Making Instagram Work For Me
Growing a business in the era of the algorithm
Next year, I will have been running my @christabelbalfour Instagram account for 10 years.
If you’d asked me, back when I was an earnest 23 year old, if I thought I would still be posting on Instagram in a decade, I would have scoffed at you. In 10 years I’ll be living in the Welsh wilderness with no phone signal, I would have told you. I’ll be making art all day, and I’ll answer my emails once a week. I can only imagine my younger self’s horrified reaction if I told her I’m now running not one, but two Instagram accounts.
I think almost every maker I know has a love-hate relationship with Instagram. We stick with this app because when it works, it works. Instagram has allowed thousands, if not millions, of people to follow their dream of running their own business and making money from their creative gifts. Back in 2017, I could take a quick snapshot of what I was working on, edit it in VSCO, upload it to the grid and watch the likes stack up. I absolutely would not be where I am today, with the audience and the exposure that I currently have, without Instagram.
And yet, those of us who have come to rely on Instagram find it deeply frustrating as well. The platform has changed enormously since I first started using it in 2014. First it was stories, then it was reels, and now every week it seems they’re launching a new feature. Some days it feels like you have to jump through endless hoops to ensure your work is at all visible on the app. And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels like they spend more time making Instagram content than they do making actual art.
What’s more, it’s now much harder to pinpoint the direct impact that Instagram has on my business. It used to be that if I posted about, for example, a tapestry workshop I was teaching, I would almost immediately get several bookings. There were tangible and consistent results, which is why I kept coming back to the app every day. But now the results are much less immediate and obvious. It’s rare that I’ll post and instantly make a sale.
There’s lots of reasons for this change. The rise of TikTok has led to Instagram doubling down on reels, and pushing the dopamine hit of addictive content over thoughtful browsing. There’s been an explosion of small businesses that started during the pandemic, and the algorithm is sorting through many more options for an audience that is no longer growing at the same rate. And finally, some of this change is down to the current economic landscape. People are more cautious about spending money, and they’re more likely to wait to make big purchases, instead of clicking the link in your bio and buying straight away.
This year more than any other year, I’ve felt the strain of the algorithm’s demands. I’ve written before about how I want to spend less time on Balfour & Co and get back to making art again - but running two Instagram accounts takes up far, far too much of my time. Even though I’m not seeing the same results from this app that I used to, I’m still seeing enough of a positive effect on my business to make me want to keep using it. Much as I would love to stay true to my idealistic 23-year-old self, I have to admit that she did not know anything about the hard facts of running a business. Social media is here to stay, and right now I can’t afford to give it up.
So I knew I needed to try something different, and last month I began developing a better system for running my Instagram and ensuring that Balfour & Co grows and thrives, without it taking up my whole week every week. In today’s post, I want to share my current approach, and how I’ve managed to not only minimise the time and headspace that this app takes up, but also get even better results.