Creatives and small business owners are all feeling the pinch of the algorithm lately. We’re getting fewer likes, little to no comments, and our follower counts aren’t going up. What to do?

3 Ways to Beat the Instagram Algorithm:

1. Give yourself permission to not care about the algorithm.

2. We are in month 7 of a completely mishandled pandemic and most of us are managing daily (hourly) feelings of grief, depression and anxiety.

3. Our President gave himself a motorcade parade for having COVID.

By the power vested in me by 6 years of professional social media, I now grant you permission to absolutely not give a fuck about the algorithm.

A few times a year these cute Canva carousel posts start showing up about how to beat the algorithm. They are rarely created or posted by anyone who works in social media, yet they are widely shared. Listen, if you think in the year of our Lord Beyonce 2020 that any of us can “beat” something Mark Zuckerberg controls, well, I have very sad news for you.

Nothing has changed. You can’t “beat” the algorithm, but you can:

• Post consistently - 3x/week is enough.

• Like, comment on, save, and share other people’s posts.

• Geotag your posts and your stories.

• Use 6-11 (ish) DIFFERENT hashtags on each post.

• Document, don’t “create”. Just show us what you’re doing. Don’t overthink it.

• A graphic made in Canva will never get as many likes as a photo of a human or a pet.

You can totally do this. But also? You don’t have to. Everything is on fire and you have my permission to put social media on the back burner until 2024 when we can maybe, possibly start to resume normal life again.

Don’t forget, take your Instagram audience to something you own. Do you have a website? A blog? An Etsy shop? A newsletter? Move your people to something you control. I feel like we’re all about a day away from deleting all of these apps off of our phones. Make sure that A) you can reach everyone when you throw your phone in the ocean; and B) they can find YOU. Start reminding people that you don’t just live on Instagram.

America is in a live simulation of a hellscape. I am leaning on my therapist HARD. There is nothing wrong with needing extra help right now. Take care of yourself. If you need to delete Instagram, delete Instagram. But start a newsletter first.

P.S. If you’d like to help offset the cost of therapy for Black and non-Black women of color, please consider making a donation to Therapy for Black Girls and The Loveland Foundation.