Number one rule: Don’t give a fuck. I mean I’m kinda kidding, but not really. Ya know.. Instagram can suck you in DEEEEEEP. Like reeeeaaaaal deep. You go on thinking I’ll just scroll for a few minutes, see what everyone is up to and then like 5 hours later you’re still scrolling and you find yourself either 1. Super inspired to recreate like 500 photos with your kids 2. You’ve found yourself following 50 new adorable small shops that will now take all your money, or 3. Feeling super bad for being on instagram for so long scrolling and liking pictures of people you love to follow but don’t actually know, when you could of been spending all that quality time with your family or playing with your kiddos or cleaning and Marie Kondo-ing your entire house, or GOING TO BED! Don’t tell me you’ve never found yourself in one or all of these scenerios. I know I have, not always, but I have been that person.

Honestly, finding joy in instagram for me has been about building connections. Using that space as a creative outlet, a place to post pictures of my cute kids, and create content. I’ve taken a step back on my blog recently because I’ve got soo many things I want to accomplish but I just can’t get it all done. That’s besides the point. Finding joy while scrolling the gram.. follow accounts you truly love and are inspired by. Don’t play the follow unfollow game. Engage, interact, comment, like each others photos. It's not a freaking competition, although it seems that way sometimes. Cheer each other on! It’s all about building connections, finding your niche, and sharing what you love. That’s the most important part is sharing what brings you joy, not what you think others will like. That will get you nowhere, other than feeling like a loser when you your post doesn’t do as well as you’d like.

How to Grow

The question everyone asks when they’re just starting out and wanting to “grow” on instagram. It’s hard. Let me tell you. And this is where those feelings of not good enough, why don’t they like my picture, yadda yadda yadda come into play. Here’s what I know about growing on the gram. Create content that people can relate to, that people find pretty, but most importantly what YOU love. When you create content that you love, that shines through and makes you “authentic”. I use quotations because that word gets thrown out a lot in this space. Being authentic. It really comes down to just being you.

Other ways to grow. Build connections. Support other women, moms, accounts on IG that inspire you. Support small shops and share the brands that you love, not what everyone else loves or you think you need to love because everyone has it. The key to getting “featured” on a shops page is to obviously tag them, but also be sure you are showcasing their product. If you want to collaborate with a company, small shop, certain brand, believe me when I tell you it helps if you are already supporting them. Have already bought their products and love them and then want to continue that partnership with a collaboration or discount code for your followers. They will appreciate that and that is called being AUTHENTIC. Sharing brands that you love with your following because you love it too, not just because your getting a free product or getting paid.

Lastly, I will say that giveaways with large amounts of following will help! Putting together a giveaway with large accounts will get you soo much exposure. Loop giveaways will for sure give you a boost, but you can’t always count on those followers staying. Most, probably half will drop off because they entered the giveaway just for the chance to win and then they go unfollow the accounts they don’t really care about. lol Anyways, I feel it’s best to put together giveaways with brands that you truly love and other accounts that you truly love because that will you get you the most authentic following. That will help you build connections and truly keep the joy in your instagram.

Lots of rambling, but I thought I might add that in 5 maybe 10 years when instagram isn’t a thing anymore.. will you be grateful for all your time spent on here or will you regret it. Something I keep asking myself daily to keep me in tune with my actual life, my babies and my family.

Thanks for stopping by,

Mari