“Don’t build on borrowed land”: The Day Instagram Took Down Our Business Page
And What It Taught Me About Ownership
Imagine spending months building up your business on Instagram, growing your community one post, one DM, one drop at a time, only to wake up and find it gone.
That’s exactly what happened to us. It was International Women’s Day, can you imagine of all days. While everyone else was posting celebratory carousels and motivational quotes, we (Dara and I) were in full-blown panic mode trying to salvage the HUNTD Instagram page.
We had just hit 2,000 organic followers and whilst it might not sound like much in a world obsessed with big numbers, for us it was meaningful. It was community. It was momentum.
And then it was gone.
Funnily some months before, I’d come across a clip of Grace Beverley speaking about how small businesses seriously underestimate the power of email marketing. I actually heard this before but GB’s message was a quick reminder for sure.
Then lets talk about the was the noise around a TikTok ban. It barely lasted longer than a blink, but the panic it stirred was loud. Even though we’re UK-based so it never would have directly affected us, it was a moment that confirmed what I’d already been feeling: these platforms are rented. You don’t own a single piece of it. In fact they own our content so if they wanted to throw up their dueces whilst screaming “arrivederci” along with your content, they can and theres very little that we can do about it.
With that said I remember having this very clear, calm prompting in my spirit:
“You need to get HUNTD off Instagram.”
It wasn’t dramatic or urgent. It just made sense. And it ended up being one of the best things we acted on.
If you’re new here, HUNTD is a digital fashion platform that serves conscious luxury shoppers. The kind of people who still believe in beautiful clothes but not waste. The ladies who want access to archive pieces, curated items, and forever fashion without compromising their values.
We speak to the woman who wants style with substance. She knows who she is. She doesn’t chase trend, she shops with intention. That’s who we created HUNTD is for.
Our Instagram was part of that story. But it wasn’t the whole story. And we thank God for that. So when it happened, yes, it hurt. Our Instagram was our grassroots. We’d grown that audience steadily, largely funnelled from our personal pages where we share our personal style and journey in what can feel like a very treacherous fashion industry. We’d shown up consistently and watched the community take shape.
And like so many other founders, especially in fashion, we started with Instagram thinking: “If I grow this page, the business will come.”
And for a while? It did. Until it didn’t. Because the moment the algorithm changes, your engagement tanks, your account gets flagged or worse deleted, you realise the whole thing was built in someone else’s house and you my dear, are just a guest.
Instagram is powerful. But it’s not a foundation. Let me be clear: I’m not anti-Instagram. I love a beautiful feed, I love a strong visual identity, my personal brand aesthetic will back me on that. But Instagram is a front window, not a storefront. If you don’t have anything built behind it, an email list, a customer journey, a place for people to land, I am not sorry to say but you’re at the mercy of something you don’t own.
And when it comes to Instagram specifically, I think there’s a deep psychological pull we don’t talk about enough. There’s this intense need to be seen. To be validated. To prove that what you’re building is “working.” And I partially blame Instagrams feedback loop, of likes, comments, saves, which can becomes addictive. I get it. I’ve felt it. However over time, I’ve had less and less desire to be seen everywhere, and more desire to show up on my own terms. Because being seen doesn’t always mean being successful.
And being successful doesn’t always mean being visible.
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Some of the most powerful brands don’t post daily. They don’t chase virality.
They’ve built something real, systems, trust, consistency. I looked at The Row’s Instagram the other day and was genuinely stunned. No product launches, no influencers holding their latest Marlo bag, just paintings, photography, and art. They don’t use Instagram to sell. They use it to signal.
Because they’ve built something so intentional, so valuable, that social media is just a soft echo of what they’ve already created. If their account was deleted tomorrow? They’d be fine. They’d carry on. Because the foundation exists far beyond the feed.
When our Instagram disappeared, I did cry and I did send SOS messages on LinkedIn to anyone with a META contact but when it was clear it wasn’t coming back, it was time to face the music and move on. I won’t pretend and say it wasn’t a set back because it was, as it was the most hassle free way to market your new business but we soon realised that we need to double down on building HUNTD differently.
Thankfully we had over 2,000 people who were already part of the HUNTD community. They were used to hearing from us through email, through WhatsApp groups, through word of mouth. We’d been nurturing those connections long before the algorithm told us ‘no bueno’.
So many small businesses are relying on visibility instead of actual infrastructure. I find that small brands and businesses are building brands that look great but can’t function without a social media login.
And it doesn’t have to be that way.
If any of this sounds familiar, or too close to home, I’m not here to scare you. I’m just here to remind you:
Email isn’t boring. It’s powerful. It builds intimacy, not just awareness.
You don’t need a viral reel. You need 100 people who trust you.
Followers don’t pay you. Customers do.
And no one can shadowban your mailing list.
WhatsApp groups are community gold. Nurture them.
We’ve now relaunched the HUNTD page: @its.HUNTD, HUNTD is alive and well, but we’re building differently.
We’re moving slower. Thinking sharper. Less dependent on platforms.
And way more focused on depth over display.
If this ever happens to you, I hope you’re not scrambling. I hope you’ve already built something strong in the background. And if you haven’t yet?
Start now. Start today. Because you don’t want to wait until you’re locked out to realise… you never actually owned the keys.
With love, lessons + strategy,
Alexis x