Create Business Academy by Creatrix, Lauren Wallett | International Business Consultant, Celebrity Business Coach, Business Consulting for entrepreneurs, and small business owners
If you use Instagram for business, you know the energy investment it takes. I had my business Instagram account for 8 years. I even train clients on how to optimize and leverage Instagram to grow their businesses.
It can feel like a tedious investment, but I’ve sworn by its value and I have INVESTED years in it.
So when Instagram randomly disabled my account in 2021, my reaction shocked me.
Aside from organic traction, I’ve tried different growth-hack experiments over the years:
- Messenger bots
- Follower boosts
- Insta-pods
- Paid ads
The best results have always been from sharing creative content and connected engagement. But for a year now, that’s slowed right down. Still, I kept up a daily practice, posting 1 – 5 times a day!
I knew my Business Instagram was dying, so I tried a few creative revivals. I
- Redid my Insta-Style (again and again)
- Archived all my posts and…
- Started my page over
- Only did carousel posts
- Shared Reels
- Did more live videos
It was like the time I knew my marriage was over, so I spent 7k on new bedroom curtains and mantles above the fireplaces. I’ve always liked the aesthetic changes that I could control. But they’re a distraction…
I didn’t want to give up on Instagram. It had been with me for so long. I’d built up my business on it.
The thing I didn’t want to admit was that I’d fallen in love… with TikTok.
The teenagers’ app that no sane business person would be on. Except… except I sold a book 2 minutes after I posted about it, doubled my following in 2 weeks, and went viral with a new account in a week! TikTok was everything I’d always hoped Instagram would become, but didn’t.
So when I logged onto my account and got the notification: Your account has been disabled. I felt… relief.
I tried to contact support, but you can’t reference an account that no longer exists. All trace of it is GONE. So…what?
When we use social media platforms, we’re on borrowed time in someone else’s rented space. And at any second, they can take away the platform from us.
Platforms come and go and have never been the point of a creative business strategy. A creative strategy is about content creation and when you create content, you get to keep it.
I train clients in a Repurpose Strategy, so nothing they’ve created is ever wasted.
And with technology becoming easier and easier to use, quality content is also easier and easier to make!
I struggled with video production for years! I found it stressful and hard. Now I made a video before I have my morning coffee. It’s so easy, a 9-year-old could do it. That’s why they do it too…
TikTok is everything I’ve wanted but didn’t know I was ALLOWED to enjoy.
Even though I train in the way of PLAY – I still thought it had to be a little tricky. But it really doesn’t.
Instagram is dying, and I didn’t want to face it. It disabled me instead of enabled me to make easy content. And when I got the notification announcing that fact with “Your Account has been disabled” … I smiled, took a sip of my coffee, and made a TikTok 🙂
It’s not about the platform you’re on. It’s all about how you play while you’re there.
Since I lost my account, I’ve taken a few more breaks and then repurposed another Instagram account I had from one of my creative projects, so my business account is back on the gram. It’s just very small now. I have multiple Instagram accounts and swap them (their names and content), and reuse them. One I gifted to my sister, so she wasn’t starting her new account from scratch. I enjoy it as a visual archive and it’s still a great test kitchen for new concepts and ideas.
Love, Lauren
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