I've Been Creating Content All Wrong

Substack to the rescue!

I’ve had it all wrong this whole time.

For years I’ve been building my brand online and my platform of choice has been Instagram. I started like most people did back then, posting poorly shot pics of food and selfies with filters like Valencia and Lomo Fi to give them a little flair. When I opened up the virtual doors to my online children’s clothing store, I shifted from using Instagram to post random life pics to leveraging it as a means to market my business.

Some of my current followers will remember those early days as they were my customers back then. When I shuttered the shop and shifted into the public blogging world, Instagram was still the main focus.

It worked until it didn’t.

Today, Instagram has evolved just as much as I have. New features, new algorithm updates, it seems there’s always some tweaking happening and it hasn’t always been at the benefit of the businesses and creators that use the platform to make a living. It gets harder and harder to cut through all the noise. Mostly, I just want the people who click ‘follow’ to actually see my posts. It’s not too much to ask but Instagram makes that a tricky thing.

The biggest change happened when it decided to prioritize video over static posts. In an effort to compete with TikTok, if you posted more reels, you had a better chance of people seeing your content and maybe even going viral. They wanted you to use trending audio, post at specific times, follow trends, use the right hashtags, and more. The videos that got the most traction were shorter and hooked people in within the first few seconds. Do more of that, Instagram said, and we will reward you with views.

Consistency is also key. Anyone who takes a week or even a few days off from posting comes back to the platform to see their next piece of content fail miserably. Punishment for not feeding the algorithm with fresh, trendy content on a daily basis.

Honestly, I’ve been over it for some time now. I told a friend of mine that I was tired of jumping through all of these hoops so Instagram would show my posts to my followers. Never mind any new folks. I still work full time (I’m in the Army) and I don’t have the ability to give much energy to an Instagram strategy or content calendar or whatever the hell else. I just want to post what I want and what I think my followers will get value out of.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy being on Instagram, and I’ve got some kick ass followers but I've decided to create content on my own terms without worrying about how its going to perform. Call it an epiphany of sorts or maybe I’m just embracing something I’ve been running away from.

You see, I’ve always been a long form content kinda girl. In fact, I’ve been writing since the 5th grade and created my first website when I was about 19. It was a free member site where people could log in and post their poetry and get feedback. My second website was a blog I created in 2010. Both now defunct but they allowed me to tap into something I was really passionate about…writing.

Unfortunately, imposter syndrome and perfectionism has held me back from writing. I never felt like I could make anything of it or that anyone would want to read what I had to say. I was always afraid to fail at it. I didn’t want it to just be another thing that I started and stopped. So I focused on building my personal brand on Instagram and always kept a blog on the side, a newsletter or something to scratch the writing itch.

It wasn’t until a few months ago where I decided that instead of trying to put all of my eggs into the Instagram basket, I needed to be somewhere that would allow me to just write without the noise and interference.

So I came to Substack.

I’m not leaving Instagram but I won’t try and force myself to build a brand that is dependent on it. Instead, I’ll write here and share it there. I’ll still make content over there but, in a way that makes sense for me. I’ll probably keep my website for the SEO friendly type of blog posts but all my creative and personal writing will live here.

Problem is, Instagram wants small talk and I want to create a community that can connect over deeper conversations. I hate small talk.

If you can, consider becoming a paid subscriber. I’ve made it just $5 a month, or you can save and pay $55 for the year. It’s a very tangible way to support my writing and I plan on having content that is exclusive to paid subscribers as a way of saying thanks. If you can’t, no worries, you’ll still have access to free posts.

So, if you’re reading this still and haven’t bailed on me, I appreciate you. My writing will be a mix of my personal thoughts and opinions as well as creative writing in practice for something that’s been on my bucket list for awhile…

I’m going to write a novel…

That’s the first time I’ve put that goal out publicly and I’m slightly scared to even hit publish on this post. That makes it really real right? Once you share your big, scary dream goal with people?

Wish me luck! I’m going to need it…