If You’re Sick of Instagram, Read This

As we step into 2022 (which is absolutely BANANA LAND), I had to drop in and share my feelings on social media. I do this almost every year and one thing remains the same: it’s always changing.

See what I did there?? Word play is fun.

If you’re a small business owner, you can’t really escape social media; it’s an important piece of the marketing puzzle. I run my own consulting business and most of my clients find me via word of mouth or Instagram/LinkedIn. Yea, LinkedIn. I was shocked too.

It got me thinking, if I didn’t have an Instagram page, would I have been able to get this off the ground? Would I have been able to prove my capabilities? I don’t know, probably? But it would have been a lot harder.

I am very aware of the success that Instagram has brought me, but I’m also aware of the stress. And frankly, I’d like to suggest a mindset shift for 2022: don’t prioritize Instagram growth over personal growth.

Don’t get me wrong, I care about social media. But I care WAY more about how I’m ACTUALLY serving my community, clients, and friends (online and offline). That’s honestly where the reward comes. Because let me tell you, the reward does NOT come from Instagram likes for me. It comes from people telling me my posts helped them through a tough time, my Lightroom Presets made their photos better, or their family loved my restaurant recommendation for their first trip to NYC.

Those are the things that push me forward on the days when I want to crawl in bed and scream into a pillow. Those days are going to happen, especially as an entrepreneur, but you can make them WORTH IT. You can still be fulfilled when you’re stressed out. Knowing my work genuinely helps people makes a big difference, and it NEVER translates to “likes” on an Instagram post. Ever.

In fact, take a moment and do this. Try to write down every Instagram post you liked this week. Actually, fuck that. Try JUST TODAY. Do you even REMEMBER any of them?? Maybe you remember one or two, but chances are you went through your feed, scrolling mindlessly and liking a few things along the way. It’s VERY hard to leave an impression that way, and the fact that we are expected to is truly mindfuck magic at it’s finest.

If you are able to capture someone’s attention mid-scroll, congrats. Because that is honestly quite a feat. This is where TikTok truly impresses me. You have all of 2 seconds to grab someone’s attention. Seriously. I am still finding my “thing” with TikTok but I’ve made a few funny ones…

When I have the time, I like to play with it and I think it can be a GREAT marketing tool if you use it regularly. That said, don’t forget that a BIG part of social media success is experimenting and TikTok is ALL about that – finding what works and what doesn’t.

A lot of times we don’t allow ourselves the time to really experiment because we’re conditioned to respond ONLY to instant gratification. Tricky tricky. You have to get creative, be patient, and most importantly, you need to know who you’re talking to.

So here I am, talking to you: a fellow misfit creative. Someone who probably feels a little overwhelmed and lost in the sea of social media. If you work for yourself, are trying to make your side hustle into a career, or struggle with building the confidence to just be your damn self, I know how hard it is to do that alone. And I’m here to tell you that you are NOT alone.

I often feel very isolated because I don’t have “coworkers” and most friends can’t relate to what I do, so that’s why I’m excited to start this virtual community. Working title: The Land of Misfit Creatives (LMC, for short).

I’m doing what I do best and putting it out there, while also giving you guys an outlet to share your thoughts/struggles. I’ll be sending out a weekly newsletter, have a series of blog posts, and resources for all of you. Imposter syndrome, loss and grief, finding your joy, starting a business, anxiety…all going to be covered. And of course, some food chit chat. Because Misfit Creatives are multi-passionate and one of the things we are passionate about is eating. 🙂

SO! Sign up for my newsletter (should be on the sidebar here) and you’ll get all the goodies I’m planning, straight to your inbox.

See you there, misfits!