What I Learned From Instagram in a Week.
Last week, Carson and I both announced that we were making our foray into Instagram. You can check our latest activity and follow us here:
Follow Kyle: @wealthyaffiliatekyle
Follow Carson: @wealthyaffiliatecarson
This was a significant move for us because when we make a decision to do anything, we put a lot of thought into it. We weigh the pros and cons and in terms of Instagram the PROS of using it far outweigh the cons.
Some of these positives were:
(1) Turning Waste into Productivity
(2) The TRUST Factor
(3) Remaining Ahead of the Curve.
But in my first week of using Instagram, I found myself learning more than I could imagine about myself and the actual Instagram platform. I also found something very revealing about my own personal social media activity (that I will discuss).
I just wanted to spend a few minutes outlining my "first week" findings of Instagram, to help you with your own Instagram experiences and ultimately decide whether it is important to your business, integral to your business, or something that you just want to use as a typical user.
(1) Get a Business Account.
It is very easy to set this up, even within your personal account. There are several reasons that you would want a business account, but the primary ones are:
- Get More Data, More Features
- Can Use Your Instagram Account With Software
- Allows you to Post Ads
- It's Easy to Set-Up, Doesn't Cost a Penny
You will need a Facebook business page to get this set-up, and you can move to a business account at any time. So don't feel pressure to race out and do this now. There may be little application for you to get one now but there likely will be down the road. You can get instructions directly on Instagram showing you how to set this up. View instructions here. https://business.instagram.com/getting-started
(2) Like Your Website, Consistency is KEY
How do you bend the algorithms in search engines these days? By posting content with regularity and consistency, and of course offering quality content. The same thing is the case with Instagram. If you are posting to your feed and your story with frequency and regularity, people will come to expect this and anticipate this... including Instagram. You want more exposure, keep it consistent.
(3) #Hashtags Are Your Magnet
You want to use hashtags. They are important to getting reach and attracting people in similar audiences. Use them within every post (10-20 of the most relevant to the image).
(4) Automation is Available, If You Use it Right
There are several platforms that allow you to automate your posts. Some of the most popular for Instagram, from what I have seen thus far are:
- TailWind
- HootSuite
- Gramto
- HopperHQ
- MeetEdgar
All of these will suffice, with some having their advantages and disadvantages. I have primarily been using Tailwind, but I have heard that some influencers (someone that has a large active following) on Instagram favor some other platforms because they are more feature rich. You don't have to automate, but it can make your scheduling much easier.
As with ANY automation, you want to be authentic and you want to keep on top of your activity, with others engaging in your content, and you want to present your content in a way that feels REAL. Automation tools get abused and don't work if you try to remove yourself completely from the activity. That simply is not a good idea!
(5) Get Real, Be Real.
People like "real" people, real lives and real stories. Funny how that works. If you come across as overtly promotional, you are not going to have an authentic following. If you are genuine with your experience, your following is much more engaged into your Instagram posts, stories, and your overall brand.
(6) Interact With Others.
One thing that I quickly have seen (and learned) is that if you want your Instagram following to grow naturally, you should invest a bit of time engaging in relevant conversations and with other Instagram infulencers. If you do, you are going to get additional exposure. Not only that, you want to interact in a timely manner to those that connect with you.
Perhaps it is only a few per day, or maybe many more through time, but this is creating an authentic, trusted following and network.
(7) Don't Waste Your Time
Last but not least, don't waste your time. Time is something that you cannot create more of, outside of becoming more efficient or hiring other people. If you find yourself "hanging out" on instagram, or watching hours of videos at a time, you are wasting precious time that could be dedicated to something else.
It is easy to get lost in the social media vortex, so when you go into your Instagram account, go in there with "intent". Also, you can monitor your usage directly within Instagram so make sure that you are on top of your overall usage and not spending more time than you should be.
Ultimately, my first week of Instagram was very much a learning experience. I spent probably a bit more time on there as usual as I was learning the application in much more detail, and I hit a few stumbling blocks. That of course is part of learning anything new.
I also have spent some time assessing and analyzing some key influencers on IG, those that are not "famous" and that will naturally get people wanting to follow them. That has been interesting as well, and although my knowledge isn't all that advanced yet, I am sure in a year's time I am going to really be able to offering you some really DEEP insights into this platform and how you can efficiently use it to drive various aspects of your business and reach.
I got more enjoyment, while using it less, and using it for a focused business element.
Are you using Instagram? If so, I would love to hear about your feedback, and personal insights/experiences below.
Recent Comments
263
Awesome Kyle,
yes my friend, I do indeed utilize Instagram and it is by far my favorite Social Media site for Business.
It's great to see both You & Carson on Instagram and I look forward to sharing more about Wealthy Affiliate there as well.
Talk with you soon Kyle,
Tony
I see you do engage in there a fair amount (and on social in general). There is a lot of power in terms of the true natural reach you can get with Instagram an the focused reach.
It may come and go, but when you have a following and you establish an authentic trust based relationship with them, then it can be very powerful.
I tried using Instagram as my niche relies on visual interests (celebration venues, decor, fashion...) but I feel like I need to get more personal for example pictures of my everyday life. I am a detail-oriented person and I am good at capturing the beauty, and essence of "normal" things with a camera.
What stopped me from using it consistently is that I realized that I couldn't find a way to link it to my business website.
My conclusion is that if you have a blog with a strong personality presence it makes it easier to link it to Instagram.
Otherwise, yes I think it can be a good idea to use it personally to learn more about it... Has anyone been using it with a business account for a while now?
What's the type of thing you publish (e.g.half personal and interest half business)?
Yes, absolutely. These two things can work together, and of course as you establish your Instagram you will be able to link from within your posts (swipe up is activated at 10K users) and you will also be able to leverage.
A business account is no different, you simply post in the same way that you always would. You don't have to "act" differently when you have a business, you just have more control over your account, and the data.
Kyle, thanks for your reply!
I was under the impression that Instagram only allows sharing pictures from our mobile photo gallery/album...? That's why I was seeing it as a more "personal" type of social sharing platform.
"Swipe up is activated at 10k users": does that mean I can share pictures from my blog at the mark of 10K followers?
Thanks Kyle for your research!. I know nothing about Instagram.
I will bookmark this article for future reference when I am ready to join instagram.
Yeah, book mark this and you may want to just set up a profile/account just to get familiar with it. There is a good deal of training here on IG now, but there will be much more as time goes on and I will be sharing my findings/strategies as well.
I am trying out most of the suggestions, including Instagram. I have been stumbling too, just about each attempt at getting the hang of WA and it is fun. I think IG could be a great resource.
Thank you & kind regards,
Nurse Becca
It certainly can be. Just have to give it time as well, think of it like a snowball. As you get more followers, naturally, you will continue to get more followers with more frequency if you are interacting with regularity.
Kyle, thanks for sharing your first week experience. My better judgement is saying that I need to get on Instagram for my high end real estate audience seems to be there. Yet, I didn't get mine set up yet.
Last night I forced myself to set up my Facebook business pages. I'm glad to read that will help with getting Instagram business account.
Over the weekend, I spent most of my time gaining an understanding of Pinterest and getting those business accounts set up. It sounds like I was doing with Pintrest with what you've been doing with Instagram what the the Influencers, especially in the MMO mommy niche are doing.
It seems that Pinterest ,Instagram and Youtube platforms can potentially compliment each other very well.
I'll watch for your Instagram lessons and updates and use my time on Pinterest. That should maximize my productivity.
Thanks again.
Yes, and yes. People love to look at pictures of real estate, I know I do. I follow a few real estate websites, for design as well it just being fun.
Your FB pages will definitely help you set up your IG for business much more efficiently. It literally takes a few minutes. You can also set-up multiple accounts and manage multiple within the same profile, if you want to manage several within one niche, or you want to simply brand ONE, and make that a focus (which may be better).
Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube, along with Facebook are all amazing platforms for business.
Hi Kyle, I don't currently use it but have been looking into it, I know folks that have done exceptionally well using the platform, they are definitely focused on outcomes. I guess that is the key,
Thanks for your insights,
I think just getting an account and seeing for yourself as to how it could fit in your business is best. The ability to network and interact is something that is valuable, outside of just the potential reach you can get.
If you have a niche specific website, having a niche specific Instagram account could always be good...if it gets used. But outside of that, you can use it to learn about new things that interest you, which can be valuable, including niche research.
But you can upload images only from your phone, you can't do it from a desktop. If they ever allow to use desktops maybe I will start using this platform.
You can do it from your desktop using one of the applications, like Tailwind. You just need a business account, you can manage your comments from your desktop.
But I was thinking of uploading images to Instagram. Can I do it using Tailwind from a desktop or does this application only allow me to manage comments?
Well done! Although I have a personal IG and haven't upgraded to the business level. All of these points are valid.
When you look at automation be careful of some of the smaller 3rd parties and always make sure who ever you choose is within terms of use. There have been automation options in the past that actually penalized your account.
For those who run into people offering to get you followers.... Just don't! IG knows their tricks and pump And dump accounts full of fake profiles will get you nowhere and you risk having your account penalized, short term shadowed, or complete shutdown and ban of that account.
Like it was said above... It is better to have 1600 real followers than to have 20,000 and only 500 are real and only two ever engage in posts.
Absolutely, never buy followers. I made a post about this a long time ago, you want to establish an authentic following. If you buy followers, you are simply lying to your audience and it is more than apparent when people are buying fake ones.
A smaller, engaged audience is always bigger than a bigger, fake audience.
Good to know about 3rd party automation apps, I think they way you automate is important as well. If your behaviour is "canned", then I would have to assume there are a lot of things within Instagrams algorithms to capture this.
I saw a bunch of complaints just a few days back about follower drop off as well, there were MANY people that lost 100's or 1,000's of followers overnight. Instagram is actively removing fake accounts, these are the accounts that are used to "buy followers" or try to game the system.
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Nice! Post!
I myself recently joined IG and agree with being careful of not wasting time on there. My following has gone from 0 - 40+ in about say 2 and half weeks. I find it a bit annoying though, trying to find targeted people.
I suppose with you research and my own trial n error, I be using it correctly.
Thanks!
That is great, it's getting up there. If you extrapolate this over a year, you are looking at 1,000+ followers. But the thing is, as you start to gain traction you are going to see your followers continue to climb with a faster rate.
The people with 100K followers were once in your exact state, just something to consider. Post with regularity, be authentic/interesting, and utilize tags to your advantage... and you will maximize your ongoing reach.