I recently saw several posts from other wildlife creators cursing Instagram. And I feel that so much. I’ve been feeling uninspired and stressed lately and the more time I spend on Instagram, the worse it gets. You should know, I’m a master of overthinking and my brain loves getting stuck in comparisons and doubts. I usually love creating and thinking of new creative content ideas, but one thought keeps creeping in:
“Would the algorithm like it?”
And that’s the point of the whole problem, this need to create for a machine instead of the real humans watching the content.
And yes, I could just say “fck it” (no wait – FUCK IT, this is my blog so I can swear as much as I like) and post what I want but let’s face it – every creator also wants to gain something through their social media presence. Yes, I truly care for wildlife and mean everything that I post from my heart. I do want to use the platform to inspire others to care for animals, too. And I deeply believe in the power of visual stories.
“Successful” on the Gram?
But I also want to build a bigger community to do so and to monetize it. I feel like saying this out loud is still a bit of a taboo, especially in the conservation sector or when working with animals. But how amazing is it to get paid to do something I truly love and believe in?!
Honestly, I’m sick and tired of chasing stupid trends that don’t align with me and putting so much effort into content that barely gets seen.
I want is to talk about things that matter to me. And I have the impression that many people grow more and more tired of pretty looking, but superficial content without substance, too. I’m done with watching just another copied version of the very same reel that literally everyone posts, it’s boring.
But what’s the solution?
Quit Instagram?
Well, please let me know if you know.
My plan for now is to naively stick to the reason why I started posting my stuff online in the first place – to inspire, to educate and to connect people with nature. To combine my photography with stories from the wild to hopefully make people fall in love with animals as much as I am. And therefore, start treating them with the respect they deserve. And pray for the best that there are other nerds out there who enjoy the same things.
My plan for now
But I also like a good strategy, so these are some things I want to focus more on that (hopefully) help me stay on track of my mission:
Writing this blog post is a first step to free myself from the expectations of Instagram: no viral hook or cheap clickbaiting to keep the attention longer than a split second. Not louder, but deeper. And I swear, the next posts are gonna be more fun and less whining haha.
Focus more on my core mission: which is not to become an influencer but to use my creativity & skills to inspire a change on how we see and treat animals and to travel to the wild places of this world. Maybe with my online presence, maybe not.
More offline projects: I’m working on some really exciting stuff in the background so fingers crossed that it works out! I’d love to connect more with like-minded people & brands.
Quality over quantity: Yes, my goal is growing my account, but not at any price. I’d rather have a smaller community that genuinely cares and shares my values than going viral with people that don’t. And that should also count for my content: before every post, I should ask myself: “What’s the value of this post?”. Also, I started observing what I enjoy the most and what I skip immediately as a reference.
Efficiency first: Now I’ve outed myself as a proper German, but not only do I love efficient processes, I also need them. I do wildlife photography & social media next to my studies and office job so my time is limited and it’s easy to get stuck with tasks that take a lot of time but bring hardly any value. And I also tend to do too much at once.
Unfollow other creators that make me feel bad. Actually, I think the best would be to unfollow everyone to stop comparing and just do my own stuff and what I think is good, but 1. I follow a lot of great people that I enjoy following and 2. The feed gets spammed with accounts I don’t follow anyway.
Spend less time online and more offline: because this is where my mind clears, my curiosity sparks, my creativity starts flowing and I’m just the happiest. It’s what keeps me grounded in this crazy, loud world.
Why Nature doesn’t fit in a Reel
The thing is, nature is not made for this fast-paced world. It just doesn’t align with this higher, faster, bigger mentality and personally, I think trying to squeeze it into this social media aesthetics steals away the magic. Nature shouldn’t be consumed like the next fashion haul, just enough for the next Reel and then moving on to the next. It’s where I go to escape all that trouble and I want to preserve that for myself.
I wanna get away from chasing the next “big” shot, even when Instagram keeps telling me that I need more. More NatGeo-worthy shots, more travelling, more exotic destinations. Don’t get me wrong, that’s cool and I’m also quite ambitious, but it’s not the standard as Instagram wants me to believe. Plus, you can’t stage whether an animal is showing up or not. Well, technically you can, but (un-)ethical wildlife photography or AI are for another post.
So my overall goal for this year is more genuine passion and less polished moments. Because I do get genuinely excited about everything from elephants to sparrows and bugs so it’s not that I wouldn’t have enough to talk about.
And if you made it here: Thank you so much for taking the time, I really appreciate it. I’m curious to hear your opinion about the whole topic, feel free to let me know! Or leave an emoji of your choice so I can see if someone else apart from my parents read until the end 🙂
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