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In a sea of attention grabbing headlines, dance routines, and controversial statements, all to make waves and promote the doom scroll, I would like to just share a little ripple..

I have this very odd disposition that for some unknown (and often quite silly) reason, I have to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

If everybody is running in one particular direction, you can bet I will be running the opposite way. If skinny jeans are making a comeback, I will be wearing the baggiest jeans I can find.

However, I am ashamed to admit, I fell into the trends trap over christmas, specifically with my “Influencer” “job”. Instagram is different nowadays for creators. Getting your work (because it really is work) seen, has become increasingly difficult. It is a saturated market with an algorithm that takes zero prisoners. I have felt the effects of this over the last year and decided maybe I should make a bit more of an effort to be a “proper” influencer. You know, actually pay attention to what works on the app. What is trending. How better to engage my audience. So I decided to hold a little strategy meeting (with myself!). Having a strategy would be a good idea right? The fancy influencers probably have a strategy! I watched all kinds of different videos explaining how you can get better engagement, how you can grow your account. Tips on trending music, aesthetics that work well, text to use, all sounded like good stuff.

The issue is, I don’t want to use the same trending sounds everyone else does because it is quite frankly boring. I do not want to replicate the same aesthetics in my reels as everyone else because then as creators, we all morph into the same person and again, incredibly boring. I do not want to share controversial topics to grab someone’s attention or hope it may help my account go “viral”. I am not a loud “in your face” type of person! But more than anything else, I do not want to rob anyone of their time. I do not want to support an algorithm that has been designed to keep people doom scrolling an app that either makes them feel rubbish about themselves, or influences them to spend more money.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the community aspect of social media, and honestly, I do not know what I would have done without my lovely community on Instagram. But let’s not pretend that its all butterflies and rainbows. It can often be quite a negative place to be, and there are much better things that we can do with our time.

This is the issue a lot of creators face. They are dictated to by an algorithm. They must supply endless pieces of content in the hopes that something will actually get seen, and therefore, the value of that content decreases. Quality becomes quantity, and as consumers we all start to feel a little overwhelmed.

I realised that I actually do not need a strategy, in fact, I need an anti-strategy. No attention grabbing headlines, a slower pace, real valuable content. Not just with the information I share, but the way I share it. No polished aesthetics or trending visuals and sounds. Real life views. Not a well groomed, perfect hair and makeup presentation of myself. I am almost never well groomed!

Some may call it career suicide, but you never know, I may start a new trend. Where content is considered. Where real value becomes a real thing again. Where creators take back control of their own accounts and no longer bow down to a dictatorship algorithm. You never know!

So that is my approach in 2026 to my content both on Instagram and Substack. Considered content only shared when I actually have some value to share. No trends or attention grabbing tactics. Just a considered collection of content for you to peruse if and when you have the time.