLOG.

I would love to tell you that I’m an expert at TikTok and Linkedin strategy but I am not. I’m also not sure that Linkedin is great for an influencer who isn’t in a more professional niche like finance, the medical field, etc. TikTok is awesome if quick, attention-grabbing videos are your strength! And honestly you can stop reading here because GO CREATE VIDEOS RIGHT NOW if that’s the case for you! Now is your time to shine because you can get amazing organic reach on TikTok! You don’t need my help (well- mainly because I have no help to offer in the TikTok department).

Ok so where does that leave the rest of us? You know, those of us who aren’t so great at TikTok videos or don’t exactly WANT to use video as our main content form?

Pinterest and your blog!

These two together are a WINNING combination! But if you don’t have a blog and don’t want one then yes, of course you can substitute your Instagram instead! Either way Pinterest is where we are going to find all those followers FOR FREE and way easier than we would trying to hack it on Instagram alone!

Why Pinterest?

Your content does not have to be limited by the constraints of one app! You can repurpose it and use it across many platforms! So it’s not like you have to make any major changes to the type of content you want to share or even do that much extra work if you want to broaden your horizons beyond Instagram and over onto Pinterest! And if your audience falls under the category of a female aged 18-49 living in the US with a high income- guess what? That’s the majority of Pinterest users!

The competition over on Pinterest is way less than on Instagram. Also, it’s actually more of a search engine, but not an overly complex one like Google. So once you know the basics of Pinterest strategy, it’s really easy to get the traffic you’re looking for. And the best part? Those vanity metrics like follower count, likes, comments, etc— they don’t matter there! You can have 2 followers and get more reach than someone who has thousands. (It’s that search engine aspect!)

Once I started to really appreciate the power of Pinterest for driving traffic to my blog and dedicating my time and resources into Pinterest strategy—the game changed for me! Mentally, I feel so much better about Instagram. My Instagram engagement has plummeted and it no longer stresses me out! I know that my Pinterest/blog combo is a well-oiled machine that keeps growing and bringing me the success that quite honestly Instagram never really did! I now view Instagram as a fun place to connect with people and share my content and any bonuses like sales or brands that want to pay for sponsored content are great but they’re simply a bonus! Not what I RELY on to tell me how successful I am or gage if my content is “good enough”. And certainly not what I rely on for income!

I feel so strongly that Pinterest can help influencers see the success they’ve been longing for that I decided to create a free guide on how to set your Pinterest up for success! I take you through step-by-step and explain why Pinterest works, and how to get it to work for you! I teach you how to set up your account the RIGHT way and then how to grow once your account is set up!

Sound good? Grab your free copy below!!