Hi, welcome to the new episode of Make Marketing Yours.
Before I go into today's’ topic. I just wanted to share a couple of things with you. I was out for a month and didn’t do my podcast because my parents were visiting from overseas and I haven’t seen them for 4 years. Before they came, I have 8 episodes ready, and I just need to record them. I thought I am going to do that before they arrived. And of course, things happened, and I didn’t get a chance to do it. I had two choices – do it or leave it. At the end I have decided to leave it. Why putting on so much stress when you just know that you couldn’t do it. Is the sky going to fall or is the world going to disappear? Nope. I have learnt to just do what I can do. Then I got flu on the day my parents left, so another week without doing any podcast. The only thing I could have done better is to announce it at my last episode and to let my listeners know that I will be off for a couple of weeks. I did receive a couple of messages and asked me if I was ok. Thank you for those who left me messages.
Ok, back to today’s episode. I am going to talk more on Instagram.
Instagram is a huge social network with over 1 million active users – a user base that is continuing to grow even now with no signs of slowing down. It is quick to manage thanks to its largely visual nature and has some of the best engagement on the web.
Many companies use Instagram to boost their products and services to extraordinary popularity. There are countless ‘Instagram celebrities’ who make a living from posting to Instagram alone. Some of them get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single post.
That tells you something about how much big companies value Instagram!
However, there are many businesses still failing to gain any momentum on the platform. That’s because they’re stuck posting the same content day after day, not providing any value for their audience, and not quite ‘getting it’ when it comes to what sticks or what strategies work. So stay with me, I’m going to change the way you view Instagram and the way your business operates.
First, we’ll see how you can create a real movement by understanding what makes Instagram tick. Then we’ll get into details – the tips and tricks that make any Instagram account grow faster. We’ll start with the big picture, then get down to the details. And speaking of big picture, that’s what Instagram is all about for business. It’s about selling a dream or a ‘value proposition’. Being very visual, Instagram lends itself to promoting feelings over figures – it shows people who are successful, who are happy, or who are very trendy.
This creates an excitement reaction in the viewer, who is socially motivated to want to do the same things and feel the same way. That’s why we follow aspirational accounts, and it’s why Instagram posts have the potential to influence more so that anything you can accomplish on Twitter.
Like people say: a picture is worth a thousand words!
The simple filters that Instagram offers allow anyone to take an ordinary everyday moment from their life and make it look ‘beautiful’ or at the very least, artistic. In doing so, they alter our focus and find the beauty and the appeal in our lives. And to this day, Instagram is filled with hipsters taking photos of their food, or of glasses standing alone on tables. Then there are photos of journals, carefully placed on desks surrounded by coffee and potted plants. There are other corners of Instagram of course. There is a huge fitness community, for example, filled with photos of people looking tanned and muscular while jogging down the beach. Travel is absolutely huge. Beauty and beauty products likewise have a big place. And fashion is perfectly suited to this visual medium.
Art and photography do well on Instagram too. And there is a larger silver-surfer contingent than you might think, made up particularly of people who enjoy activities like hiking, bird spotting, sewing etc.
Then there is also a concept of ‘stunting’ on Instagram.
What is stunting? It’s the act of creating an account in order to portray a particular image, that actually isn’t authentic. Most often? It means looking extremely wealthy and successful. For example, then, someone might post an image of their hand on the wheel of a Lamborghini, wearing a Rolex and with a stack of cash on the seat next to them. In reality though, they are testing the car at a show-room, the Rolex is a knock-off, and the cash is just $100 that they withdrew in small notes. Believe it or not, people actually make a living from being stunting! I personally think this goes too far. I don’t believe in ‘fake it till you make it’ kind of concept. You should be who you are, no matter where you show up.
It is the same for your business. You can post about the lifestyle and using the filters and your photography in order to make it all look amazing and desirable, you can make an account that is highly persuasive, and that will grow exponentially. Rather than just a corporate brand. It’s why companies like Apple are so successful – they speak to the creative side, the showy side, and the aspirational side of the buyer. That’s what Instagram will let you do. But again, keep it real.
With all that said, you need to make sure you are posting images and videos that help to convey the message you wish to portray. Ideally, someone should see one of your images and feel inspired and moved – in turn seeking out your content to learn more.
For many, this means taking photos that are as attractive as possible – so if you have photography skills, then that’s ideal! Each photo should somehow tell a story, and show the benefits of the product or service you’re offering. At the same time, it also means sharing videos – which actually have higher engagement than video on Instagram! But what if you aren’t an amazing photographer or you aren’t confident in your skills? Fortunately, there are some things you can do to get around that.
Both pictures and videos should be edited in order to get the very most from them – this way, you can turn a boring photo into something truly eye-catching. There are a lot of software out there can do the job. The most popular one is Canva. This is also an opportunity to add text, effects, and more. Instagram also now offers basic editing allowing you to add things like effects, or to alter the contrast and shadows etc. This is an easy way to ‘fix’ a photo that perhaps came out a little over-exposed for instance. Video can be edited meanwhile using Final Cut, Adobe Premiere, or even iOS software like Luma Fusion. This way, you can chop together a long piece of footage to be punchier and more exciting. Add some music and colour grading, and you can make your video much more impactful.
Another option is to use stock photography! You can find royalty-free photo sites, or pay a small monthly or yearly fee to get access to thousands of photos. Like Envato Elements which l use for my agency. Here, you’ll find huge lists of photos that are available for you to use and even to edit.
And that’s the key point because you can edit photos in order to make them unique to your brand. For example, if you have a fitness business, then you can take photos of people in the gym or running on the beach, and then add motivational quotes over the top and some filters. These kinds of accounts are extremely easy to run and maintain, and yet they are highly successful because they tick all the boxes we’re looking at. You can download an image of someone jogging on the beach, turn it black and white, then add some beautiful text with a fancy font on top. It just takes a few moments to learn the editing skills and to get access to the account. The same strategy can work whether you’re selling cars, a dating website, or practically anything else. The best bit? It ticks all the boxes we’re looking for: allowing you to convey your value proposition, create photos that stand out, and help your audience to feel something that motivated them to buy.
If you think it is too much work to do and there is not something that you’re interested in doing? Outsource to other people to do it. I help a lot of my clients just to do social media posts. The next trick is to make sure that they are getting found and that they are getting engagement. So how often should you post? A lot of businesses, on average, recommend posting 1-3 times per day in order to achieve maximum engagement. They recommend posting between 10am-3pm for local businesses, or 6pm if you have a global audience. Well, I think it depends on your business. What products or services are you selling. For eCommerce business, yes I would think to post multiple times a day is good. But if you have a consulting business, I think once a day or 1 in 2 days would be enough.
The next tip: post in portrait orientation wherever possible. This will increase the amount of space your photo takes up in a vertical feed, and it will increase the amount of time your audience sees it for as a result!
Next: use the right hashtags. Instagram lets you add up to 30 hashtags for each image post, and that means you have thirty opportunities to help people find you. Hashtags that are too popular will mean your content gets drowned out the moment you post, while those that are too niche won’t bring enough views in. Aim for that happy sweet spot in the middle, but also use a range of hashtags with a couple at both end of the spectrum.
Finally, make sure you engage with your audience using every other available trick. You can pay for sponsored posts and ads, but you actually don’t need to if you focus on answering the comments on your posts, commenting on other people’s posts, and liking their photos. Follow people in your niche too, and try to use hashtags and mentions to get noticed by bigger brands.
Follow 20 new accounts, and you’ll likely get 10 follows back as long as they are relevant and especially if you’ve engaged with them in the past. And remember: this growth is exponential over time. Using Instagram’s Live Video and Stories is another way you can engage more – especially as these will sometimes notify users that you’ve just posted. That’s a great way to interact in a more personal and direct manner with your audience, which in turn means that you can build that trust and authority.
Finally, work with other creators to do ad swaps and to promote each other.
If you do all this, if you are consistent, and if you put real effort into delivering a message to your audience – then there is every chance that you could generate AT LEAST 100 new followers a day. And because this growth is exponential… the sky is the limit!
Thank you for joining me today.