8 Instagram Truths To Make You Feel A Bit Less Cr*p
or at the very least, put to bed some myths about the platform 📸
Are you the only one with rubbish Story views? Answer: No, you’d be surprised how common this is.
Is buying followers still a thing? Answer: Urgh, yes! I wish it wasn’t.
Is there such a thing as posting at the wrong time? Answer: Not really.
After 10 years as a social media manager, I’ve spent a lot of time with Instagram. More than I (or my screen time 🫠) would like.
And so today I thought I’d share a few Insta home truths with you. Truths that’ll hopefully shed some light on questions you’ve been asking yourself…
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1. A low number of likes does NOT = a bad post
I haven’t tracked my clients’ ‘likes’ for years. Why? Because they’re a passive form of engagement. Someone double-tapping an image doesn’t mean it’s really resonated with them. It doesn’t mean they care.
A comment, on the other hand? A save? Those are active forms of engagement that really matter. If a post has stopped someone mindlessly scrolling and encouraged them to—shock!—use their fingers and thumbs to type out a comment, that’s a big deal! We should look closely at the format of the post, the style, the topic, and try to replicate this in the future.
Same goes for saves, follows, and website taps. Engagments that are invisible to everyone else but you (and therefore engagements that we often overlook). It really really really doesn’t matter if a post gets a low number of likes, when the saves and website taps are in the high double (sometimes triple!) figures.
2. Lots of people STILL buy followers
Thanks to my work with the British Insitute of Interior Design*, I’ve ended up working closely with several interior designers over the last few years.
One of the things this has highlighted to me—though it’s by no means limited to this industry—is just how many people still buy followers.
All you have to do is scroll through an account’s followers (you’ll see hundreds of accounts with strange handles/no avatar/unusual photo for avatar) or look at the engagement they get on recent posts. It’s virtually non-existent. And yes, it really is still happening!
*I host regular workshops with the BIID. My next one is an intimate Instagram audit workshop. If you work in interior design (or a related field) come along! I’m giving bespoke feedback on everyone’s accounts.
3. Success is not linear
Here’s the thing about growth on Instagram—it does get easier. Leverage your insights and apply tactics that have worked on the platform for years (see more here) like video and posting consistently and you will gain momentum, followers will come more easily and engagement will remain relatively stable.
But like everything in life, there will be some days (or weeks) where your engagement takes a hit for whatever reason. A post won’t perform as well as expected. This is normal. Every business owner and content creator will go through these ups and downs (even the biggies—I’ve seen it happen!).
The key to longevity on a platform like Instagram is not to get bogged down in the success of individual posts but to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Look at the last 90 days and see what’s worked, what hasn’t, and pivot slightly to do more of the good stuff. And most important of all—keep going.
4. Organic growth is slow
For 90% of us, growth will be slow. Particularly in the beginning.
There’s usually a tipping point around the 5k follower mark where growth and engagement gets much easier. Certainly easier than the first 5k followers! But unless you’re willing to be very consistent (post 3x per week) and lean into video (Reels), growth will be even slower.
And remember: if you’re looking around at other accounts—especially bigger ones—in your niche, wondering how they’re having so much success, don’t forget all the stuff that might be going on behind the scenes. Things like paid ads and a team to help with engagement make a big difference to how quickly (or not) an account grows.
5. Being an engaged user makes a huge difference
Most Instagram users do not proactively engage. Instead, they passively scroll—double-tapping a post here and commenting ‘love this!’ there. And they mostly do this on content from their friends, family, and peers.
There’s nothing wrong with this if you’re using Instagram for fun. But if you want to grow the reach and engagement of your account/business/profile, just posting great content and not digitally “networking” (aka commenting and messaging with considered thoughts and questions) will make that growth a lot harder and a lot slower.
6. You haven’t misplaced the ‘Guide To Guaranteed Insta Success’
Sometimes a post I’m SURE will do well—won’t. And the one I put together in 5 minutes, takes off. That’s after 10 years of doing this job.
Strategy works. It’s essential. But ultimately, everyone’s audience is different and therefore responds differently to content. (+ sometimes, content just tanks!)
So while there’s no Manual To Guaranteed Instagram Success, there is plenty of advice (not to mention other content to analyse) to help you get there.
For starters—really understand your audience and their pain points/desires, then study your competitors to see what they’re doing well and—more importantly—what they’re not. Last but not least, get to grips with creating Reels (and creating them well) as they’re the best way to grow on the platform.
7. Story views can be terrible (even on very popular accounts)
I manage a couple of big Instagram accounts—I’m talking 40-80k+ followers with really great engagement rates (on their grid content) and you know what?
The Story views aren’t what you’d expect. For example, an account I manage that has 85,000 followers usually has around 1,500 Story views. That’s just 1.76% of their audience seeing their Stories!
I think this is because there was no real strategy used on Stories before I took over the account and that’s had a long-lasting impact. Fortunately, it doesn’t impact my client’s sales or Instagram engagement rate generally (which is fantastic).
8. The time you post doesn’t matter (just be consistent with it)
Okay, so this is half true. If you’re in the UK and the majority of your customers are based in Hong Kong, you probably don't want to post each evening at 6pm—aka 1am for them. That’s not ideal.
But for most of us, the best time to post is the time we can stick to consistently. If that’s every morning at 7am, great. If that's every evening at 8pm, fabulous.
Generally speaking, mornings, lunchtimes, and evenings are when people are most active online but truthfully… most of us are dipping in and out of Instagram most of the day. So review your diary, choose a time to post, and stick to it.
👋 Your turn!
Got any more burning Instagram questions?
I’d love to hear them (or any other thoughts you have about the platform for that matter!).
As a regular user of Instagram since 2016, I agree wholeheartedly with all your points here. Organic growth is definitely slow - for me, zero to 4,170 in eight years - but this feels far more authentic and sustainable. I still very much enjoy Instagram, but I have had to build a slower and gentler relationship with the app over the years. I am in control, not the app.
Great read, I pulled away from instagram but need to re-engage with it and others, this is the push I needed. Potential clients of mine really do use it as a digital store front and I’ve had feedback that they were worried I wasn’t working anymore since my feed was rarely updated 😳