The subtle art of soft launching your relationship on Instagram

From someone who did it herself, here are some tried-and-tested ways to soft launch your RS on the gram

By Natalie-Elizabeth Tan - 6 Jun 2023

Credit: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan and @kourtneykardash/Instagram

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Have you heard? Soft launching on Instagram is now the way to announce that you’re in a relationship. Gone are the days when changing your relationship status on Facebook was the de facto way of letting others know you were now all loved up.

An Instagram soft launch is akin to a teaser, giving your friends, family and followers a taste of what’s to come. It’s subtle and tasteful, alluding to the fact that you now have someone special in your life without being too lovey-dovey and in-your-face.

And how is this different from a good ol’ relationship hard launch? With a hard launch, you straight up tell everyone two things — that you’re in a relationship, and you’re in a relationship with that person. A hard launch would be something along the lines of posting a selfie of you two smooching (please don’t…), or a photo of you with a caption that makes it clear you guys are a couple. Basically, a hard launch is explicit while a soft launch is implicit.

A soft launch can also be a way to protect yourself and save face if needed as it protects their anonymity. Let’s be honest here, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if you hard launched your new relationship, only to have to archive the photo a while later if things — touch wood — ended up not working out?

Now that we’ve established that a soft launch is the way to go, how exactly does one execute a relationship soft launch on the gram? There are several ways this can be done, and as someone who did this herself, I’m here to tell you all the different ways you can start subtly posting your boo.

Dinner table

Credit: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan

1/8

With this photo, you’re not just showing your followers that you’re at the hottest Thai resto in town, because there’s a lil extra something in the photo… their mysterious hands! Tag the location but not your partner’s Instagram handle. This leaves just enough room for speculation — the spread shows that it’s a dinner for two, and judging from the accessories, it’s clearly a man opposite you. Oooh, who could he be?

Thoughtful gift

2/8

If your partner gave you a thoughtful gift, show it off. Take a picture of their care package, sweet note, bouquet, whatever… The point of it is to show everyone how amazing your new lover is. Just be sure to do it tastefully — no cheesy sappy captions, just a simple thank you or heart emoji will suffice. And if you want to let others know exactly who is performing these sweet gestures for you, tag your partner!

Or you can do something a little like what I did:

3/8

My boyfriend surprised me with a bouquet of flowers, and they were simply too pretty to not post! While I had never posted pictures of us before, I tagged him in the photo and added a caption that credited him for the gorgeous fresh blooms.

Dessert date

Credit: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan

4/8

Who doesn’t love a tantalising sweet treat, or at least a picture of it? The next time you go on a dessert date, show off your dessert, and your date while you’re at it!

Bonus points if there’s bodily contact.

Acts of service

Credit: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan

5/8

Did your boo cook you your favourite dish? Great! Take a photo of it and post it with a caption that makes it obvious they cooked for you. Something like: “I can’t believe you went to all this effort!” or “You’re the best!” ought to do the trick.

The same goes for other things they have done for you, such as picking you up from work, or attending an event as your plus-one, especially if said event is not their scene. For the former, a picture of them at the steering wheel would be great, while a photo of their back (or of you two, if you’re comfortable with that) with the caption: “Thank you for coming with me” would work well for the latter situation.

Back view

Credit: Natalie-Elizabeth Tan

6/8

A surefire way to get your followers talking is a titillating photo of your mysterious lover’s back — whether you’re perusing a cute little vintage store or taking in the sunset.

Intertwined hands

7/8

Take a page from Kourtney Kardashian’s book and soft launch your significant other the way she did with Travis Barker. She simply posted a photo of them holding hands, making it clear she’s cuffed. No caption necessary!

8/8

You can also do it the way Adele launched her relationship with sports agent Rich Paul — by casually inserting a photo of you two in one of the later slides in an Instagram carousel post (see the third slide of her post!). Whether you tag them or not, the photo will do all the talking.

The subtle art of soft launching your relationship on Instagram

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Dinner table

Thoughtful gift

Dessert date

Acts of service

Back view

Intertwined hands

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