Case Study: 1 month, 1,200 Instagram Followers
Hey, Wealthy Affiliate ;)
Today I would like to share my experience and knowledge about Instagram. I am not social marketing pro and I am rather new to Instagram so take my words with a grain of salt. The experience I am about to describe worked very well for me and I am sure it will work for many other niches.
On March 6th I started a brand new Instagram account and on April 6th that account had over 1,200 followers. Please note these are not bots but real people who like photos, comment and tag their friends.
The Secret
There are 2 main secrets to "instagram fame": post content and be social.
The content.
Now, I am posting photos of very specific motorcycles. Sure enough, I don't have a bunch of motorcycles to take pictures of so I simply repost other people's photos. It's important to note that I tag the original poster in every photo.
At first I was asking the original Instagram poster if I can "regram" their image. Most of them called me crazy for even asking... all of them said: "I would love it if you shared my photos with others!". So it started like that. Then I added a text in my profile: "Tag us in your photos". This resulted in many people tagging me and asking to repost their image. As long as I credit the original owner everyone is happy. Also my followers can now follow the original posters so it's a win-win.
The hashtags
Hashtags are VERY important because this is how people find your images on Instagram. I looked at my main competitors and used the hashtags they use. No need to reinvent the wheel here ;)
Being Social
Besides simply posting the images I also like images from other users, I comment on images and I follow users from time to time.
Simply liking photos will not result in much. However, following people will result in them following you. I'd say the follow-back rate is anywhere between 30%-50% in my case although it's hard to be figure out the exact numbers.
In my opinion COMMENTING on photos gets the best follow results.
So there you go. Post content consistently (I try to post at least twice a day). Like, comment and follow others.
Profit
I am seeing some traffic to my site from Instagram but I am not actually asking people to visit my site. In short, I am not making any money from this... YET.
I am busy with a few major projects right now so I don't have to much free time. Once I get more time I'll figure out what exactly I'll be promoting to these followers and I already know how I will be doing it.
For example, I could do a "Win a Tshirt Contest" or something along these lines and I am sure I would get many more followers from this. However, I'd probably be blogging about it when the time comes.
Don't be shy to ask questions and leave comments ;)
Alex
Recent Comments
64
Very nice, I didn't now that you can use Instagram for business though because it's just all pictures,, Would you mind sharing how to start? Actually the main question is that is it possible to get people to come to your website from Instgram?
Well there isn't much that I didn't describe... open an IG account related to your niche, start posting, following, liking, commenting... and from time to time you can tell people to take an action (visit your site, like your photo, etc.)
Look at your competitor's accounts and see what they're doing ;)
I actually have an account and I am quite familiar with Instagram for sociable purposes. My real question is that can you get people to come to your website from Instagram?
Oh totally. As I mentioned in another comment, I know someone who's getting 20,000 visitors to his site (per month) from Instagram. I have seen some businesses really take off using that platform. So yeah, it can work :)
I will be writing a new post in couple of months once I start monetizing my IG account ;)
Ohh got it.
Here is an example of a post from a company that went from pretty much ZERO to over $350k in sales in 12 months. Instagram is one of their very important sources of income ;)
They write their domain name in the photo description (not clickable). I have seen other accounts simply say something like: "Link in our profile description" and the link in the bio is actually a real link.
Another example.
This one comes from Foundr.
So you see an image and the image description says: Download our free step by step guide by pressing the link in our bio.
They posted that pic 5 hours ago, it has over 800 likes and I am sure quite a few people clicked on their link ;)
Oh, I see, I am getting grasp of it,, So if people want to do an action, they have to go to the main page and click the link there? (I've just made a new account and figured to put a website.)
Pretty much. This is why content quality is so important! You have to post great stuff so people would be compelled to go through the trouble of finding your link ;)
thanks Alex i am going to head on over to check it out (don't know much about social sites)... Yeah i know lol... and no i haven't been living under a rock either :)
Hahaha ;)
I decided to give it a try because I spoke to someone who built a 100k following on Instagram in less than a year. Now they are getting 20,000 unique visitors per month (to their website) from Instagram alone. So yeah...
Dude that's awesome... guess I am going to have to knuckle down on the social seen lol... the problem for me is how to branch out when starting out in general getting follows etc. meaning as a whole not including friends, family...I am thinking it's about how the while social seen works. but those numbers are solid man definitely
I guess different niches need a different approach. For instance I have no idea how to get followers on Instagram for my "Online Marketing blog"... but for niche like modified motorcycles Instagram is perfect!
That's for sure Alex, those number are impressive didn't know social networking can be that powerful.. the only way I know about social networking/marketing are from people trying to sell the next instant millionaire product.
hahaha, yeah, those aren't the greatest examples ;)
I will be releasing a podcast episode in 2 week where my guest explains how they turned a $3k website into a $365k earner within a year... mostly using social media ;) Some powerful stuff!
that's awesome..It's great knowing that it's possible without someone lurking and waiting to up sell you on the answer lol
OMG, no Alex! Not another flippin' social site to maintain.. my head is spinning!
Congrats on your success with Instagram buddy! Hope that traffic turns into sales for you real soon :)
C
Hahaha, I am trying Instagram for this specific project because I believe IG crowd goes well with the niche ;)
I think it would work great with one of my sites too.. so will look into it. I'm still not sure I 'get' Pinterest though.. are they similar?
C
As far as I know Pinterest is mainly targeted to women of certain age.... to be honest I never figured out Pinterest :(
Haha, maybe I'm not of that age yet, and that's why I don't 'get' it! Glad I'm not the only one!
C
Hahaha, I knew someone would comment on that.
I am actually started a side project in "beard grooming" niche. Won't talk much about until sales start coming in ;)
Ok...Just promise you'll remove the suspense soon, because you're going to get your sales through Instagram.....
Shirley
Actually I have yet another Instagram account for that business ;)
Just ordered first batch of products from China so it's going to take a while till everything is live.
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Enjoyed the read Alex.
Thanks for checking it out, man ;)