An Instagram Exit Plan

It’s been two months since I deactivated my Instagram account.

I’m glad I did it. I can’t even tell you how much better I feel.

Granted, my improved mood isn’t just about my departure from the platform. And my problems weren’t just about being there. There were and are a lot of other factors, but not being there has helped a shit load.

My problem with IG wasn’t the same as many other people’s.

I wasn’t addicted to [doom] scrolling. I rarely scrolled the newsfeed. I’d been utterly bored with everyone’s content going back at least a few years. There were about 7 people whose shit I genuinely liked.

The rest — forgettable as fuck. I couldn’t care less what they were posting.

(yes, of course you were one of the lucky seven)

I’ve written (and spoken) about what my problem was in this post from about one month after I left, and this one.

However, if I could go back and do it again — I would have handled my exit differently.

The big thing I would have done is spend a week or two telling everyone I was leaving. 

Not to be all dramatic and “look at me” because fuck those dorks. But instead, to get as many people as possible to sign up for my email list.

I didn’t do that. I just woke up one day, got pissed off about something, and deactivated the damn thing.

Huge mistake. Very Ryan tho. V hasty. V much “on brand.”

But thankfully, I did do one thing right. Because I made a practice of running ads, I had already created a way to get back in front of my Followers even after leaving.

If you want to follow my lead and take a real break from IG — not just that lame-ass “delete the app from your phone” or “check occasionally” thing. 

I’m talking about the real boss shit and turning off your account entirely.

Not many people have the ovaries for this, but I have a sense that you might — so pay fucking attention.

You should 100% do this before you leave Instagram because you can’t do it after the fact:

Build some Custom Audiences inside of FB Business Manager.

Custom Audiences are how you’ll be able to get in front of people who were interacting with you — without actually being there.

When the idea to do that first came to me, I wasn’t sure it would be possible. But surprisingly, the damn thing works.

You can pay to serve ads to people from IG even after your account is deactivated. Perhaps you’ve seen some of mine over the last few weeks?

Here are the options.

That should be fairly self-explanatory, but if it’s not, stick around.