Instagram Rules

August 24, 2020
Social media consultant Cook (Stop Acting Like You’re Going to Live Forever) delivers a disorganized conglomeration of pointers with her muddled, frustrating guide to Instagram success. It’s unclear what audience she is speaking to as she shuttles between personality-driven ideas that make sense for individual influencers and brand-driven tips useful for corporate brand managers, with no identifiable separation between the two. This means swinging back and forth between big-picture thoughts on strategy and branding (including beyond Instagram) and advice on such small specifics as emoji use and choosing effective link-outs. Seeded throughout are some helpful examples of brands to emulate, like Ben & Jerry’s, camping goods company Tentsile, and activewear brand Tikiboo Fitness. The categories of information are on-target, including content creation, building community, and audience growth. However, the commentary on each topic is unfailingly obvious (a community “likely shares common values, interests and attitudes,” while “the growth of your Instagram account demonstrates that you’re hitting the right notes when it comes to content”) and canned-sounding. The result is so scattered that it’s hard to imagine the audience that would benefit.