Madeleine Park

A creator with 8,000 highly engaged followers can often outperform someone with 100,000 followers who rarely receive comments, saves, or shares.

Many creators have huge spikes in views, but their engagement returns back to normal just a week later. The creators that build long term success are not necessarily the ones who go viral the most. They're the ones who know how to capitalize on the momentum they have from the viral video.

Likes and followers are not important anymore. In 2026, the creators and brands that are successful on Instagram are the ones that understand how to measure content performance beyond metrics.