Your Instagram followers aren't really yours
Instagram reach is falling, and the data is clear.
According to Socialinsider's analysis of 31 million Instagram posts, Instagram reach has dropped 12% year-over-year. The average reach rate now sits at just 3.5%.
That means if you have 10,000 followers, only about 350 of them will see your post. The other 9,650? They'll never know you posted anything.
The business model working as intended
This isn't a bug. It's how the platform makes money.
Instagram profits when you pay to reach the audience you already built. Your "followers" aren't really your audience. They're a list of people you're allowed to advertise to.
The platform's incentive is to reduce organic reach just enough that you'll pay for promotion, but not so much that you'll quit entirely. They've been optimizing this balance for years.
Hashtags don't work anymore
If you're still spending time researching the perfect hashtags, stop.
Instagram's CEO Adam Mosseri has stated that hashtags don't increase reach. In his words: "They do help us to understand what a post is about... but in general, no, I wouldn't try to think of hashtags as a way to get more distribution."
Instagram also removed the ability to follow hashtags entirely. Years of hashtag strategy guides? Obsolete.
This is what building on rented land looks like. The landlord changed the rules, and you found out after the fact.
Watch time is king (until it isn't)
The current algorithm priority is watch time. Then likes. Then shares. Mosseri has said this publicly multiple times.
So creators pivoted to Reels. Longer hooks. More engaging formats. Whatever keeps people watching.
But here's the thing: this priority will change too. It always does. Facebook pivoted to video, then to groups, then to something else. TikTok adjusts its algorithm constantly. Every platform optimizes for its own goals, not yours.
You can spend your career chasing algorithm changes. Or you can build something the algorithm can't touch.
The engagement problem
It's not just reach that's declining. Socialinsider's 2025 benchmark data shows Instagram engagement has dropped 28% year-over-year, now sitting at 0.50%.
More people might see your content, but fewer are interacting with it. The algorithm prioritizes reach over deep engagement. Shallow attention, quickly forgotten.
The math that matters
Let's be concrete about what this means.
You have 10,000 Instagram followers. With 3.5% reach, about 350 people see your post. With a 0.5% engagement rate, maybe 50 of those interact. That's 50 likes or comments from an audience of 10,000.
Now imagine you have 1,000 email subscribers instead. You send an email. According to Mailchimp's benchmarks, average open rates are around 35%. That's 350 people who definitely saw your message.
Same reach. One-tenth the audience size. And here's the difference: those 1,000 email subscribers will still be reachable next year. Your 10,000 Instagram followers might see 2% of your content by then, or 0%, depending on what the algorithm decides.
The email list is an asset. The follower count is a vanity metric.
What "owning your audience" actually means
Your Instagram followers aren't yours. You can't email them. You can't text them. You can't reach them directly without the algorithm's permission.
An owned audience is different:
- You can contact them whenever you want
- No algorithm decides if they see your message
- No platform can take them away
- They chose to hear from you directly
This doesn't mean abandoning Instagram. Social media is incredible for discovery. It's how new people find you. But it should be the top of your funnel, not the whole thing.
Use social to get discovered. Convert that attention into owned relationships. That's the game.
What to do about it
The solution isn't complicated. It's just different from what most creators do.
Make your bio link work. Your link in bio is your net for catching social traffic. When someone discovers you through a viral post or the Explore page, that link is your one chance to convert a rented follower into an owned subscriber.
Offer something specific. "Subscribe to my newsletter" isn't compelling. Early access, exclusive content, a useful resource, being part of something before it launches: these are compelling. The more specific your offer, the higher your conversion.
Think mobile first. According to Sprout Social, 98% of Instagram users access the platform via mobile. If your signup page isn't thumb-friendly and fast-loading, you're losing most of your potential subscribers.
Build before you need it. Don't wait until your next launch to start capturing emails. Every day you wait is another day of potential subscribers scrolling past and forgetting you exist.
The algorithm will change again
Whatever Instagram prioritizes today will be different tomorrow. Watch time will give way to something else. Reels will evolve or be replaced. New features will emerge, favoring early adopters until they don't.
This is the nature of platforms. They optimize for their business, not yours.
You can keep chasing. Or you can build something that doesn't depend on their decisions.
1,000 email subscribers you can reach anytime is worth more than 100,000 followers you can't.
Ready to own your audience?
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