State of 5SR
how we started, what we've done, where we're going
5 1/2 years ago, I posted a few Instagram Stories.
Rather than peeks at my life (I was pregnant with my second son, shifting away from my longtime blog, and adjusting to the CEO role at Rhoshan Pharma), I posted a screenshot of a news story, with some commentary added in an obnoxiously bold font and a call-to-action to swipe up and read the full story.
And then I posted 4 more story frames in this format, and then kept going about my day. I did the same the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. In the beginning, there were few swipe ups and zero replies to these missives.
But I loved sharing them, and shared them every day. In time, people began engaging - replying with their own thoughts, screenshotting and sharing on their own stories, and asking me if I could save them somewhere (a weekly digest newsletter shortly followed).
That’s how #5SmartReads began. And for the following 5 years, we kept to that same format, adding a daily newsletter to the series in the summer of 2020 and adding contributors to the smart reads that fall.
In 2018, Instagram was full of professionally shot, curated images - the bright flat lays on marble surfaces with fresh flowers, high contrast street style shots, casual moments that were staged and edited to perfection. My text-filled story frames about the news and politics was different and new, and I’m proud to have been a part of the group that grew the public square on the platform.
Things have changed a lot in the past 6 years - social media and how we engage/use it, the resurgence of written content and community, and the news itself.
My own content businesses has changed as well. In 2018, my only sources of revenue from my content were modest royalties from How to Pack and meager affiliate revenue, primarily from the newsletter. As my Instagram began to grow (largely because of #5SmartReads), so did my revenue from brand partnerships that I created for the platform. As revenue grew, so did the workload and my bringing on a team to help me manage things (an incredible manager, a phenomenal editorial lead, and freelance photographers, writers, publicists, and editors).
Brand partnerships/campaigns on Instagram are 80% of my revenue, and those partnerships are dependent on the engagement from my community. My engagement and reach took a massive hit when Instagram announced their de-prioritization of news and political content. My daily #5SmartReads stories used to reach 6,000+ accounts on average - that reach was reduced to the low hundreds rapidly, and was consistent across all of my content (news-related or not).
With such low numbers, my brand revenue took a significant hit, forcing me to make big decisions about my content business and how I want to show up on social media. In addition to this financial stress, I also saw a spike in heated exchanges in my DMs about the reads I was sharing, which stressed me out even more.
All of these factors are why I chose to move
to a newsletter-only format - and the daily newsletter will always be free. I think news should be consumed with intention and with boundaries, and social media is not the place that supports either. I also welcome wider conversations about the day’s reads and the news in general, and Substack’s comments section and chats feature is a better venue for those discussions than my DMs.My own relationship with Instagram needs a reset, and moving #5SmartReads is the first step in that reset. The next step is to grow my other revenue streams and not be as reliant on Instagram campaigns.
That means more strategic campaigns focused on community and conversation, like my Women Who Do speaker series with MM.LaFleur. It means more public speaking - at conferences, at companies, and at retreats. If you are a brand or a company leader who’d like to work together in these ways, please reach out to me.
If you’ve found value in my work and would like to support it, there are a few ways of doing so:
subscribing to the paid tier of
booking a 1:1 mentoring session with me
purchasing my books (they also make great gifts!)
I was a fan on your move to newsletter and Substack because I am trying to spend less time on Insta! It’s actually easier to engage (click through to link, not hold to read …). I hope you have success.
This is so great and I relate to so much of what you said. Excited to see what the future brings for you and for Substack!