Am I The Girl Who Deleted Instagram?

In January of this year, I made the ~*shocking*~ announcement that I was deleting the Instagram app from my phone. And while I haven’t deleted my account in its entirety (that’s coming soon, I can feel it), I haven’t logged into it in 7 months.When I meet someone new, they ask me for my Instagram. I tell them I don’t have it.

When I catch up with a friend, I ask what they’ve been doing since our parasocial relationship via Instagram ended.

When someone asks me if I’ve seen XYZ meme, I say no. Then when they send it to me, I have to tell them, “Sorry I can’t see this since I’m not on Instagram.” These statements are often met with some rendition (whether IRL or via text) of the head-exploding emoji. 🤯

Then, I get peppered with questions:

🤔 But what about your business?💥 My business does just fine without Instagram, thanks.

🤔 Don’t you have FOMO?💥 No, I just talk to the people I want to talk to.

🤔 Do you feel so liberated?💥 Honestly, I don’t feel much anything toward Instagram or toward the space where it once was in my life.

Seven months have passed since I got off Instagram and these conversations have died down. I often talk about alternate marketing methods and the hellscape that is the internet with other friends who have left Instagram like . But for the most part, Instagram is just a thing that exists that I’m not involved in—much like TikTok, which I’ve avoided because I know myself and know I would spend hours a day scrolling endlessly, looking for my next laugh.

That is until I made the seemingly mundane decision to delete Strange Salt’s account last week.

For the better part of this year, I’ve spent my time relaunching my brand agency, Strange Salt. We’ve gone through a lot of changes since our launch in 2022 and as I reflected on our favorite clients and our best work, I realized we needed a brand overhaul. As part of that work, I put my brand strategy cap on (who would have thought that would be helpful? Me. I would have thought.) to evaluate our marketing efforts and understand what was working and what was just noise.

The things to rise to the top:

👍 Client referrals

👍 Member referrals

👍 LinkedIn content from me as the founder

👍 Webinars

👍 Community contributions in places like

Things that didn’t have much traction:

👎 Our newsletter (it needed a little love and consistency behind it)

👎 Google ads (a failed experiment that may have been better with an expert driving decisions)

👎 Instagram (it looked great but we struggled to connect with buyers)

When I looked at the time spent making Instagram look so good (see a posthumous screenshot below), I realized the return was not worth it. So when it came time to launch the new brand, I decided I’d make an announcement on Instagram (just to “get something out there!” Sound familiar?) and take a set-it-and-forget-it approach. I even designed the graphic that would take over 9 squares on my precious grid.

I logged into my account on my desktop (because hell no, I was not downloading the app again). I realized I needed to update some other items on our account—our bio, highlights, and contact information.

As I started updating these items, I got stuck in an incredibly frustrating, endless loop between Meta Accounts Manager and Instagram, returning to one or the other empty-handed—the features I needed hiding behind layers and layers of buttons and tabs.

I found my finger hovering over the delete account button. I paused and did a quick gut check.

Does posting reactively to “just get something out there” align with our brand?

No, it doesn’t. We’re a brand agency that lives and dies by strategy. We wouldn’t advise our clients to post something hastily in the name of crossing an item off their to-do list, so why would we do that ourselves?

How much energy have I put into making this beautiful grid?

A lot. And I’m proud of it. But it felt like a giant time suck every time I open the file to add to the grid. And with Instagram’s algorithm and post formats in constant flux, the design is at the mercy of the platform and can devolve into chaos at a moment’s notice.

Have I ever gotten business from posting on Instagram?

And I mean direct business—someone reaches out and says, “Hey how do I hire you?” The answer is a big fat no. Do I get eyes on our content? Sure, sometimes. Does it help us build our voice and identity as a 😎 cool brand? Yes.

But, considering the conversions we receive in other spaces, our limited time capacity for engaging on the app, and being social (gasp!), the juice is not worth the squeeze. Given these realizations, I deleted the app without much emotion.

Then Shit Got Real

I shared this with a few people, just as an aside—a funny footnote in my day. I didn't expect such a visceral reaction from so many who, quite frankly, don't know anything about my business, what I'm building, or where I'm going.

😱 "You shouldn't have done that"

🥲 "I could never delete Instagram because people would forget about me."

🧐 “I don’t know about that…”

This is the reaction I’ve gotten used to since I stopped using my personal account in January (see introduction). It’s fair to say that at this point, I’m used to it. I’ve stopped pushing back in these conversations because they’re not worth my energy. If someone has excuses as to why they have to pray to their Instagram overlords, they probably aren’t going to change their mind with one anecdote—but maybe.

Some of these people have told me that “when they hit 10k” or "After they announce this new product” they’ll delete their accounts, too. So as they continue to dig themselves into an endless hole of scroll, I nod politely.

But, I couldn’t stop thinking about how irritating this experience was. Especially the “You shouldn’t have done that” comment. It got under my skin in a way I hadn’t experienced since I left my toxic corporate job many moons ago. Here I was, trying to make a decision that was good for me, my business, and yes, my mental health, and people immediately jumped in to say that it was bad.

Call it FOMO, but I’m starting to believe that people think because I don’t exist on Instagram, I don’t exist in the real world. But the reality is, if you only exist in the minds of your consumers as an Instagram handle, you haven’t built a brand. You’ve built an account.

And now, as I rant and rave about getting off Instagram and why other folks should consider it too, I’m wondering if I’ve not built a brand as a strategist, but as “that girl who isn’t on Instagram.”

I shared a condensed version of this story via a LinkedIn post (which was, in fact, the inspiration for this article). The response was overall positive and there was some great dialog about the purpose of Instagram for other (non-service-based) businesses. One of my dear friends commented on how memorable our account was. I took this as an enormous compliment, but it still ate at me, and, I think it’s because it only proved my point.

Just because something looks good, doesn't mean it’s working.

As business owners and people of the planet, we’re in a constant game of comparison (no thanks to apps like LinkedIn and Instagram). No matter how many times we remind ourselves that “this is only the highlight reel,” and despite the amount of crying selfies that have entered the chat, we seem to forget and assume that follower count = dollars, engagement rate = conversions, and beautiful content = success.

One of the biggest battles I fight with my clients (and it often does feel like a battle!) is just because it works for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you. There isn't a secret formula to going viral (sorry, business influencer girlies). There’s a certain luck of the draw, not to mention the constant grind of creating and posting and hoping that something sticks.There’s a belief that if you post it, they will come.

It’s more like if you post it, it will pass them by in the endless void.

And how much hustle do you have to put in before you decide it isn’t worth the grind? There comes a point in every phase of business when you realize that some things simply don’t work—for us, our businesses, and our mental health. And it’s up to us to continuously evaluate our tactics to help us build a business that leave us healthy and wealthy (shameless plug for my podcast, Scope Creep).

Stay on Instagram. Get off Instagram. Follow a trending sound. Post a crying selfie. If it works for you, that’s great.

It just doesn’t work for me and you don’t need to convince me otherwise. ✌🏻

Thanks for reading!

Hey, thanks for being here. If we haven’t met yet, I’m Jamie Cox, a brand strategist and founder based in Nashville, TN. I publish content all over the internet, but mostly here on Substack and on LinkedIn. Here are a few ways you can work with me:

• Book a brand workshop: I offer workshops for creative communities and high-performing teams.

• Pick my brain: Get feedback and move your brand forward with actionable brand consulting sessions.

• Build a brand: My 12-week brand intensive will help you build a brand so you can get off the marketing hamster wheel…and maybe off Instagram while you’re at it.