Earlier this week, I was on Instagram and I suddenly found myself thinking this:

“I should have more followers. I should be getting more likes and views. What am I doing wrong?”

I immediately caught myself. My ego was taking over, and I quickly reminded myself of everything I tell my clients about content, consistency, and metrics. I needed a dose of my own medicine!

Recently I’ve been having conversations with realtors who have noticed a significant drop in their Instagram Story views. (And same here!) There have also been a ton of other glitches that prevent posting at all, significantly downgrade photo quality, etc. If this is happening to you, you’re not alone.

If you feel like the algorithm is your archnemesis at the moment, here are my ideas for what to do when it feels like the Instagram algorithm hates you:

Watch Instagram Stories and DM people in response.

If you only do one of the things on this list, it should be this one. This action does not rely on the algorithm and is a huge part of what makes Instagram so valuable. Real connection + conversations!

DM content to your people.

If you see a funny Reel and it reminds you of someone, DM it to them with a little note. Or if you see an event being promoted and you know one of your past clients would love it, forward it along. Be intentional about starting conversations in your DMs.

Make sure you are active on the app every day, and not just when you have something to post.

You should not just be opening your Instagram app because you have something to post. You need to give to get! Spend time on the app to see what others are up to and engage with their content.

If you’re worried about getting sucked in too much, set a timer for yourself. Social media is not a waste of time if you’re truly using it intentionally and as a tool.

Stay consistent and keep posting, algorithm be damned!

This is not sexy and it can also be discouraging, but you can’t win if you don’t play. I know it can be absolutely demoralizing when you’ve put so much work into a post, only to hear crickets when you hit the “post” button.

But even if you get very low engagement/views on a particular post, not all is lost. If it’s valuable content, know that someone visiting your profile for the first time will still see it and learn something about you.

Try not to worry too much about “hacking” the algorithm, although you should be thoughtful about optimizing.

Again, this is not exciting, but I really advise you to not needlessly spin your wheels trying to appease our algorithm overlords. Yes, you should optimize your posts as much as possible. But staying steady and consistent with posting high-quality content is going to be more valuable in the long run than hopping on every trend just to get views.

Reframe your mindset around metrics.

If you’re “only” getting 10 likes on your post in the main feed, and you’re “only” getting 200 views on your Reels… Well, that’s still a lot of people!

If 10 people saw something about your business today, you’re top of mind for those 10 people. Same for those 200 views—200 people is a lot of people! Don’t underestimate the power of a small but mighty audience.

What are my goals for social media?

Most realtors do not know the answer to this question (you’re not alone). Knowing your goals will help you determine whether or not your efforts on Instagram have been worth it.

Now, the most obvious goal is probably that you want to find clients on Instagram. You want people to reach out to you and say “Hey, I want to hire you!” And hopefully that does happen. BUT if it’s not happening, I actually wouldn’t worry about it a ton, because you are using Instagram in other ways.

Maybe your friend referred you to their coworker, but your coworker wants to scope you out online before reaching out. If they head to Instagram to check you out, like what they see, and reach out to you (let's say via email), that’s a huge win, although it might not be obvious at the time that it’s because of Instagram.

If you’re having conversations in your Instagram DMs that you wouldn’t have had otherwise, that’s a huge win, too. There are many ways that Instagram can work for you, and it’s not always super obvious.

Remind yourself that we do not own our Instagram accounts.

I’ve heard anecdotes like these too many times before: “I got locked out of my account and couldn’t get back in.” “Instagram said I violated some of their terms and shut down my account, but I have no idea what I did!” “Someone hacked my account and I lost access.” “My account just disappeared.”

These are all a total nightmare. We invest so much in the app! But it’s a good reminder that we do not own our social media accounts.

Having a list of emails and mailing addresses are the only things you truly “own” in your marketing. If your database isn’t updated, make it a priority! (And if the only place you have your emails is in, say, MailChimp, make sure you are downloading that list and saving it somewhere else from time to time.)

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I hope this “real talk” will help to reinvigorate your Instagram efforts!