As many of you noticed, I started a new Instagram account (@FreedomEvermore) a few weeks ago. Even though I have 10K+ followers on my Planet Manel account, I decided that Freedom Evermore is my main account from now on. Now you might think, why would you do that? Many Instagrammers would love to have 10K+ followers and starting over, means that I will lose all these followers (and losing the SwipeUp, which I admit.. I do miss!). This is true. But I have a very good reason. Instagram was not giving me any joy anymore and I will tell you why.
Why did I start a new Instagram account?
I started Planet Manel to stay in touch with like minded people and to promote my blog. In the beginning it grew very slowly, then it grew very quickly for a while and then it slowed down a bit more again. Which was fine, because I kept the same group of people I was interacting with and it was fun. But then from about April/May this year my interaction went down down down. I didn’t know why, because I wasn’t doing anything different. Because of this I was less and less active. I didn’t post as much anymore and I didn’t really comment on anything anymore. Less people were seeing my posts, I lost followers and I went from 250-500 likes a post to 30-40 likes. I maybe got 1-2 comments on every post and only a few DM’s a 
week. The fun was gone and for months I was not motivated enough to be active. When I saw that more people had this problem, I started to research it a little and found out that this is becuase of the algorithm that Instagram changed, around spring time. For a while I tried really hard to beat it and to get back to where I was. A lot of my followers stopped following me over the summer and I felt like it was an impossible job to get back in touch. So I started to play with the idea of starting something new, but I wasn’t sure for a long time. However, bit by bit I started to see benefits if I would. I was also able to start fresh, create a new style and to grow a super strong community from the start. So about a month ago I decided that I was going to give it a try. Great decision!
Confession time!
When my Planet Manel account really started to grow (a few years ago), I was spending a lot of time on my phone and I wanted to reduce this. I thought by buying likes (that were given automatically on the hashtags I provided), I was still able to give likes, whilst spending less time on my phone. And this worked for a while. I actually met lovely people through this, but I also noticed that I got more distant from my followers this way. So I maybe did this for about a year and then stopped it again. I think, because I did this, my account was seen as dodgy and the algorithm hit me hard in the beginning of this year. Even though I stopped paying for likes ages ago. So please learn from this.. and never do this. It doesn’t work long term and eventually it takes away all the fun. There is no winning.
Let’s beat the algorithm!
When starting my new account I researched and learned more about the algorithm. I don’t want this to happen again, so I prepared myself from the start. I also really want to build a strong community. I do not only want to focus on the relationship I have with my followers, but I want my followers to be a real group of like minded people, with lots of interaction. This way we can use Instagram to help each other, to inspire each other and to motivate each other. I want to make it fun again! Many of you told me that you suffer from the algorithm and this is why I decided to write down everything I know and this way we can help each other. I divided it into 2 simple sections ‘What to do’ and ‘What not to do’. There are tips to work with the algorithm, but also tips to make your account more attractive to people. Let’s make Instagram fun again and use it the way we want to; let’s spread positive energy! Are you with me?!
WHAT TO DO:
-Post every day: Try to at least post once a day. This will make sure that the algorithm (and your followers) knows your account is ‘active’.
-Post videos: Instagram really is upping their video share. They want you to spend as much time on their app as possible. Pictures make someone stay for a few seconds and videos can makes people stay minutes.
-Swap your personal account to a business account: this way you can keep track of the analytics and, for example, make better choices of what and when to post.
-Post when people are most active: Check where most of your followers are from and makes sure your post when they are awake and active (popular times: early morning after waking up, lunch time and around dinner time).
-Use hashtags: use popular hashtags that are resonating with the picture you are posting and with what your account is about.
-Use Instagram Stories: Post a few stories a day, throughout the day. This will keep your followers see you a few times a day and they are more likely to connect with you.
-Encourage your followers to turn on notifications: By turning on notifications, the person makes sure they will not miss anything you post. This way your posts will not get ‘lost’.
-Go live from time to time and save it: this way you automatically move to the beginning of everyone’s stories.
-Tag locations: This makes it easy to find things for your followers. This doesn’t only make your post more interesting, but it also will show your picture to everyone who looks at that particular location.
-Pre write and plan: Plan your posts. This way you will be more consistent. Write your posts (a week or weeks) in advance and make sure you have enough content to go with it. There are even certain apps that will help you with this. They will help you showing what your account will look like and you can also schedule your posts. This will help you with timing, but also with spending less time thinking and writing during the day. This way you can focus on interacting a lot more.
-High quality pictures: A high quality picture will attract more people to your post/account than a poor quality picture. Simple as that. Bright pictures often do better than dark pictures, but you can mix it up as well.
-House style: Before posting anything, create a house style. Use the same: filters, colours, fonts etc. Make sure that your followers will recognise your style. People are also naturally attracted to things that look pretty and in harmony.
-Overall look: More people will be attracted to your account when the overall look is better. This is also part of your house style actually. Choose a few colours and stick with it. Show harmony and just make it look attractive.
-Meaningful posts: Make sure that your posts mean something and add something to someone’s life.
-Ask away: Ask questions in your posts, this way it will make your followers think about what you wrote and it is more likely they will write a comment.
-Comment: Many people don’t know, but comments are more important than likes. I personally think they are more fun too! Comments make you more visible and visible for longer.
-Be personal and real: I like it when I can see the real person behind the account and so this is the same for your followers. Make sure that people can see you and you being real. Post pictures and videos of you, your life and of what you are all about. You can make it as personal as you want of course, that is all up to you.
-Shoutouts/tagging: Show your love, appreciation and support by tagging people and giving them shoutouts. I really like this and I also discovered a lot of really inspiring people on Instagram through this.
-Run contests, challenges and giveaways: This is fun and makes your followers more engaged, also with each other! It also makes you visible for the followers of your followers and this way you can meet more awesome people.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
-Pay for followers or likes: Never buy followers or likes. When the algorithm picks up on this, your account will be listed as spam and this is no good. You will be less visible for everyone.
-Edit your post: You can edit your post, but wait 2 hours after posting. So please wait with adding/taking away things or with correcting any spelling mistakes. The algorithm finds this suspicious and it results in you moving down, what makes you less visible.
-Comment with just emoticons: Instagram do not recognise an emoticon as a comment, so always make sure you add text.
Conclusion
After reading all this, I hope you can see that the most important thing on Instagram is to be real and interactive. And if you think about it, and what you will notice when you apply all this, is that Instagram will be so much more fun this way. So in a way I think that the algorithm helps you. I hated it at first, but it also showed me that the way to enjoy it and to get more out of it, is to be more active and real. I now get more likes, comments and DM’s with 150+ followers than I got with 10K+ followers. My followers can see me again and I can see them. I met so much beautiful people through this within a month. It also challenges me to actually read things and to actually be inspired and be motivated. So, instead of trying to fight it, go with it!
Did you know all this and are you already applying some of these things? If yes, great job and let’s connect. If not, try it out and let’s connect! Let us all connect! See you on Instagram! I want to thank you for reading this and I hope it will help you. X
I always eat my sauerkraut with my salads, but something I also really like for once in a while is this delicious sandwich. I don’t eat bread very often, so this is a real treat. Last Friday I published a recipe on how to make your own sauerkraut. It will go perfectly with this recipe, but if you do not have any on hand (it will take 2 weeks for the sauerkraut to be finished), you can perfectly fine use sauerkraut you bought in the supermarket. The nice thing about this recipe isn’t only that it contains a good dose of protein, a good amount of healthy fats, but also the perfect combination of probiotics (the sauerkraut) and prebiotics (garlic, onion and mushrooms), which makes this a real treat for your gut!
GUT TREAT
When I was a child I basically liked all food, except for a very few things. One of those few things was, sauerkraut. In the Netherlands people make a potato dish with is, called ‘stamppot’. I did not like this at all. The sour taste, I just really didn’t enjoy it. Nowadays it’s the food I eat on daily basis. I didn’t eat it for years and years as I knew I didn’t like it, but about half a year ago I tried it again for the beneficial probiotics and I actually really liked it. Especially in a salad or as a topping on a nice sandwich. I now eat it almost every day. Which is super good for my gut. I always buy a big jar in the supermarket, but when 
SAUERKRAUT
-Put it in a clean jar and push it down as much as you can, so all the cabbage is underneath the juice.
What is the best kombucha?
Brewing your own kombucha:
What do you need to brew your own kombucha?
First Fermentation
Second Fermentation
What is a Scoby hotel?
What can go wrong?
Shoes.. I think we all like shoes. From the stereotype shoe addict to the person who likes practicality and comfortability. As a teenager I thought it was cool to have as much shoes as I could possibly have. I started a collection and it actually didn’t matter if I liked them or not. Nowadays I am super picky! I actually don’t like any shoes, apart from a few of the same types. But then still, whenever there is a stitch in the wrong place or in the wrong colour or any little detail I don’t like, I find them a no no. Mostly I like basic things, cuz I find something ‘too much’, quite quickly. Since I’m vegan, I also want my shoes to be vegan. And lately, I also want them to be sustainable, meaning, made of 100% sustainable materials, ethically sourced.. and of good quality. You can imagine that I didn’t buy shoes for quite a while, because this was impossible to find.
A while ago, via a friend on Instagram I discovered PoZu shoes. PoZu shoes are vegan. At first I saw they do a StarWars theme. I liked the look of most of the shoes, but I am not a StarWars fan myself and it felt weird walking around in something that is linked to something I don’t like. Then I scrolled a little further down and I discovered that they also do non StarWars themed shoes and.. I loved them! They are like the Converse style, but with their own shape. I got so so excited! And on top of that I discovered that they are sustainable, made with natural rubber and organic cotton (and guess what.. ethically sourced!). I was so happy that I instantly ordered a pair. Black ones, cuz I like black shoes the best. They came very quickly and 
I was so nervous to try them on, because I really wanted them to fit. They did! They didn’t only fit, but they were super comfortable too. Because they feel so different and comfortable I wanted to know why this is and I discovered that they have a footbed made out of coconut fibre. How original! I loved them so much, that I ordered another 2 pair on that same day. I almost wanted to just get 2 pair of the exact same shoes, but eventually I went for a white variety (nice for the summer) and a blue one (in the lower model). They arrived very quickly again and I love them so much.
I got them in the summer and I especially wore the black ones a lot. If I now turn them around, the soles still look exactly the same from when I bought them. They are such good quality. This and all the other reasons why I am so excited, is why I wanted to share this with you, because I think shoes like this should be out there more. I often get questions, about where to get sustainable fashion. Well.. these are the shoes of the future, made of all natural materials.
Their new collection looks amazing as well! They now have shoes made out of apples and I had to keep myself from buying another pair. I mean, it would define the fact of sustainable shoes if I’d buy new shoes every month. Though, their newest shoes (the VIM) are revolutionary I’d say. They are water proof! I might get a pair of those, because they come in super handy on my vanlife travels. Especially in the UK, where it is so wet. They will be perfect to use as light hiking shoes.
I almost didn’t want to do anything for Halloween, because I’m not the biggest fan. But than I made a 2 layered pumpkin birthday cake for my lovely pig Oliver (it was his 2nd birthday!) and it was so delicious, that I had to make it into a recipe. Around this time of the year pumpkins are everywhere! Go into any supermarket and you will see big boxes with huge pumpkins everywhere and because I love pumpkins so much, I’m always tempted to buy one (or 2..), every time I step into a supermarket. Most people buy them to carve them and make them into pieces of art. Sometimes they don’t even realise what tasty things you can make with them and how delicious they are. So that is why I thought I will buy 1 of those pumpkins and I will show you 3 recipes you can make out of that 1 pumpkin. If you want to carve your pumpkin, you can still make 2 out of 3 recipes. As I said before, there will be the pumpkin cake (and only this recipe is worth buying a pumpkin), but I will also tell you how to roast the pumpkin seeds (sooo addictive) and how to make a big batch of the creamiest pumpkin soup ever (unless you carve your pumpkin, then you won’t have enough for soup). You can also follow my pumpkin soup recipe 
PUMPKIN CAKE 
ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS
PUMPKIN SOUP 
Out of all the baking, I think I make banana bread most often. It’s a great thing to make when you have ripe bananas (which I always have), it’s easy and everyone loves it. This is why it is so so weird that there isn’t a single banana bread recipe on my blog yet! How is this even possible?? That needed to change. So I made my favourite ever banana bread, to share it with you. I think it’s a great autumn recipe too, with lots of delicious cinnamon. I do not always feel like it, but you can also add 1/2 a tsp of ginger powder or all spice, to get the taste of autumn a little bit more. It’s up to you! This banana bread recipe is free from refined sugar and made with coconut oil. I don’t think I will ever call it healthy, but let’s say that it is not that bad for you. Unless you eat it with (plant based.. duhh!) vanilla ice cream, like I often do (sooo good!). Just an extra tip.. after it is all cooled down, slice it up and freeze them separately. This way you can have a fresh slice of banana bread for snack whenever you want to.
BANANANANANA
An extra recipe this week! Tomorrow my ultimate banana bread recipe will come online, but I wanted to add this one as well, as I already made my first few cups of this and I noticed that people around me are in need of this recipe (I’m not ill or anything, but I started to drink this to prevent this from happening). I thought this recipe was on my blog already, but I was very wrong. I gave this recipe to so many people in the past and I often use it myself. Especially in the colder seasons, which is now. You have probably noticed the (weather) change as soon as autumn started. Rain and moisture in the air.. people are putting their heatings back on (including me! A few times now I was super happy that I’ve got a little heater in my van), spreading germs everywhere.. the perfect recipe for getting a cold and the flu! This needs a counter-recipe and that is exactly what this is. I swear this recipe works. It’s simple, but it saved me so many times and the many people I shared it with benefitted as well. This isn’t only good for when you feel under the weather by the way, but it’s also a great way to prevent getting ill. I hope it will work for you as well!
MAGIC TEA 
Macaroni and cheeeeeeese guys! The ultimate comfort food, am I right?! Confession: I think I actually never had macaroni and cheese before I went vegan. I only know that I love the vegan version. So even though it’s hard for me to compare the dairy and this non dairy version, I can tell you that I love this version a lot. It’s so creamy, easy to make (just remember to soak your cashews!) and full of flavour.. Everything you want when you think of good comfort food. So I dare you to try it and tell me if you love it as much as I do. I would love to hear if it hit the spot and if it satisfied your cravings. I served it with a little bit of fresh parsley and extra black pepper. Yum!
MACASHEW
Planet Manel 