Love it or List it - How to break up with Instagram.
Love It or List It is one of my favourite home renovation shows.
If you aren’t familiar with the premise, the show follows homeowners who aren't sure if they should renovate their current home or find a new one instead.
In this show, they do both. They spend a lot of money and time fixing up their home AND they look for a new house.
At the end of the episode, the homeowner has to decide if they’ll “love it” or “list it.”
I often wonder what I’d do in that kind of situation.
Would I want to give up a home that I’ve spent time & energy renovating so that I could find something that might be a better fit?
Or, would I stay in my home now that it’s all fixed up?
This is exactly how I feel about Instagram right now.
At the start of 2025, I was toying with the idea of focusing my marketing efforts anywhere other than Instagram, but wanted to give IG one last shot, so I committed the entire year to learning about Instagram.
What did I learn? Instagram is interested in one thing - audience retention.
And my content? Kinda boring, not ideal for retaining an audience.
Which is fine. Systems & slow marketing strategy isn’t the most engaging, funny, entertaining kind of content. And I’m a pretty chill person… “hooks” aren’t really my thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I think my content is fantastic, it’s just not “viral” growth material.
Here’s the (slightly embarrassing) results of a full year of intentional marketing on Instagram:
101 new followers
104.14K views
182 average reach per day
ONE website click (😳)
44 profile views
Posts reached an average of 70 people
68 people saved my posts
27 people shared my posts
Reels an average of 197 people
78 people saved my reels
8 people shared my reels
The amount of money (close to $2000), time (at least 8-10 hours per week), and mental energy that I’ve poured into the platform and the results just don’t jive for me.
And I’m not the only one getting these abysmal results or feeling this way—a lot of my clients and colleagues are considering whether or not IG is worth it for their business.
And given the news cycle lately, leaving honestly feels like a tempting treat for my nervous system.
So, the question remains…
Do I…
Love it or leave it??
I’m going to leave (kind of.)
And here’s my plan if you want to leave too:
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Step One - Make sure my website is locked and loaded.
I recently moved my website to Squarespace. I spent a lot of time ensuring that everything a potential client needs to know about working with me is easily accessible and friction-free.
I added a quiz to my home page to help visitors select the right offer for their current 'season' of business. I also used the native SEO tools on Squarespace to ensure my descriptions and alt text are in place.
Learning more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something I intend to do this year, but for now, I’m happy with the functionality of my website.
Step Two - Set up a cool 9-grid as a placeholder on my IG account.
I haven’t entirely abandoned my IG account. I’ve posted a 9 grid to act as a signpost directing interested people to my website, newsletter, or Substack to connect with my work. A 9-grid is a series of 9 feed posts that create a big picture and provide information about you or your work if someone goes to IG to look for your account.
Here’s how I did that:
(FYI - many folks continue to post and create reels and don’t add them to the main grid as a way to continue marketing on the platform - since I’ll be creating short form video for Tik Tok, if something does well I will probably also share it as a reel, just in case)
Open a Canva Doc and create a custom size doc 3240 w X 4050 l
Use the ruler guides to mark out 1080 & 2160 on the width and 1350 & 2700 on the length (you have to zoom in a fair bit to get the exact numbers and you’ll probably also accidentally move them many times, it’s a bit frustrating)
Search “scrapbook” in the Designs folder and there will be several scrapbook style designs that will come up, or create your own design that overlaps but also has clear single post themes (using the above article as your guide)
Download your design
Go to this website and use the splitter tool to split evenly into 3 sections 1080 wide and 3 sections 1350 long. Download the files.
Share your files from the bottom right to the top left in order over 9 days.
My Q1 9-Grid for 2026
Step Three - Amp up my long-form content strategy.
Now that I’m here on Substack, this will become a new content creation avenue for me. I’ve mapped out a 12-month strategy for my long-form content (I shared a link to get the full strategy at the bottom of my planning retreat article) that will help me create relevant and supportive content for my ideal clients.
Step Four - Start pitching podcasts (maybe?)
I’ve used Listen Notes in the past to research podcasts to pitch for my OBM clients. Guesting on podcasts isn’t a strategy I’ve really thought about for myself, but I think I’ve got some cool perspectives about marketing that might make a good podcast episode. Maybe this is the year that I spend time crafting a good pitch that I could customize to the podcasts I’d like to be on.
Step Five - Use Pinterest more.
(If you found your way here via Pinterest—Hi! 👋 I guess it works!)
Pinterest isn’t social media, it’s a search and discover platform. One of the things I’ll be doing this year is using Pinterest to drive traffic to my Substack posts and to my freebies. Getting the hang of Pinterest feels like a long game but I do think it can work if I commit some time and energy to doing it well. This may be somewhere that I look at hiring support.
Step Six - Keep sending my weekly newsletter
I’ve sent a weekly newsletter for almost two years and it’s served my business extremely well. I’m going to keep sending weekly content and explore new avenues for email list growth such as inviting new Substack subscribers to join my newsletter or using Pinterest to drive traffic to my freebies.
And… maybe I’ll look into Meta Ads, but that’s a future Robin task.
For now, I’m going to enjoy all the extra real estate in my brain that used to be occupied by Instagram.
My “default state” is no longer going to be doom scrolling. Instead I’ll read, write, get outside, and maybe even just sit quietly doing absolutely nothing.
I took this photo while exploring a new snowshoeing trail this weekend.
I know it’s possible to leave social media and have a successful business. I’ve read multiple essays here on Substack by people who are actually DOING it.
I also know that it won’t be any less work.
It might even be more work, but it’s a different kind of creativity that exists outside of the fickle, frustrating, annoyances of social media, and for me, that’s the best choice for my mental health right now.
How about you? Will you love IG in 2026 or will you leave it?
Check out the journaling prompts below to reflect on your current relationship with social media. Is it time to break up with Instagram?
What do you love about social media? What frustrates you?
How does it impact your mental health and business?
If you could design your ideal social media experience, what would it look like?
What’s one thing in your business you’re considering “loving” (keeping and improving) or “listing” (letting go of)?
What’s holding you back from making a decision?
What would it feel like to commit to one choice for the next 30 days?
How does social media affect your nervous system (e.g. stress, overwhelm, joy)?
What boundaries or rituals could you create to make your social media use more intentional and less draining?
If you left social media, what would you miss? What would you gain?
