If you’re in the “industry” and benefited a lot from Instagram for your business, what would happen if this platform suddenly disappeared? What would become of all your hard work and countless hours you invested in it? If Instagram vanishes, then the same will happen to Facebook as well. Think about it!
We are living in a time when a lot of value from brands is placed on Instagram appearance. But is our value defined what we post on Instagram? The psychology of our society has cultivated a dangerous obsession to have an outward approval by others. This has become a sensitive topic nowadays, and I often hear how much social media damages mental health, to which my response is something I will save for another article.
People ask me: “So for how long you want to blog?”, my answer is “I don’t know yet.” One thing I am sure about is that I will not stop soon, but surely I am thinking about to create something different in this field. Chapeau, to all bloggers or influencers who are starting a new business, brand, or creating something completely different. It’s important to remember those who put individuality, authenticity and the quality into their brand and business.
So the question is, what would you do if Instagram disappears? While we are living in the “social media bubble” I feel it’s important to discuss and share what I feel and see happening. In this post, I want to consider few other ways that could still maintain a successful influencer business even without an Instagram account in hopes that this post gives you some ideas on how to expand your business.
Post your content on other platforms
For me, what I share on my blog has more value than what I post on Instagram. Why? Because I spend hours, days, even weeks on a piece of content and it can never be compared to an Instagram post. Therefore it’s important to have a website at first place. Then I would suggest you to use other channels such as Youtube for more exposure, Pinterest to grow traffic on your website, Twitter for networking where you can expand the reach of your campaigns, Vero – the true social, which is a new app abd currently in beta. They promise offering an ad-free social media platform that lets you share and view content chronologically and organized by the type of content you share. Also something for the fashionistas, the 21 Buttons which enables you to earn money for sharing your outfits and looks.
Real-Life-Networking
If you don’t have Instagram one day, how will you continue the engagement you got on the platform in real life? As more of our social life moves online, it seems like the real-life-networking is becoming less meaningful. One of my favorite part of being in this “industry” is that throughout the years, I often make incredible new connections that blossom naturally. To build meaningful connections with people, your intentions must be real. No one likes an attention seeker or asocial climber. Never try to get in touch with someone just because they have a huge Instagram following, or because you’re looking for personal achievements of some sort. The most important thing is to connect with people who genuinely inspire you, whether it’s work, they motivate you, or you have true connections to become friends.
In-person events help to bring people closer together and are a really great way to further your relationship with your followers. The best way to have real-life-networking is to organize personal events. Think about hosting in-person events across the country, where you can gather your connections together. You can bring new ideas and discuss actively with people, networking with different groups of businesses or pop-up shop events.
Start your business and create your own brand
Sometimes if something doesn’t work forces you to make decisions that push you to do even more creative things. Let’s say you wanted to start a business selling your own clothing line, working as a photographer, be a makeup artist etc., instead of creating Instagram content, you would invest your time and focus on launching your business. Starting a small business also helps you to be in touch with people face-to-face, as well as to give back to the community that has supported you. A small business could be interesting to use the work your love to do, and to make a difference.
Photography (c) Gaya
*Disclosure: This post is not sponsored.
