Why You Should Prioritize Your Blog Over Instagram

Today I’m discussing something I’m incredibly passionate about as a blogger: prioritizing your blog over your Instagram. If you’re trying to make it in the industry as a blogger, you know how important growth and traffic is, and it’s easy to let the number-focused platform of Instagram overtake that. Today I’m sharing all of the reasons why you should prioritize your blog over Instagram and instead use Instagram as a tool to promote your blog when it comes to growing your business, working with brands and expanding your audience.

Why focus on my blog?

Some of you may be wondering this because you see tons of successful bloggers turned “social media influencers” on Instagram making a full-time living off of collaborations. Though this is possible, there is some danger to it since none of us really know how long Instagram is going to be around. In contrast, your blog is yours. It’s never going anywhere unless you yourself choose for it to. Ever.

If Instagram shuts down and you’re doing all of your content creating on social media (yes, I’m talking to the people that post on their blog basically never), you lose everything. Your followers, your engagement, your stats… it all goes away. Everything you’ve worked for and the following you’ve built could be gone in an instant and you’d be back to square one, as if it never even happened.

You know those people that have 50k+ followers on Instagram and only post on their blog once a month or less? Those are the people I’m scared for.

Unlike Instagram, you own your blog space on the internet and have 100% of the control in your own hands. Though Instagram does have it’s own value (I’ll discuss that more in a minute), it’s more important to focus on your blog’s:

• page views
• engagement
• unique visitors
• building your email list

These are great stats to provide to brands you want to work with, and I personally think they hold a lot more value in the long run. The people that generate these stats aren’t Instagram bots or inactive users like Instagram followers may be sometimes. They’re real people actively viewing your blog every day. Each of these views and interactions are generated from tangible people that can buy the products you’re promoting, leave you engaging comments and continue to come back for more content if you capture their attention enough.

What are Instagram’s drawbacks?

I know we live in a time where the number of Instagram followers you have seems to mean everything and people don’t seem to feel validated unless they have 10k+ followers (I’m guilty of this too on my bad days). I wish that wasn’t the case because being blinded by social media numbers really masks the success of your blog. In comparison to your blog, some of Instagram’s drawbacks include:

• it’s clogged with tons of bots
• the algorithm is incredibly whack (and is somehow still getting worse?!)
• sometimes your content doesn’t even get seen by your followers

Due to each of these things, it can be far too easy to get lost in the masses, even though it’s an app geared toward users gaining immediate and regular access to the people they choose to follow. Don’t get me wrong though, Instagram has its perks too and I think it’s something every blogger should utilize, but your blog should always be #1 on the priority list. Some of it’s benefits include:

• it’s a great place to get in contact with new people and drive traffic to your blog
• it’s nice for connecting with your followers/readers on a personal, daily level via Instagram Stories
• it can help make that first initial connection with brands that later drives them to your blog

With that being said, I think Instagram is needed in some extent to further promote your blog, but your blog should always come first. Instagram is a tool or one of the tires per se, whereas your blog is the vehicle, if that makes sense. If you find yourself slacking on your blog and putting far more energy into Instagram, it may be time to take a step back and regroup. Instagram is not the end all be all, but your blog is.

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If you were on the fence, I hope this convinced you of the importance of making your blog your first priority! It’s far too easy to get stuck in the numbers game on Instagram, when in actuality, your blog stats are the numbers that matter the most. If you enjoyed this post, you can read my other blogging-related posts here. Feel free to share your thoughts in a comment below & have a great day, everyone!