• Again, I think we've answered something similar in the past. This is your feed, I think you have to first ask yourself, "Why am I doing this? Am I doing it because I want to grow and I want to get a lot of followers, or am I doing it because I enjoy it?"

    I think that if you follow only what your audience responds to, I think you quickly will grow to hate your Instagram account. I remember talking with a huge influencer years ago, and she was saying how she hated the persona that she had created on Instagram. Her account was so big, it was in the millions of followers. That she couldn't exit from that persona, and so she felt like there was two versions of her. The version of her on her feed and the reality of her life.

    She grew to resent and hate what she did every day because she was put into a corner of posting about the things that people wanted to see, which was her really happy and smiley and travelling and doing all these amazing and cheap things, but she was battling some mental health issues, battling some physical health issues. She was going through all this stuff that she didn't feel allowed to talk about because what people wanted was this other thing.

    I think it's a slippery slope. I think you're foolish to ignore what your audience is responding to, and you're foolish to be beholden to it as well. I think you have to find the balance that works for you, and ask yourself why are they responding to certain things, but also make sure that you're continuing to enjoy it. If I was going to post stuff that did well on my Instagram, it would just be a picture of me and my girlfriend every day. That seems to do the best.

    Not that I wouldn't want to post a photo of me and my girlfriend every day, but that's not realistically why I started an Instagram account, and so I don't do that. I think I could probably have a bigger following if I'd talked more about influencers and about strategies and stuff on my personal account. I do that 12 hours a day, I don't want to do it on my personal Instagram account. You have to figure out what's in it for you, why you're doing it, and make sure you balance understanding why things are doing well with doing something that actually makes you happy.

    I've never really considered going into influencer strategy on my personal Instagram. I think, one, it just muddies what we're doing. It's a complex thing. I feel like it's pretty hard to separate where I as a sentient being end and Fohr starts. I feel like they're pretty connected, but I would rather the following be funneled to Fohr. If you're interested in specifically influencer stuff, we have a whole team here that is working on cutting these videos up, pulling in insights, posting stuff that specifically influencers would be interested in.

    I guess I've thought about it, but ultimately, it's just not something I want to do. Again, I love talking about this stuff obviously. I love that it's gotten a response and it's making people happy, but I don't want to be beholden to-- If I have this Instagram account for 15 more years, I don't know that I want to be spending every day having to throw up influencer tips into my Instagram because that's what I build my following on. That's for the company, that's for work, that's not for me personally.
    Episode #135
    - Influencer Peaks, Find Balance, Artificial Intelligence