Is your craft business too dependent on Instagram? (7-Question Audit)
Instagram’s algorithm has changed 5+ times over the past year.
Instead of offering you a level marketplace, it has transformed itself into an ad-selling machine.
Sure you can adjust:
- Your frequency of posting
- Pick just the right three hashtags to pull in your former viewers and
- Create reels to be “prioritized”
Sure they need you to attract users.
But your users are no longer seeing recent posts. Now they only see their preferred niches.
Worse, who knows whether the algorithm will change tomorrow?
The real question is whether you are dangerously dependent on Instagram?
To assess your vulnerability, ask yourself these 7 questions.
The 7-Question Instagram Dependency Audit
- Do 75% of your sales come from Instagram-sourced customers? If instagram disappeared, would your income disappear too?
My account was inexplicably locked several years back with little to no recourse. If my business had depended on my access, I would have been sunk.
- Can you reach your students without Instagram? (Do you have their email addresses, phone numbers, or another way to contact them?)
If Instagram holds your mailing list, do you really own it? If your account is locked out, you can no longer reach your customers.
- Do you have more Instagram followers than email subscribers? (If the ratio is 10:1 or higher, you’re building on rented land).
Just a reminder that fans are not engaged customers. They may like your posts, but are they signing up for your courses?
- Has your Instagram reach dropped in the past 6 months? (If yes, you’re already experiencing platform risk in real-time.)
Other creators have noticed the shift from chronological feed, to original content to locking views to user ‘niche interests’ and hashtag changes. Have you noticed any changes, or were you too focused on keeping up with posting?
- Would you panic if your Instagram account got hacked or deleted tomorrow? (Be honest. Would you business survive the week?)
As someone who has managed risks professionally, an existential risk is too high to ignore or trust to fate. You need to proactively address the risk.
- Do you spend more time on Instagram than building owned channels? (Hours on posts/ stories vs hours on email/ website/ other platforms?)
Your time is already constrained. Track the amount of time you spend for a week. If Instagram gets 80%+ of your attention, you're not just dependent on their algorithm—you're investing your scarcest resource (time) into assets you don't own.
- Have you launched something recently that flopped despite good Instagram engagement (Likes don’t equal loyalty. This equals weak conversion infrastructure.)
It might be time to look for other ways to convert fans into customers.
Score Your Risk Level:
0-2 checked: You’re diversified. Keep it up.
3-4 checked: You’re at risk. Time to build backup systems.
5+ checked: Danger zone. One algorithm change could devastate your business
If your score is 3 or higher, here are four ways to diversify now:
- Start collecting emails (even if it’s just 10 this week)
- Create one piece of content that lives off Instagram
- Build a simple website with your contact form
- Set up one additional platform where you control the relationship
Remember: Instagram is a tool for discovery. It should never be a business foundation.
To learn more about how to gain greater control over your mailing list and convert likes to customers, reach out to me at hello@shissoink.com.
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