God, I love Instagram. I love it because it's so far away from the realities of my life. But that's also why I hate it. HATE. IT. How do these women have their shit together so much? The other day, I spent 40 minutes looking for the one pencil I own and found it in my hair. I'm struggling to find time to sit and write a blog post and there they are, creating wonderful blogs about their flourishing business and posting about it in GLORIOUS technicolour Insta-posts. HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I am not dissing them AT ALL, I am begging them to share their secrets, so us mere mortals can have a piece of the pie too!
I realised very early on, that my personal Instagram is, ya know, it’s quite visual and pretty because it's mostly just pictures of me off gallivanting but the WWD Instagram was not going to be such a strong point for me. At first it was looking a bit...monotone as I was producing text format images.
I then made the EPIC mistake of asking my followers if they would like to see more "real-life" photos and 100% said yes (thanks guys).
So, I had embarked on the Insta-Business-Journey and it sucks. I am rubbish. My images are sloppy and low-res. Sometimes I don't even get what I want inside the frame. I can't take pictures of my face, because nowadays I don't have time to brush my hair, let along contour and people will think I am a terrible person as the world seems to be filled with contoured goddesses. I don't have a theme. Actually, that's a lie, I started with a theme of just my hands holding stuff, but that failed after like, post four - it took too much effort to always have my nails looking great. I can't post just anything because I need to stay relevant to my followers - I mean no one really cares that I'm drinking coffee - how will that help their business?!
So now I fret. Constantly. Plus, I'm approaching 1,000 followers, which seems rather momentous to me and the internet is a whirling mass of "top-tips" that I can't adhere to because I don't own a million pounds worth of fancy camera kit or any Denby crockery. So, I have come up with a PLAN! Which is basically just my way of making things work for me.
I have decided to start a campaign that is just admitting that you're crap at Insta-worthy photos, calling it #TheWWDWay because that is my way.
It's the way that means I don't have time to line blueberries up in my porridge in the morning, I don't have the visual aptitude to creatively throw things together like a modern-day Martha Stewart. I don't own any bloody flat-lays. But I DO, have meetings with amazing women who have wonderful and inspiring stories. Eat chocolate Easter eggs at midnight whilst trying to decipher Google Analytics. Iron on logos to T-Shirts for my events. Hand-cut name badges for attendees and spill coffee on consent forms. So, I beg you, don't judge WWD (or me!) on the Instagram feed but go and enjoy it for all its normalities. It's not pretty, or themed, it's actually a bit of a mess, but it is real AF.
If you want to follow WWD on Instagram we're @WomenWhoDo_UK - enjoy!
About the Author:
Emma is the Founder of Women Who Do, running networking events in Winchester, Southampton and Exeter. She has worked in marketing for 6 years. If you'd like to be featured as a guest blogger you can contact her on emma@womenwd.co.uk
