TRICKY TERRITORY

For small fashion brands reliant on Instagram for marketing and sales, the photo-sharing app's algorithm changes have laid bare a litany of problems

- HITANSHI KAMDAR

Let's admit it: Instagram has become an extension of our everyday lives. Having grown up with the app, we've changed along with it - from posting highly filtered brunch pictures to curating aesthetic feeds and embracing photo dumps and memes with reckless abandon; we've been relying on it, almost exclusively, for social validation. Over the last year, however, said validation has taken a hit, with the engagement on our posts plummeting. But while this reduced online clout may only inflict mental strain on some, the damage is much more significant for others.

As a direct reaction to the growing popularity of TikTok, Instagram announced its move to prioritizing video posts over static images, resulting in a dramatic drop in the organic visibility of photos on the app, leaving numerous nascent fashion brands grappling with the repercussions of their most effective form of advertising taking a hit.

Mohini Biyani, co-founder of clothing label 1995, credits the success of her brand to Instagram, "As a small business with little to no knowledge about marketing, we were solely dependent on the app for all our sales, and we still are, despite launching our website. The platform has helped us reach audiences all over India and vice versa despite operating out of a small town." The brand started as a visual space before expanding into clothing but has had to sacrifice its niche for popularity with the new algorithm. "As much as we don't want to fall prey to following trends, the only way for a small business to survive and grow on Instagram is to hop on the trends bandwagon. No matter how much you want to create a niche and build something different, it will rarely get the recognition you think it deserves," Biyani tells us.

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