I've always loved hashtags on Instagram as a way to increase your visibility to like-minded people, and as a way to discover new accounts that I'd like to follow and engage with. I even wrote one of my best performing posts on my favourite Instagram hashtags which I know have worked really well for me. But I've been looking at my analytics in the last couple of weeks and have seen a change in how hashtags are performing. These days my views on a post through hashtags are ranging between 3 and 13, but definitely trending towards the lower end, which is staggeringly poor. In fact, I've experimented with not using them at all, and have seen no difference in ...

A while back I wrote about how I'd fallen out of love with Instagram. I know I wasn't alone in that - the algorithm changes and the follow/unfollow culture meant that so many people were becoming disillusioned with the platform. I'd found my follower numbers plummeting and I wasn't picking up any new followers either, so the whole thing started to become very depressing. But lately I've been feeling the love again, and I put that down to a number of ways in which I've changed my approach.   Relaxing my approach to what I post I admit it - I got caught up in all the advice to only post your 'best' photos. I'd ponder over whether a photo was instagram worthy, ...

Of all the social media platforms, Instagram has long been my favourite. I love documenting those little snippets from our daily lives and capturing our family as it grows. I love the positive vibe it has, the supportive community that I've found there, and the connections and friendships I've forged with other Instagrammers. But recently I've fallen out of love with it all and I'm not entirely sure why.   Yet another algorithm change... There's no doubt that Instagram has changed the algorithm yet again - I'm not seeing my favourites in my feed and I'm having to remember to head over to their accounts to see their recent posts. Even those that I have notifications set up for I'm missing, as the ...

I don't profess to be an expert on Instagram by any means. But it's fast become my favourite social media platform, my 'happy place', and I'm really pleased to have built a following of over 2000 followers from scratch in a year. It's perhaps not a hugely impressive figure compared to accounts with over 10K, but it's one that is very achievable for someone starting out. Of course, it goes without saying that follower numbers aren't the be all and end all, but if you're serious about using your Instagram account as a business, then a large follower count is a huge part of why a brand would want to work with you, as well as factoring into things like your Tots100 and Klout ...