A little background – IG is my life when it comes to business/marketing. I also receive a lot of joy from scrolling through my feed and interacting with you. 

As a single human being with limited time, I made choices about how to prioritize where I spent my efforts. In short, IG “growth” was not a focus for the last 6 months. 

The consistency and frequency of my posts decreased. And in mid-April, I experienced this HUGE dip in engagement that seemed to happen overnight.

I wrote an article a while back on How to Grow your IG, and honestly, I wasn’t really doing all of these things. I can see that really clearly at where I sit today (end of June 2020), but mid-April, I was frustrated. 

So I did the only thing I felt was right. In the middle of a pandemic, I decided to quit IG cold turkey for 4 days as some kind of “reset”.  4 days is LONG for someone who hasn’t been without IG for the last 8 years. For someone who depends on it for business and virtual interaction. So here are my very honest thoughts and takeaways summarized in this video:

In retrospect, the IG algorithm *probably* takes a while to go into effect, so my dip was the result of concurrent actions over the last few months. Makes sense. Puts accountability back into my court which is actually a good thing!

By the time I’m writing this at the end of June 2020– here’s what’s up:

• My engagement in my posts are back up!! I’m trying to post 2-3 times a week instead of 1-2.
• My story engagement is still kinda shitty, but I think that’s also within my control, so consistency, frequency, interest all has to do with it and I simply haven’t made enough effort on this front
• Working for someone else is WAY easier than working for yourself.
• I turned off notifications for ALL my social media AND email channels– this is HUUUUUUGE. It gave me more focus back into my life and I was (am) more productive as a result.
• Mental health- I don’t know you guys. I didn’t feel any less anxious. Maybe more anxious because I wasn’t marketing for my business and not hitting revenue goals. It was stressful. I thought I’d be recharged from it but was not… it was a very temporary relief that I wasn’t “checking something” all the time, but I’d rather be back to it… 
• I want to grow my email list. If you’re interested in being notified about new content or shop product, please sign up for our email list HERE. 
• I’m still in a creative slump. It’s been a weird few months with COVID-19 and the social movements across the US (and humanitarian challenges around the world!) have affected me. I’m not able to really force myself back into a better place so I’m going to do my best. 

I hope this post gives you perspective and helps you in some way on your journey. Life is a game of give and take– and in the next six months, I’d love to “take” my IG back (higher engagement, NOT follower count)  Have you ever taken a cold turkey social media break? Did you feel rejuvenated after, or was it not helpful?

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