Ditch the algorithm and be free!

Do you have a specific day you post on Instagram? How about a specific time? I remember for the longest time I only posted in the evenings between 7:30pm and 9pm, because I believed that's when people would be home and on their phones. I was such a strong believer of this theory that when I went abroad for a while and wanted to post, I would convert the time to make sure I would still be posting between 7:30pm and 9pm Kenyan time. All these to stay within the algorithm and get the engagement I was hoping for. Did it work, you may wonder? Yes...but it came with it's own baggage. Welcome to today's post dancer friends!

The thing with the algorithm is that keeps changing, and without any warning. One day you go from posting in the evenings, to posting in the evenings at a specific time, to posting specific content at a specific time in the evenings. Before you know it, you're doing TikTok dance challenges you barley like in the name of engagement. The craziest- almost frustrating- thing I have experienced is getting a lot of engagement in content that I have "carelessly" posted, and getting half of that engagement when it comes to wholesome carefully curated content. It's all a "game"with a set of unwritten rules that eventually becomes exhausting to stay up-to date with. Instead of the algorithm working for us as it should, we end up working for it.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to get engagement, discover your fan base, and know that people out there connect with what you put out. So how do we make the algorithm work for us? We make it work for us by being authentic. When we are truly authentic, we discover, or rather are discovered by our true fans, and they in turn are able to engage with our work regardless of the day, time, and the kind of content we post. The beautiful thing about the algorithm and social media is that it brings together people with similar interests. So yes, your engagement might not be as high because your kind of content isn't what is trending, but your wholesome curated work is being received by people who get it...that to me is a great deal. As we part ways dancer friend, I leave you with these wise words from Aimee Mcnee that best summarizes this..., "You will never 'figure out' the algorithm. Stop wasting your precious energy on it and create what feels good and aligned."

Keep creating & sharing!

~Your dancer friend