Episode 83: The Algorithm: Get Over It and Thrive

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been annoyed with the changes in the Instagram algorithm over the last few years—but I’ve come to a conclusion about it all. It’s time to get over it and thrive.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing three things you can implement today to move beyond the algorithm, thrive in your business, and market as yourself!

Overcoming The Instagram Algorithm

1. Change Your Mindset (1:45)

Stop Complaining & Start Adapting (2:32)

2. Go with the Flow (3:00)

3. Stay true to Yourself (6:43)

Links
The Creative Educator Academy

Review the Transcript:

Laylee Emadi
Welcome to so here’s the thing where we share candid conversations that lift the veil on what it takes to find success, even if that means sharing a few unpopular opinions. I’m your host Laylee Emadi, grab some coffee or cocktail, and let’s get real.

Laylee Emadi
Hey friends, welcome back to the show, I have got a short but sweet episode planned for you guys. And we are going to be talking all about the Instagram algorithm. Now this is a conversation that I have been having so frequently lately, between my creative educator Academy students who are trying to really establish themselves as experts on Instagram, to just general small business owners who are trying to attract new clients, to current educators in the industry being thrown for a loop. And I want to talk about it with you guys, because you guys are my friends, you guys are my community. And I am not going to hold back here. So just know this is definitely more of a tough love episode. Now, if you have never found yourself frustrated or complaining about changes in the Social Media Marketing World, this episode probably isn’t for you. But if you have ever caught yourself posting something, it doesn’t perform well. And then you start feeling really grumpy about it or you hear that video is the new thing. And the thought of that is stressful to you. And you don’t want to have to put in time effort. And let’s face it a little extra bravery into making videos.

Laylee Emadi
This episode is for you, we’re going to talk about three ways to get over this perceived hurdle in your social media marketing. And we’re going to talk about how to get over the algorithm so that you can thrive in Marketing your Small Business. Alright, let’s dive in here. The first thing I want to talk about is your mindset. Now hear me out because when I personally hear someone use the word mindset, I usually roll my eyes a little bit, I usually let my defenses come up. Because that phrase, that concept of change, your mindset has become really overused.

Laylee Emadi
A lot of thought leaders and educators tend to use mindset as kind of their go to reason that people aren’t doing well or whatever. But in this case, it is so important because and this is where the tough love comes in. A lot of people are really allowing themselves to fall into this mindset of anger, and frustration where you start blaming an app, you’re literally blaming a free social media app for your lack of progress. And my friends, this is a free marketing tool. I want to give you this tough love. And I hope that you’re willing to hear me out on it, stop complaining about a free marketing tool, changing their processes, and start adapting to these changes. So if you find yourself falling into the mindset of anger, or frustration and of blame, I would love to encourage you to shift your mindset into one that is a little bit more open minded and is ready to start adapting.

Laylee Emadi
Now this brings me to point two, going with the flow, rolling with the punches, whatever cliche you want to use to really allow yourself the ability to start adapting and making changes. Do you remember when you first started your business, you were probably so willing to put in that extra work, to learn all the new things, to research new things, to try new things, to test out what works for you what works for your business, and what doesn’t. What happened that now you want things like Instagram to stay stagnant for you. You got comfortable, that’s what happened. Maybe you found what worked for you. And then someone came along threw a wrench in your plans. And you know what, instead of stopping where you are, and allowing these changes to push you behind, what would happen if you decided to just go with it to just roll with the punches, go with the flow, embrace those cliches and really start adapting yourself. I remember when Instagram announced that they’d be prioritizing video content in order to kind of keep up with what they call their competitors. So they called out Tick tock, they called out YouTube.

Laylee Emadi
This wasn’t that long ago, and everyone had this massive negative reaction. I saw on Facebook community groups everywhere that this was like the worst thing that could possibly ever happen to a creative small business owner and people were in sheer panic. But I would get in there and honestly copy and paste this response that you guys This isn’t a bad thing. There’s a lot of opportunity for growth here. And in reality video has been kind of for a while now like King of social media. It has been growing and taking on this huge traction. And this social media platform Instagram is just really pushing it to the forefront even more now and making a lot of us wake up and take notice of it. So remember that there is this mass have an opportunity for growth. If you have plateaued on growth on Instagram, like a lot of us have, personally I have I know I have. I’ve been like sitting at the same general number of followers of engagement, of comments and likes, and just, you know, converting people into website visitors, people who are actually clicking on my links, all of that have plateaued for me. And so if you have plateaued on growth on Instagram, here’s a chance for you to change the game and jumpstart that growth again.

Laylee Emadi
But are you going to let fear of the unknown stop you like? Is that something that you’re doing right now? Are you going to let the concept of an algorithm change stop you from making progress? Are you letting the fear of putting yourself out there stop you from making progress? Guess what? You overcame? whatever it was that stood in your way, when you first started running this business of yours. So I want you to channel that bravery in starting something new again, I know that it can be hard to put yourself out there in a new format in something like video that’s very personal, that feels very raw or real channel the bravery that you had when you first started putting yourself out there when you faced up to the haters, or the potential haters, and you just didn’t care, because you were so passionate about growing and starting your business. So do that same thing with video.

Laylee Emadi
I mean, I know that it sounds silly thinking about it that way. But if it’s important to you, and if you’re at the point of frustration and anger at an algorithm or add an app, I think it’s worth exploring the opportunities for growth that are now at your fingertips. So that is the second point. Third, I want you to stay true to yourself. This is huge for me. And this is I think one of the biggest misconceptions that keeps people from moving forward in terms of creating video or trying new things in general with marketing. If you don’t want to dance and point at words on a screen, you don’t have to do that. If you do want to do that, go ahead and do it. Have fun with it. Half of my own personal reels for creative educators, because that’s typically who I’m talking to these days. I mean, I do market a lot to general creative entrepreneurs, I do a lot of business coaching. But with my creative educator Academy, a lot of my Instagram content and advice is targeted toward growing creative educators. Half of my roles that I’ve created for them are story style.

Laylee Emadi
So I’m just talking to the camera like I would talk to an academy student, a client, a friend, someone on Insta stories, but you know what, I do love to dance too. And one day, you might see me post something fun and Goofy and silly, like a dancing real. I’m never gonna say never on that front. It’s not something that’s on my radar right now. But I love dancing and goofing around and being silly. So why would I be afraid of putting it out there? I think that if you’re afraid of looking awkward, my biggest piece of advice is to just be yourself. Because whatever you would do yourself is going to look the most natural on video. So there aren’t a lot of hard and fast rules for this. But what would you want to see someone post a video on what hooks you and pulls you in when you’re scrolling?

Laylee Emadi
And how can you tweak that to fit your own vibe. Because I’ll tell you this, if you hate dancing, and it makes you miserable, and it makes you insecure, and it makes you uncomfortable, you’re not going to enjoy making that video. And it’s going to show and frankly, your audience, your future clients, your people, they want to know who you are, they don’t want to know who you think the algorithm wants to see. So remember what it’s like to enjoy the social aspect of social media. And anytime you feel like the algorithm is being unfair to you, it’s out to get you. It’s a roadblock in your marketing. I hope that you’ll allow yourself to change your mindset and get over it so that you can really thrive in your marketing efforts. And remember to really lean on who you are at your core, who you’re comfortable representing yourself to be to your future audience and to your current audience. without falling into the trap of thinking you’ve just got to recreate everything that somebody else is doing. That is when it starts to get scary. That is when it starts to get frustrating or you start to feel like the roadblock is really, really hard to overcome.

Laylee Emadi
So I’d love to close on the note of encouraging you to really lean on who you are. Don’t be afraid to show who you are to the people who you’re marketing to. Because at the end of the day, it just helps them get to know you better. And where’s the harm in that? I’m wishing you luck I’m cheering you on and I hope to see you really step in and lean into the new changes on social media without fear. Because at the end of the day, if you could start and build and run a business, I have no fear that you’ll be able to beat any kind of algorithm change that comes your way. Alright, you guys, I will see you on the next episode. For show notes and resources mentioned on today’s episode head to so here’s the thing podcast.com and if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love to read your review on iTunes. Thanks so much for listening and I’ll catch you in the next episode.

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