Why I took an Instagram Break

Recently I took a month long hiatus from Instagram. As a self-proclaimed INSTAGRAM influencer! And while that probably sounds like a huge mistake for someone who is trying to build a platform online and to serve and connect with their ideal audience, turns out it was one of the best things I have ever done!

I mean, sometimes ya just need a break! Would have been cool if I spent it like lounging on a beach somewhere sipping on some margaritas and totally disconnecting. But given that I am way too obsessed with my blog’s success, instead I decided to focus all the time and energy I spent on Instagram on other avenues. Mainly- Pinterest and my blog!

For me, Instagram was no longer working because it was stealing so much from me. It was stealing my time, my energy, my money, my authenticity, and my self-worth just to name a few. I was living and dying by my posts’ performance. I was tying my self-worth into vanity metrics. I was agreeing to brand deals just because I figured this might be my last chance for awhile as my engagement and follower count flatlined. I was liking and commenting “OMG LOVE THAT SKIRT” on a fellow influencer’s post when in reality I hated that effing skirt, I was just hoping she would then come and like my photo back. (I had essentially turned into Regina George) And I was feeling like the more effort I put in, the less reward there was. So I decided, let’s take a step back! Because getting 250 likes on a photo should not be the reason I am falling into a spiral of self-loathing.

I had already begun this little shift over to Pinterest and my blog prior to my Instagram break and was having amazing results! It was surreal to be putting effort into something and it actually…. giving me a return on my invested time? Like what’s that like?? I had forgotten! After years of being a numbers-chasing, constantly-engaging-and-posting, glued-to-my-phone influencer on Instagram—I missed that there was a better way!

I really am writing this blog post for my fellow influencers who may be feeling stuck and wishing there was a better way. I don’t think Pinterest and blogging is the right fit or answer for everyone, but if you’re like me, it could be! Personally, I love writing. I also love online shopping and sharing my finds! I’m not trying to do a sexy dance on TikTok or Reels (I’m not sure I am even capable of that?) and I am not even sure what success on Clubhouse entails but I’m pretty sure an app that’s centered around public speaking skills ain’t for me! I also swear I originally was not in this to share my personal life nearly as much as I have, and with a baby on the way I am starting to appreciate keeping parts of my life private! I don’t need some creep-o on Instagram liking a photo of my baby.

So I am simply going to list out all the reasons I am loving the Pinterest + Blog way of life and if any of these resonate with you, I think you should also take a well-deserved Instagram break and put your effort into learning (or outsourcing!) SEO and Pinterest strategy!

Reasons I am loving Pinterest and My Blog Over Instagram:

Reason #1- Vanity metrics just don’t MATTER.

You can “like” and comment on Pins, but it’s really not the focus AT ALL on the platform. Also on Pinterest you can have 2 followers or 2 million followers and either way your content can still rank under search and bring you blog traffic and brand awareness for months or even YEARS! I don’t think I need to go over why I am over vanity metrics at this point LOL. But the absence of them / their importance is wonderful.

Reason #2- The intent of the users!

Pinterest users are literally on the hunt for inspiration and ideas, while Google users are looking for answers to a problem. Instagram users? Probably just bored, and 9 times out of 10 aren’t wanting to be sold to. They’re probably looking to be entertained more than anything. So Instagram becomes more of a how can I entertain you enough so that you actually value my content?? Where your blog can literally be the place someone came to purposefully from Pinterest for inspiration or from Google for a solution to their problem. Making them way more likely to actually find your content valuable without you having to put on some sort of show or overshare some aspect of your life to keep them entertained!

Reason #3- You own your blog. You don’t own your social media.

If your Instagram disappeared tomorrow- would that be the end of your business? That is the case for SO MANY influencers! Having your own website to house all of your content is so important because that is YOURS. You own the content. Mark Zuckerberg and co. owns your Instagram content and also fully has the right to just delete your account. Or you could get hacked (which is happening A LOT in this space) and lose everything! It’s really just never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Especially if you’re really starting to resent that basket. If you bought yourself a nice domain and website, then girl that is YOURS and you get to make the rules!

And true, this technically means that you don’t “own” your Pinterest, BUT like I mentioned before your follower count won’t keep you from being able to drive traffic to your blog, so even if you lost your Pinterest and had to start all over (hi, hello this actually happened to me!) You can totally do it and match or even surpass your previous results within a few months! (hi, yes, me again, totally did this!)

Reason #4- It’s really friggen easy.

I mean it really is TBH. Once you understand basic Pinterest strategy, it’s really easy to execute it and see results. It’s a lot less guesswork and none of that posting and praying and hoping you posted at the right time and used the right hashtags so that your post gets like 50 more likes than usual. You can just learn, execute, and then focus on creating and scheduling awesome content instead of worrying about if it will perform or not.

Reason #5- The more effort you put in = the more results you’ll see

So the thing about your blog is that you could post 9 blog posts per day and nobody is going to stop you or flag you for spam or get sick of you constantly posting because it’s not like Instagram where you’re pretty much stuck to 1 feed post per day (maybe 2 ) before your audience is gonna be like OK enough and the algorithm starts limiting your reach. Now 9 blog posts in a day is really extreme and I don’t actually recommend that, but 9 Pinterest Pins in a day? YUP. Not a problem. You can post 50 per day if you want (per Pinterest!). And because Pinterest is more like a constant stream of inspiration and you’ll show up in different places for different pins instead of just mainly for your followers, it works! You get discovered by more people and not just any people—people who are actually interested in your content!

SO with all that said, if you’re at all interested in getting started with or growing your existing Pinterest, I created a free guide that goes through just how to do that for influencers! I wanted to create something that broke it all down and explained Pinterest in a way that makes it much less overwhelming to get started, and makes it clear on how to get started with growing on the platform! I’m tellin ya, it’s worth the initial time investment to set it all up correctly.

I hope this post was helpful for anyone feeling stuck in their blogging journey or looking for a way to get started with Pinterest! It can be such a great fit for someone who doesn’t necessarily feel like they fit the typical mold of an Instagram influencer or who is sick of the comparison trap, vanity metrics, and constant oversharing and giving up so much just for a few extra likes!

If you ever have any questions or want to chat blogging tips—feel free to shoot me a DM over on the gram (at least it’s an easy place to chat LOL!) over at @champagneandsavings! Or shoot me an email at champagneandsavings@gmail.com.

Happy blogging!