Leaving Instagram To Grow My Business, A Path to a Sustainable Marketing

In this article I share about my path on building a more sustainable marketing strategy that doesn’t rely solely on Instagram, I know this is not for all and I honestly I enjoy using Instagram, however it is no longer a necessity for marketing my business. Here is my story on how leaving instagram helped me shaped a more sustainable marketing strategy for Hello CoCreator.

The beginnings of Hello Cocreator

Before launching HelloCoCreator I was using my personal Instagram to share my photography, writing, visual art, yoga goals and basically using the platform as a form of expression of what I enjoyed doing at the time. When I launched Hello CoCreator back in 2020 in Panama, I gathered everything I have mastered and practiced over the years from: content creation, designing, photographing and experience working in creative projects to build one main project that turned into a business offering brand services and programs.

Like many other small business owners I was lost at the beginning from changing offers, feeling inadequate, having good months in sales, to 0 sales in a month. I hired a coach to help me grow in sales, and I was determined to make my business succeed… that’s where it all started, to grow my business I had to be on Instagram.

Using my Personal Instagram to promote my business

I decided to use my personal Instagram, following the guide of the coach I hired at that time, I was doing IG stories everyday teaching about branding and other topics for wellness and holistic entrepreneurs, I was consistent;  I used to prepare my topics beforehand, and every morning I was standing in front of my tripod ready to speak, people will engage with my content and immediately send a DM to ask me for my services or programs, some days I used to receive 10-15 DMs a day even on weekends, which I replied quickly, I was scheduling constant ‘discovery calls’ which helped me better understand my client needs at the time, this was a great period for doing market research.

Additionally to promote my offerings and creating educational content in the form of video, I had to also show parts of my life (following the guide of my coach) which I enjoyed sharing at the time, such us my travels, morning routines, ‘a day in my life’, events I was going to, food that I was preparing or restaurants meals, of course everything was very aesthetically curated and branded, it felt fun… however sooner than later I started feeling that something was off…

The Instagram fiasco 

During 2022 I remember 3 things that made me realize that I had to make a big change about how I was using Instagram, here are I share the 3:

–  I was going on a weekend trip in the jungle in Panama, I should have known that the internet connection was non-existent… and just before arriving at our destination I received a DM from someone who was interested in one of my programs, I had to reply quickly of course, and then suddenly ‘boom’ No Connection… we were in the jungle of course, I experienced anxiety feelings knowing that I wasn’t able to answer my DM’s quickly “I am going to lose that sale!” that’s all my mind was thinking, my day was ruined and I was left feeling guilty for not enjoying my time with my partner, and also for not having a different process for running my business… This scenario happened many times, ruining many of my weekends.

– I remember my boyfriend told me once, “you only smile only at the camera nowadays…it’s like you are a different person on your phone than in real life” of course I didn’t agree at that time… but eventually I noticed how I was being so unaligned with how I was feeling and who I was portraying in my videos… it wasn’t real, I had become some kind of avatar, it felt exhausting and I started to not enjoy the process of how I was marketing my business on Instagram…

– Around the end of 2021 I was going through a tough period while trying to get pregnant, my process to become a mother was long and many times it was heartbreaking… the last thing I wanted was to be on Instagram Storys showing my perfect matcha-journaling routine and speak to the camera… No, all I wanted was to rest and take care more of myself and my nutrition… 

I knew I had to make a change, a big one.

A more balanced marketing strategy

The change that I was envisioning, it was not “a pause for Instagram” as many other did, taking a pause will just mean putting a band aid… eventually I will come back to the same circle of never-ending researching ‘what to post next’… and pretending I was ok by non replying DMs on time, No… I needed a whole new way of re-designing how marketing was done in my business… 

This process took several months. I had to silence every guru, expert or guide in business… The truth is nobody can tell you what is the right way to run your business, everyone goes through different life situations  that are going to shape how you manage your business, so I only relied on my own experience and intuition this time…

I sat and thought how do I want my marketing to look like? How do I imagine receiving clients? And how is my ideal usage on Instagram?

The answer was simple: my marketing should not depend on Instagram. Period

So I gathered all the ideas I had and started working slowly to make it happen, 

Here are the 3 main strategies I have worked on:  

– Referrals (20%)

– Make partnership with larger business who have greater power to promote my business (40%)

– And my favorite of all: SEO (40%)

Yes, implementing SEO in my website has helped my business show on google, some of my keywords are in the 1st page on google, and if you asked me, this is the type of content that lasts and the visibility of it does not depend on the recency of the post…

I have seen other entrepreneurs hiring a virtual assistant to answer their DMs, which it’s great as you create more space for you to focus on other things, however for me that didn’t work at the time, I did hire a virtual assistant for 2 years, but to help me grow my blog and pinterest traffic

Enjoying Social Media in a different way

My marketing is not perfect, some months are really good and some none, I am still learning, and some days I create content on Instagram for @hellococreator account, I haven’t abandon it of course, but it is completely different now,

Some things than bring me peace now:

– Not having to post on my stories constant testimonials and whatsapp screenshots of my clients *lol*

– Sharing my surreal photography on my instagram (I still dream someday becoming a Digital Artist) but honestly I have no idea how that world works, so I just enjoy discovering other artist doing the same.

– Posting content about humanitarian topics that I support , that in the past I could never because it was not ‘on brand’

– I enjoy posting my yoga videos and dancing progress 🙂

– I enjoy my un-aesthetic coffee in my messy table filled with baby toys and bottles from my daughter 🙂

and honestly just having more time for myself…

Conclusions:

My intent with this post is not to convince you to quit Instagram, but sharing my experience that might relate with yours in some way and might spark some ideas for you, and here I am sharing my story.

Using Instagram to study your audience is definitely important. In my experience, it is a great way to get a direct connection to understand what your audience needs (of course if you are certain your audience is on Instagram) but there is more of course…

The question to ask is, is it sustainable? or how do I make it sustainable for myself?

Thank you for reading and hope to have sparked some ideas for you.

Ingrid