Boost Reach & Engagement on Instagram with candid photos

Are you a small business owner wondering if photos even work on Instagram anymore or if it’s all Reels, video, and Canva graphics now?

 I’m breaking down why candid, casual photos are officially back on Instagram, what’s driving the shift, and exactly how you can use them to get more reach, saves, and real connection without Canva, fancy cameras, or perfect lighting.

If you’ve been feeling pressure to constantly create polished Instagram content or show up on video just to stay visible, this episode will give you a refreshing alternative that actually works right now.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Instagram is favouring real, imperfect photos again
• What “candid content” actually means for business accounts
• How to use photo-based carousels to boost reach and saves
• Why trust and connection matter more than polish in the age of AI
• How to create Instagram content quickly using photos you already have
• When to use photos vs Reels and how to keep both simple and effective

👉 Example mentioned in the episode:
My New Year’s Eve carousel post (created in minutes, no Canva)
 

Free Resource for Small Business Owners

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Grab my FREE content hooks to attract, nurture, and convert your ideal clients on Instagram and beyond here

Sponsor of This Episode

This episode is sponsored by Claire from Word Craft a website strategist and copywriter based in the North East of Scotland, working with clients across the UK and beyond.

Claire helps small business owners and creative entrepreneurs get their website’s words, structure, and flow right, so they attract those “I couldn’t-have-asked-for-better” clients.

You can work with Claire via:

• Done-for-you website copy & blog writing
• A strategic website audit (with a clear action plan)
• One-to-one advisory support so you can confidently DIY your copy

Connect with Claire on Instagram → @wordcraftclaire

• Social Media Strategy and Support: Join Get Seen Get Sales and get the tools, support, strategies & accountability you need to grow your small business (product or service) on social media with confidence Learn more
• Connect with Amanda on Instagram: @amandahughes.uk
• Growth Addicts Show Notes: Read the blog + grab freebies + guest links
• Free Small Business Downloads: Access all of Amanda’s freebies in one place → Get them here
• Exclusive Discounts: Exclusive discounts on Amanda’s favourite small business tools & services → See discounts

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of Small Business Growth Addicts. I am delighted to have you here. Thanks for joining me today. I honestly feel like today's episode is like a drumroll style announcement, as you'll tell from the title. I'm talking about photos being back on Instagram. Guys, this is great news. Great news. Like, it's great news for you in so many ways. It's great news for me in so many ways. One of them being when I joined Instagram, I'm talking like way back at the start. It was perfect for me because I love photography. I love taking photographs of everything and anything. I actually do brand photography as well with small business owners. I love photography. And that was exactly why I joined Instagram personally at the very start. It was just like a one big photo album. There was no carousels, no reels, no nothing at the time. It was just single image posts. And I absolutely love it. And my relationship with photography goes way, way back to like when we would stand in line at the chemist to get the film out of our cameras developed, you know, and we would possibly have to wait a few days for that to come back as well, you know. So yes, I'm that old, but I have always loved taking photographs. Photographs to me are something that is so, so important. They're genuinely a memory frozen in time, and so this is a big announcement. Let's pause for a second to hear a word from our sponsors.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

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SPEAKER_01 2:18

Okay, so photos are back on Instagram, she says. What does that actually mean? We've been using photos on Instagram for a long time, so why is this any different? What I mean by this is that candid casual images are making a comeback to Instagram. I've been actually telling my mentorship group, GetSeen GetSales, this for a while now. If you look at my own feed on Instagram, amandahews.uk, you'll see that the carousels I've been using have been exactly that. They've been candid, relaxed images, whether it's images I've taken when I've been out and about or images from in my home, my environment, you know, they are very candid and relaxed. I believe there is two things driving this. So one is our lovely millennials. I was born in '84. Does that make me an elder millennial? So I think that some of it's been driven by our younger millennials. And there's a word for it. I hope I'm pronouncing this properly, anamoya. Correct me if that's wrong. It's a word to describe a nostalgia or a craving for an era that you've never actually experienced. And apparently, our younger millennials are feeling this and they're feeling it through their photography, where they're ditching the smartphone camera in favour of analogue, like film cameras, disposable cameras, in favour of images that are blurry, that are grainy, out of focus, you know. Like it's just honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I am to be seeing these pop up and to be able to use them now. And I think we've always been able to use them personally for Instagram, you know, you share personal photos on Instagram, that's not been a problem. But for business, we've seen images going through various stages, haven't we? We've seen polished brand shoots, we've seen Canvas slides with no images on them or an image on it in the corner, you know, in a little circle or whatever it might be. We've seen the images that we use for business on Instagram really change over the years. This is another change that's almost back to the start. It may change again. But right now, as I speak about this on the 5th of January 2026, this is actually the first episode I'm recording for this year. So happy New Year to you, actually. This is working right now. So it's been working for a while. It's something that my members of GSGS have been doing for a while. We are still using hooks and we're still using text hooks, but we're putting them on top of casual, candid images, and it's working really, really well. If you know me by now, you'll know that I love social media. It's how I've grown my businesses, and now I want to help you do the same. That's why I created Get Seen Get Sales, my mentored group for small business owners who want to get seen online and actually attract followers that convert to customers. Inside you'll get weekly content prompts, live workshops, and support on everything you need to grow confidently on social media. If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just ready to do things differently, I've got you. Head to smallbusinessgrowthaddicts.com to join us. The other thing perhaps driving this change is AI, artificial intelligence. Audiences are more suspicious than ever of looking at an image or at a video or anything at all that they see online and asking whether it's real or fake. Like this is now the first thing we ask. My husband showed me a video of something on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and that was my first thought. Is that even real? That's the world we're living in right now, and I think I feel it peaked very quickly and it's dropped off very quickly. We are suspicious when there's no typos, we're suspicious of something that looks a bit too ridiculous to be true. We're very suspicious, and it's now actually became that these human imperfections, you know, a spelling error, a typo, a word missing are actually now a trust signal. And so I'm I'm sure that that is driving this change as well. And honestly, I can't stress enough how much I am here for it. We want real, we want real faces, we want real environments, we want real voices, moments, and something I've been saying for the past few years now, which I feel is really, really coming to fruition in 2026. We want connection and community. I said actually recently on Instagram that there's this saying, you know, I'm sure you'll have heard it that it takes a village to raise a child. And I would love us to start normalising the fact that it takes a village to build a business as well. And so you need to find your people, you need to find your community, people who are there for the wins, the wobbles, and everything in between. And of course, that is the heart of my business with my mentorship group at its core. It's a social media mentorship group called Get Seen Get Sales, but it is so much more than that. You know, I've I've actually pinned a map onto the wall in my office now so that I can pin where members are because we've now got members in like America and France as well as all over Scotland and England, you know, all over the UK. It is a real community, and we are at its heart. We are growing on social media and supporting each other to do that, and I am sharing everything I know, everything I'm learning in there, tools, resources, and support. But it's so much more than that, you know. It's like members saying, I've got a market tomorrow and I've got a big spot in my face, give me your spot remedies. It's everything, and also I've just attended an event at the weekend, which was led by four members in GSGS who collaborated, they met within the group, they collaborated within the group and they put on a local event here in Ayrshire. It was a retreat day led by Susan of Reset and Rise. It was a reset and rise strong day. Four of them collaborated on this, and it was just the best day. And honestly, one of those moments in your professional life where you sort of sit back and think, wow, it's working. Like I really wanted this to be a place for small business owners to come together and grow and support each other, and it's happening right before my eyes. Let's pause there for a second to hear a word from our incredible sponsors today. Not only are they awesome businesses, they also enable me to continue to provide the podcast and all the incredible information that it comes with for free for you.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

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SPEAKER_01 9:22

So now we know what the change is. We know that we're seeing more candid, relaxed images. I've mentioned the types of cameras used as well. Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely still use your phone like I do. I actually do have some old cameras. I have a Polaroid, I've actually inherited my mother-in-law's old camera from the 70s. I believe it's a Pentax. I'm not using them for my social media photos. I am using my phone, but they're very relaxed images. You know, they're sunsets from my dog walk or the moon. They are my dog, they're me, my workspace. Have a look at my Instagram and you'll see. You know, I'm not going out my way here to access a non-digital camera, an analogue camera. That is a trend that we're seeing, but you don't have to go and access that as long as these images are just very relaxed and candid and in the moment, and there's no canva involved, and there's no lighting involved, they're just in the moment, then that's absolutely, absolutely fine. So, how to use them on Instagram and other platforms, you know, we're talking about Instagram today because I love it there, and I know that I'm gonna say 100% of the members in my community at the minute use Instagram. That's the reason why I'll always talk a lot about Instagram, but within my mentorship community, we do cover all platforms, and this trend that we're seeing just now, this shift in behaviour of using these candid casual images, is being seen across all platforms that support static images, you know, like Facebook and TikTok. You can actually repurpose a carousel onto a TikTok now, which is great. And again, it's a new feature on TikTok, so they're they're keen for people to use it and therefore push it out further. So do try that if you're using TikTok. But yeah, we're just going to use them the same way we've been creating carousels for a while now using Canva slides. We're just going to step away from Canva and we're just going to use our own images instead. Now, I wouldn't worry too much about if the image matches what you're trying to say. If you can in any way, you know, then fantastic, but just be careful that it's not too far removed from what you're saying, you know. So if you want to use an image where it's a glass of wine, for example, but you sell something related to children, um, people under 18, then that might not marry up well, you know. So I think really anything goes, but just be sensible here. Again, have a look at my own Instagram, amandahues.uk. There are tons of examples on there of my just my own carousels that I've been using recently. So yeah, so we're going to use them for our carousels. You can use them for single images posts as well, just you know, standalone images. It's still the case that carousels will double your reach for a post because it still stands that if someone scrolls and sees your single image post, you know, a single image post is just as it sounds, it's just one image that makes up your post. Then if they swipe by that, then that's that lost. But if you've got a carousel post that's a minimum of two slides, two images, then when they swipe by the first one, if they don't look, the next time they open their feed, they will be shown the second slide. So by using a carousel, even if it's just two slides, it's given your post the opportunity to be seen again, you know. So sort of double the chance there. So that's why I'm still promoting that we use carousels over single image posts. Everything is open to experimentation. I'm just here to let you know what's working right now to try and make social media easier for you. Easy, fun, and profitable. That's what we're looking for as small business owners. Now we are still using text hooks over our images, absolutely. Again, look at my own carousels and you'll see that. And these are easily done in the Instagram app itself. Again, you're not having to get into Canva, you're not having to get into any external apps here. Just open up at the Instagram app itself, create a post, put your images in, and then just hit the text button and you can write text over the top of it, you know. One of my latest carousels, it's it's a picture of me in my pajamas, fairly certain there's no brand involved, but it's not like an explicit image, you know. I actually feel like I should include this post in the show notes now just to show that's not as bad as it sounds. And I'm actually at home on New Year's Eve doing karaoke with my kids. My kids are not in the picture, it's just me. And then I've put text over the top. Happy New Year, small business owners, here's to 2026, a little subtitle at the bottom, and here's the only strategy you need in 2026 and beyond. You know, and the rest of those photos are just very candid images from my New Year's Eve bath, the cheese board, the dog walk, the trees. So this post between taking the images and adding the text and the caption and whatever, you know, like minutes, you know, absolute minutes. It's got lots of engagement, lots of likes, lots of saves. So yeah, this is a fantastic shift. It really is. So we're using them just as we would have used our slides or whatever you've been using before now, and we're still using our text hooks on top of them. Now, reels. So I've been talking about images, you know, and reels are a form of short form video. You can use images in reels, you'd have to sort of do it as a sort of slideshow, so you know it's moving through like a video, but I would say with reels, still the case to use video if possible. But we can absolutely adopt this sort of candid style in our videos as well, particularly talking head reels, as they're known as, are doing really well on Instagram just now and beyond TikTok, Facebook, etc. As it sounds, it's us talking to the camera, and they're called talking heads because it's just generally your sort of head shoulders area, isn't it, that you can see. That's what's working in reels just now, and again, that just ties back into the fact that we're looking for real faces, real voices, community and connection, and nothing perfect. I did a talking head reel last week when I was literally out walking the dog in the rain because it was just the right time for me to do it, and I thought I'm a mum of young twins, like I'm busy, I don't wear makeup unless I'm like going to a wedding or something. So, you know, I'm not gonna be made up. I would have to actually wipe my way to get my hair done and makeup and stuff. If I was looking for a really polished look to do a real, it's not gonna happen. So I just have to use what I've got, and I'm so thankful that right now that's what's working. Quick pause from our conversation because I'm wondering how you'd feel if I told you I could give you a free£50 today. Yep, if you've been thinking about moving your business bank account or perhaps you don't have a business bank account yet, I can highly recommend Monzo. And if you open an account with them via the link in today's show notes, you get a free£50. Monzo are free to bank with, I bank with them personally. It's so easy to use, and also they won Best Business Banking Provider in the UK in 2024. So if you don't have a business bank account yet or you're looking to change from where you are just now to Free Business Banking and£50 in your account, head over to spawbusinessgrowth addicts.com for the link and enjoy. So, quick recap there, get your phone out. Now, as a photographer myself, I can tell you that the best camera to use is the one that you have available to you. If that's your phone or if you can get access to, you know, an older analogue camera, whatever you can do, whatever camera you've got access to is the camera to use, but keep your photos super casual, super candid in the moment. Have a look at my own Instagram, amandahughes.uk, get some ideas there for what I'm using in carousels. Textbooks are very much still applicable. Let's still keep using them over the top of our super relaxed images. We know that carousels give posts a bit of a boost because they're shown twice. So continue to use them where you can, but it's not an absolute. If a single image post is what you want to put out there, then do it absolutely. And when it comes to reels, reels are still fantastic for growth, they're still primarily shown to non-followers, and in keeping with this candid, real sort of era that we're going through just now. Then talking heads, if you can talk to the camera, get your message across that way, still having a text hook on the screens and then captions for your words as well, because lots of people watch their phone, watch videos and whatnot on silent for various reasons, perhaps hearing impaired or just not in a position to put the sound on. So ensure you've got captions there, but you can also still use a text hook. So text hooks have not gone anywhere. It's just the images and the video of what people are enjoying seeing right now on social media that's changed. So happy creating. Do feel free to tag or send me anything that you create. I would love to see it and come and give it some love. And of course, if you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to drop me a DM on Instagram and I will speak to you soon. Take care. Thank you so much for joining us today for another episode of Small Business Growth Addicts. I hope today's episode has given you inspiration and tangible tips that you can use to grow your small business in a way that feels right for you. If you love today's episode, please head over to smallbusinessgrowthadicts.com and check out today's show notes where you can find details of our wonderful guests, sponsors, discounts, freebies, and so much more. Please also don't forget to leave a review today. Reviews are invaluable to us to help us get the show out there. Every single one is read and very much appreciated. Until next time.