An open letter to all Instagram Coaches about transparency and responsibility to our audiences

Note: this didn’t start as an open letter. This is an email I sent to a specific social media coach, but unfortunately the email was ignored and I just got a canned response from a team member.

So I changed their name to [name], and made parts of it generic, because the goal with sharing this is not criticize anyone. It’s to make people on the both ends of the equation (both Instagram experts and those learning from them) that this happens and we can all work together to fix this problem.

This has also been lightly edited to be more clear.

I hope everyone can take this to heart.

Here we go:

An open letter to all Social Media Experts about transparency and responsibility to our audiences

Hi [name]

My name is Manu. I run a small social media business called Your Social Team.

Like you, I help women entrepreneurs, small biz owners, side hustlers, influencers, bloggers and social media managers.

You may be aware of the appalling numbers we see regarding social media’s impact in depression and other mental health issues -- from mild feelings of unworthiness all the way to higher numbers of suicide in teens (those teens that in 10 years or less will be our very customers).

This is the ugly side of these platforms that make our careers. But I do believe they have an equally positive side. People like us can be a part of the solution.

Let me just say, I admire you, and I know we’re all just here doing our best. But I was highly disappointed when I saw your [insert content that claims it’s easy to grow an account to a certain number, because they just did it and you can do it too].

You grew an account to [specifics] because you have a big name in the business. Because [the account product] is a few years old and very popular. Because you have another account with [enter very high number] followers.

When a small business owner follows step by step what you taught them, they will fail. And they will think there's something wrong with them, because they trust you. You’re the authority and they followed the steps to a T.

The phrase I listen to the most is "people hate me". That's why they think when their accounts don't grow or when they follow miraculous formulas step by step and fail. “Everyone hates me”. Hate. Isn't that sad?

Maybe people like you and I don't have those feelings when we fail, because we understand the big picture. We know there are so many more accounts on IG than 3 years ago and that is normal for engagement to get low sometimes. We now we all lose followers. And we have a set of skills and advantages that does make it easier for us to grow our accounts and reach despite the landscape.

But we can't overlook the fact that other women don't see it this way. They get the feeling they are to blame. Their business and themselves personally are unworthy. They stay up working all night. They burnout. They neglect their kids and families.

So I urge you to when you share some personal experience like you did in this instance, that you set expectations:

• Remind them you have [enter number] followers in another account for the same business.

• Remind them you're an expert and you have a name for yourself.

• That their results shouldn't be the same, but this knowledge could put them on the right track.

• Remind them what the landscape is like and that it’s normal not to grow or even to decrease their number of followers.
  
  

Hope you don't mind me speaking to the heart. But this is so important, yet so many Instagram experts offer these miraculous formulas, without showing the big picture and setting realistic expectations.

I say all this with love: it’s time we stop.

Thanks for listening.

Manu

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Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content template designed for engagement in their inbox.

Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneur and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.

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