Chatting Instagram’s Algorithm with Van Le
INTRODUCING VAN LE
We first stumbled upon Van’s Instagram page a few years ago and were instantly entranced. We admire Van’s photography, her creative direction and her styling. Having worked with on campaigns her across several of our clients, she’s quickly become of our favorite collaborators, who we wanted to feature on #OpenDialogues.
01 What has been your favorite brand collaboration to date and why?
My favorite collaboration thus far has to be with Clé De Peau Beauté, and I'm not even saying this because the Dialogue team put it together. I started building my relationship with the brand through a content collaboration. When I moved to Tokyo, the team was so gracious to continue to have me represent the brand by sharing what a 'Radiant Day' with Clé De Peau Beauté was like here. It was through this collaboration that I got to learn so much about skincare that I felt like the knowledge and experience that I took away from this collaboration was worth everything.
02 With Instagram's algorithm changing constantly, what strategies do you use to keep your community engaged?
Currently, I'm lucky enough to be in a position where my engagement doesn't dictate my work. I only focus on sharing content that I truly love and care about, even knowing that it might not 'perform well' due to the algorithm. Instead of aggressively fighting for exposure, I've actually cut down on using largely dominated hashtags as well. Doing so, I have actually noticed that my relationship with old followers continues to grow and I have garnered new followers who are genuinely invested in my account and content.
As someone who has been on two ends of the spectrum (the brand side, and the influencer side) I feel like the algorithm is always spoken of in a more negative light. It's true that the algorithm hasn't served me well on many days, and the same for brands, but I think that's because it speaks to people's interests rather than a profile’s likeness. Personally, I think that the obsession with engagement is kind of what's turning off a lot of audiences. For example the influx of "new posts" shares on stories, or comment pods.
“I'm lucky enough to be in a position where my engagement doesn't dictate my work. I focus on sharing content that I truly love and care about”
03 What do the next five years look like? What are your dreams for your future in this field?
Oh gosh, at the rate that the industry is growing, I can barely expect what's to come for the next few months. That said, I'm not exactly sure what the next five years will look like for me, but along the road, I'd definitely love to become a little more active in promoting sustainable/conscious fashion as it is something that I've been passionate about since the early days of fashion blogging.
04 Name one digital influencer who inspires you and why?
Nicole Warne (@nicolewarne) is a beautiful lady that I've followed since the wee days of Instagram and I'm still following her today. When it comes to inspiration, I'm more invested in how someone makes me feel. For me, Nicole has been herself since day one, her style remains the same, classy and elegant, just refined over the years. I also love how impeccably poised she is and that she never boasts or complains about her work, a level of professionalism that I aspire to have someday!
