Growth notes, no hype.
Practical writing on Instagram growth mechanics, creator money, and getting paid what your audience is worth.
14 posts
What is a good Instagram growth rate? 22% a year at 1-5K
22% a year at 1-5K, 17.2% at 10-50K, 13.62% at 50-100K. Where those figures come from, why they nearly halved in a year, and how to work out yours.
September 10, 2026Does reposting hurt your Instagram reach? The rule has no numbers in it
Instagram's originality rules decide whether new people see you. The real policy has no repost limit and no percentage. Here is what it actually says.
August 27, 2026Half of brand deals now pay for results, not for posting
Performance pay is now the most used creator compensation model at 53%. How to price when payment depends on outcomes, and the three terms to refuse.
August 20, 2026Instagram keeps your analytics for 90 days. Then they are gone.
Meta's docs say Instagram user metrics are stored for up to 90 days. What vanishes, what lasts longer, and the five-minute habit that saves your history.
August 20, 2026Instagram will label your post AI before you do. Here is what actually triggers it.
Instagram has three AI labels and only one is yours to choose. What triggers each, what Meta actually says about reach, and what changed on August 2.
August 14, 2026Your Instagram posts are in Google. Now you can see the search terms.
Google Search Console now tracks Instagram posts. What the query data really tells a creator, what it is not, and what to do with it.
August 6, 2026The Instagram media kit, 2026 edition (what to put on it, and where each number comes from)
Templates are the easy part. Which numbers belong on a 2026 Instagram media kit, where to pull each one, and why the PDF is stale the day you export it.
July 30, 2026Instagram's Replace Audio keeps your likes. It will not bring your reach back.
Replace Audio preserves a post's likes, comments, shares and reach. Instagram says it gives no ranking advantage. What it is actually good for.
July 30, 2026Instagram will dub your Reels. Your view count and your sellable reach just split.
Instagram's AI translations now cover more languages, so your views can land in countries a brand isn't paying for. What to check and how to price it.
July 30, 2026The best time to post on Instagram is not on anyone's chart
Best-time charts average everyone into a slot that fits no one. Your audience's active hours are already in your dashboard: a 5-minute lookup, a two-week test.
July 27, 2026Why did my Instagram reach drop? Split the number before you blame the algorithm
Reach is two audiences in one number, followers and discovery, and they fall for different reasons. What to split, what to rule out, the test that settles it.
July 27, 2026Instagram media kit: what brands actually check (and what creators keep putting in instead)
78% of brands ask for a media kit before talking and spend a minute on it, checking six things: audience fit, real followers, engagement, recency, rates, proof.
July 26, 2026What's a good Instagram engagement rate in 2026? (Why every benchmark you found disagrees)
Benchmarks say 0.5%. Your insights say 4%. Both are right. They use different denominators. Here's how to read your real engagement rate.
July 23, 2026What to charge for an Instagram Reel in 2026 (a formula, not a guess)
Follower count is the wrong number. How growing creators price a Reel from reach and engagement: a worked example and the mistakes that cost you money.
July 17, 2026