Why I went from three Instagram profiles to one in a year

Gaining alignment with a personal brand

A year ago I made two new Instagram profiles in addition to my personal one, which was first created back in 2010. In March, I had just registered my own consulting company and in the spirit of being more “business-minded” I created a separate account for this profile. It was created to show me interacting with clients, working at my computer, important events I attended, and the like.

As a long-time journaler I created an account for my writing creations: poems. Here, I could show a full range of emotions that came out in my poems. With this profile I could build credibility as a poet, despite the fact that I was using a pen name that only some people would associate with me. In an attempt to strengthen my real name and therefore my personal brand, and to not confuse audiences, I would choose photos and captions that were appropriate for each profile.

At the time it felt right to separate these parts of me, to put them into neat boxes. The personal, the professional, the creative.

It wasn’t long until I began to avoid both my creative and professional profiles. It wasn’t that I didn’t have clients or poignant poems to share. I began to feel worried about having the perfect photo or if I had exposed too much emotion in my writing. What was this game that I was playing? Who was I really fooling? The likes from friends and strangers on those two profiles only made me feel more insecure as I began documenting my life in real-time via Stories on my personal profile. I felt happier there. There was less expectation with my personal profile. I still enjoyed getting likes but my motivation seemed clearer: to connect with friends and family through story-telling. My personal profile was my default as it just felt like the creative space to share all parts of my life.

At the heart of my company I aim to inspire people to lead balanced lives and to nurture their relationships. I offer personal development, writing, organization, mindfulness and event planning because those are the strengths I want to exercise and share with others. My creativity comes out in those moments and yet I wasn’t conveying that message with this additional profile of myself.

To prove this point, just take a look at my personal profile. There, I created two campaigns, each lasting a whole month, with the intention of spreading joy, encouraging connection and bringing about perspective. In May, I posted a quote a day for the month of May using quotes that were meaningful to me paired up with bright, solid backgrounds. In order to get me through the dark days of November here in Sweden, each day I pulled from my photo album a photo that brought me joy. I described the ways joy comes to us and how memories are precious. I did this to share with not to show-off.

This is how I was showing up, for better or worse, on this silly little app called Instagram. And then it hit me.

There is no personal brand that separates personal, professional and creative selves. At least not for me. The other two profiles were merely masks, trying to cover up my fears and insecurities as to not be judged. I avoided requests rather than welcomed them. The essence of what I had hoped to do with my words and with my work could not shine through with this wall I had built around those different parts of myself. I became more judgmental to myself as I scrolled through all the profiles, especially those who I thought had “perfect” personal brands. My strategy was holding me back from not just success but happiness too. (A wise person might say those two aren’t separate states of being.)

I decided to start this new year with a different intention for my social media: To show all of me (as to the best of my ability). To curate my content so that it is sent out with joy and with less expectations. For this platform to help connect me to those who I am meant to reach and support not those who I want to avoid or judge.

There is certainly more evidence as to why we should spend less time on social media but that’s not what I want I am trying to share. I am offering this perspective because I see the value in building a personal brand where you are deliberate and aligned. To live, work, and create in alignment with your higher Self. It ain’t easy and I am most certainly still trying to figure it out. But, the neat boxes don’t bring me much joy, and just being known as a poet or a cat lover or a personal organizer is not enough for me.

I want to be all three of those, all the time, on and off Instagram.

*deletes other two account profiles*

Are you interested in making your stories (Instagram or otherwise) more aligned?

Are you questioning how we authentically share ourselves on these outlets and platforms? I know I am, and I would love to continue the conversation with you. Really.

You can find me at @kelsey_l_martin on Instagram or start a conversation thread here on Medium.

❤