1,000,000 Followers On Social Media: How I Am Doing It & How You Can Too

[MJ DeMarco]

" dear entrepreneur, don't waste your time reading thousand of thread on the fastlane forum , here is he best content for just 5 dollars on your kindle device "

Promptly followed by a cease-and-desist notice from my lawyer followed by a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

 

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[GMSI7D]

Promptly followed by a cease-and-desist notice from my lawyer followed by a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

yes you get the idea. the smart guy wouldn't run this ad of course

but don't you think that a lot of books work that way ?

hmmmm....

 

[GatsbyMag]

Could someone please explain why stuff like this works?

Whenever I see a page like that, I immediately click away. It smells like clickbait, bullshit, scam and whatever. I would never ever think about following the CTA. I can also not think of anyone I know, who would do so.

So who clicks on those pages?

I've often thought of this myself. At first I thought "what a dumb ad, nobody but maybe my grandparents would fall for this BS". But then you realize that the people who create these sort of ads constantly pay BIG money to get them in the public eye. There's a good reason for that.

You may think most people aren't dumb enough to click on "Find Out Ron's Secret To Growing a 12 Inch D**k!", wrong. As @GMSI7D has said numerous times, most people are essentially emotional creatures driven by insecurity. With a solid understanding of people, you can easily exploit their weaknesses for profit.

 

[itsemdub]

@MJ DeMarco is it possible for this to go gold or at least notable?

The initial questioning by @Xeon (shout out bro) was awesome and kind of set this thing off. And the ethering (80sbaby hip hop reference) by @Fox was eye-opening. I learned more from his posts in this thread than any other posts related to social media on the forum that I’ve read.

More importantly I think this thread is a great primer on the due diligence that those of us should be doing not just on the so-called “gurus” we follow, but also those we partner/JV with or reach out to for help & guidance.

For those of us who thrive on transparency and truth-telling, the business idea focused on “outing” folks is the perfect climax to a good fiction arc. However, I’m of the opinion that the reason these guys thrive, is the same reason that copy works.

They play on a sense of hope and desire for a luxurious lifestyle that average person isn’t able to attain. The sheep have bought into the belief that what they’re being presented with is “real” and anything to the contrary is “hating.”
These guys are pimping perception...and as much as we can hate the player...it’s the game that’s f*cked up.

 

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[Argue]

New landing page published:

 

[Fox]

Ill share a little more on what I know...

So when looking at social media it is very tempting to want to compare the total numbers. One page with a 1,000,000 followers might look way stronger than another page with 30,000 but that definitely is not the case.

As I mentioned earlier there are two main types of pages created by people who hack Instagram:
Large "viral" traffic style pages and personal/business brand pages.

Sometimes these can be a little blurry - someone who posts 10 viral style pics to every 1 personal or business pics. But for the most part they are set up one way or the other.


Mindset of the user

Instagram users for the most part have two main browsing styles >
1) checking in and connecting with people they actually are emotionally invested in.
This could be a friend, family member, their favorite sportsperson, a brand they are passionate about. This is where you want to be. A page they check cause they are actually invested in it.

2) the second is "scrolling" pages (or viral pages as I have called them before).
These are pages that are giving them a micro dopamine hit for dozens of reasons. Basically it feels good to use a page like this. Depending on the person this could be 1000s of different things:
- Motivational quotes
- Pics of cool cars
- Hot girls/guys
- Puppies
- Funny university videos
- Sports highlights
- Memes

It will depend on the person but its generally just stuff to browse that makes us feel good.

Now let's go over a big thing to keep in mind: loyalty and connection.

The first type of connection above is really hard to create but once you get people on board its very easy to monitize. People are draw into your brand and they feel this is right for them. You got them invested so its just a case of letting them know every so often that X is for sale and to "swipe up".

Depending on the brand this might be a very slow burn approach or more regular. Some brands (in particular clothing) will nearly make sales out of every post while someone in the fitness niche might only try promote a plan every 4/5 posts. It will depend on marketing style and market.

BUT this is only thinking in one dimension - making money ON the app.

When Instagram is used not as a checkout but as social proof you open the field up to 100s of other options...

Let's say you are searching on google how your favorite actor got in shape for that last Superhero movie you seen a week ago. You do a search and up pops a great article about how they used X workout and how you can too. You read a few more articles on this blog and its really starting to look not too hard to get similar results yourself. Damn there is an ebook also! BUT who is this guy?...

>>> Enter link to their Instagram <<<

WOW. This guy has a ton of followers and is in amazing shape. And he is doing cool stuff all the time and has an amazing lifestyle.

Now when this happens Instagram helps in 2 massive ways...

- You buy right away cause the Instagram page sold you on all that instant social proof
- You don't buy right away but you follow the person in the meantime. Then next Tuesday when you are sitting on the couch regretting all that icecream you just ate and up pops jimmy-6-pack on your Instagram you remember the ebook (or he tells you directly) and you decide now is the time to buy! Basically he caught you at the exact right time for you to take action and buy.

So Instagram is in many ways the new email list: Get people on board, sell them slowly (or fast) over time on what you have to offer, and hopefully one day your offer and their emotional state line up and give you a sale.

Let's go back to the big viral pages...

These pages are really easy to pump full of huge numbers. If you have good content you can build them quite fast. If you have a network of already big pages you can build them in a few weeks. Remember OPs 100,000 in a week claim > this is that.

Let's say you already own (or can connect with) several big pages on a niche interest. For example a page on lambos, another on watches, one more on mens style, and one more on mens fitness. Now lets say you want to create a new page on... mens travel accessories. This will be so easy to get huge in no time. All these other pages run content that links the two (lambo pic with cool travel suitcase > check out the new page @travelinstyle ).

But again you have to keep in mind the concept of loyalty and connection.
With these big pages there is next to none. They just want some micro dopamine hits and it didn't matter if it was your viral page or 1000s of others nearly the exact same.

This is very similar to going on to YouTube and watching a "top ten crazy stunts" viral video > you might watch all ten minutes of this but you have zero emotional connection with whoever runs this page. Its just fun easy content.

So the large viral pages are used to whip up a ton of followers that can be used in a lot of different ways. Lets look at just one today:

You can direct them to "personal" brands...
Viral fitness page > X coach
Viral Lambo page > 20 year life coach
Viral University page > vaping business
Viral travel page > new YouTube travel vlogger
and so on

Now these can be shout outs / partnerships / IG groups / or the same person owns all the pages.

But overall you are trying to turn someone who was just enjoying themselves into a connected and loyal follower into an actual paying customer. If you have ever wanted to buy anything from IG chances are you went through all these different stages without even knowing.

---

Here is a massive point and one you need to keep in mind...
Getting a 1,000,000 followers is not that hard.
Getting a 1,000,000 fans is very difficult.

But to the untrained eye they look nearly the exact same.

Again YouTube is a good comparison...
Imagine you have 1,0000,000 subscribers but all your videos are of funny cat compilations. Well done but those aren't fans of you > they just like cats. That is totally different to a vlogger who has 1,000,000 subs who follow their story in detail and have a huge emotional connection.

The thing about Instagram though is that it is kinda easy (when done right) to get some traffic to stick when going from a large viral page > "personal" brand. If you can match the image tone, style, and content of the two some people will follow along when directed to go check out a new page.

This is why every 20 year old life coach has so many lambo, travel, fitness pics.
They have to match the style and content of the big viral page that is directing traffic their way.

That is really important to keep in mind > Instagram "personal brand" pages with low actual engagement will try really hard to match the viral content that is getting the traffic in the first place. They just want some of it to stick so they can build up their personal brand.
The more it matches > the more they are hitting on that micro dopamine > the more "fans" stick around.

This is why lots of OP pics has no natural comments > they aren't there for him (no depth to engagement) > they are there for lambo and motivational micro dopamine hits.
He will get some likes, less views, and hardly any comments (Im talking naturally).

Basically the more it relies on someone stopping for more than 1/4 of a second the less likely it is to happen. Likes are the easiest to get, views second, comments last.

---

I have seen this in person with someone who runs a hack business. A normal bot promoted post would get 5,000+ likes and tons of generic comments. Without it > 200 likes and 5 comments.

For those people faking it its 80-95% inflated.

---

This was more of a guide on how to think about how IG works and understand engagement.

If you want to build your IG following I can write a bit more about that also.
Hacks can still work but they won't take you all the way. You need to know how to combine them with real content and actually make sure it sticks. Anyway hope that helps some more.

---

Extra bonus tip > to look for real engagement check out the comments. Ignore anything that looks generic or fake. Look for something that took time and effort to write. A good personal brand that is real with have somewhere from 200-2000+ plus of these on most pics. These are true fans.

ANY COMMENT like "cool pic" "amazing" "wow this is so cool" is fake.
It might be paid for, it might be from another page they own, it might be a comment engagement group > but its fake.

If they have fake comments most likely its all fake. There will be some core group that are there for real but it is only 2-10%.

 

[Xeon]

Ill share a little more on what I know...

So when looking at social media it is very tempting to want to compare the total numbers. One page with a 1,000,000 followers might look way stronger than another page with 30,000 but that definitely is not the case.

As I mentioned earlier there are two main types of pages created by people who hack Instagram:
Large "viral" traffic style pages and personal/business brand pages.

Sometimes these can be a little blurry - someone who posts 10 viral style pics to every 1 personal or business pics. But for the most part they are set up one way or the other.


Mindset of the user

Instagram users for the most part have two main browsing styles >
1) checking in and connecting with people they actually are emotionally invested in.
This could be a friend, family member, their favorite sportsperson, a brand they are passionate about. This is where you want to be. A page they check cause they are actually invested in it.

2) the second is "scrolling" pages (or viral pages as I have called them before).
These are pages that are giving them a micro dopamine hit for dozens of reasons. Basically it feels good to use a page like this. Depending on the person this could be 1000s of different things:
- Motivational quotes
- Pics of cool cars
- Hot girls/guys
- Puppies
- Funny university videos
- Sports highlights
- Memes

It will depend on the person but its generally just stuff to browse that makes us feel good.

Now let's go over a big thing to keep in mind: loyalty and connection.

The first type of connection above is really hard to create but once you get people on board its very easy to monitize. People are draw into your brand and they feel this is right for them. You got them invested so its just a case of letting them know every so often that X is for sale and to "swipe up".

Depending on the brand this might be a very slow burn approach or more regular. Some brands (in particular clothing) will nearly make sales out of every post while someone in the fitness niche might only try promote a plan every 4/5 posts. It will depend on marketing style and market.

BUT this is only thinking in one dimension - making money ON the app.

When Instagram is used not as a checkout but as social proof you open the field up to 100s of other options...

Let's say you are searching on google how your favorite actor got in shape for that last Superhero movie you seen a week ago. You do a search and up pops a great article about how they used X workout and how you can too. You read a few more articles on this blog and its really starting to look not too hard to get similar results yourself. Damn there is an ebook also! BUT who is this guy?...

>>> Enter link to their Instagram <<<

WOW. This guy has a ton of followers and is in amazing shape. And he is doing cool stuff all the time and has an amazing lifestyle.

Now when this happens Instagram helps in 2 massive ways...

- You buy right away cause the Instagram page sold you on all that instant social proof
- You don't buy right away but you follow the person in the meantime. Then next Tuesday when you are sitting on the couch regretting all that icecream you just ate and up pops jimmy-6-pack on your Instagram you remember the ebook (or he tells you directly) and you decide now is the time to buy! Basically he caught you at the exact right time for you to take action and buy.

So Instagram is in many ways the new email list: Get people on board, sell them slowly (or fast) over time on what you have to offer, and hopefully one day your offer and their emotional state line up and give you a sale.

Let's go back to the big viral pages...

These pages are really easy to pump full of huge numbers. If you have good content you can build them quite fast. If you have a network of already big pages you can build them in a few weeks. Remember OPs 100,000 in a week claim > this is that.

Let's say you already own (or can connect with) several big pages on a niche interest. For example a page on lambos, another on watches, one more on mens style, and one more on mens fitness. Now lets say you want to create a new page on... mens travel accessories. This will be so easy to get huge in no time. All these other pages run content that links the two (lambo pic with cool travel suitcase > check out the new page @travelinstyle ).

But again you have to keep in mind the concept of loyalty and connection.
With these big pages there is next to none. They just want some micro dopamine hits and it didn't matter if it was your viral page or 1000s of others nearly the exact same.

This is very similar to going on to YouTube and watching a "top ten crazy stunts" viral video > you might watch all ten minutes of this but you have zero emotional connection with whoever runs this page. Its just fun easy content.

So the large viral pages are used to whip up a ton of followers that can be used in a lot of different ways. Lets look at just one today:

You can direct them to "personal" brands...
Viral fitness page > X coach
Viral Lambo page > 20 year life coach
Viral University page > vaping business
Viral travel page > new YouTube travel vlogger
and so on

Now these can be shout outs / partnerships / IG groups / or the same person owns all the pages.

But overall you are trying to turn someone who was just enjoying themselves into a connected and loyal follower into an actual paying customer. If you have ever wanted to buy anything from IG chances are you went through all these different stages without even knowing.

---

Here is a massive point and one you need to keep in mind...
Getting a 1,000,000 followers is not that hard.
Getting a 1,000,000 fans is very difficult.

But to the untrained eye they look nearly the exact same.

Again YouTube is a good comparison...
Imagine you have 1,0000,000 subscribers but all your videos are of funny cat compilations. Well done but those aren't fans of you > they just like cats. That is totally different to a vlogger who has 1,000,000 subs who follow their story in detail and have a huge emotional connection.

The thing about Instagram though is that it is kinda easy (when done right) to get some traffic to stick when going from a large viral page > "personal" brand. If you can match the image tone, style, and content of the two some people will follow along when directed to go check out a new page.

This is why every 20 year old life coach has so many lambo, travel, fitness pics.
They have to match the style and content of the big viral page that is directing traffic their way.

That is really important to keep in mind > Instagram "personal brand" pages with low actual engagement will try really hard to match the viral content that is getting the traffic in the first place. They just want some of it to stick so they can build up their personal brand.
The more it matches > the more they are hitting on that micro dopamine > the more "fans" stick around.

This is why lots of OP pics has no natural comments > they aren't there for him (no depth to engagement) > they are there for lambo and motivational micro dopamine hits.
He will get some likes, less views, and hardly any comments (Im talking naturally).

Basically the more it relies on someone stopping for more than 1/4 of a second the less likely it is to happen. Likes are the easiest to get, views second, comments last.

---

I have seen this in person with someone who runs a hack business. A normal bot promoted post would get 5,000+ likes and tons of generic comments. Without it > 200 likes and 5 comments.

For those people faking it its 80-95% inflated.

---

This was more of a guide on how to think about how IG works and understand engagement.
Hacks can still work but they won't take you all the way. You need to know how to combine them with real content and actually make sure it sticks. Anyway hope that helps some more.
---

Extra bonus tip > to look for real engagement check out the comments. Ignore anything that looks generic or fake. Look for something that took time and effort to write. A good personal brand that is real with have somewhere from 200-2000+ plus of these on most pics. These are true fans.

ANY COMMENT like "cool pic" "amazing" "wow this is so cool" is fake.
It might be paid for, it might be from another page they own, it might be a comment engagement group > but its fake.

If they have fake comments most likely its all fake. There will be some core group that are there for real but it is only 2-10%.

Thanks a lot for all these! Heck, this is all shining platinum to me.

If you want to build your IG following I can write a bit more about that also.

Yes, I would like to know more! I wonder if you could start your own IG thread, and the mods can then move all your posts here to that new thread?

Quick question. Those generic articles are always saying to "engage" with our followers and other folks on IG by liking their pics and commenting "genuine" comments, in order to grow our IG. Do you think this is BS?
I've been doing that for the past 1 year but it doesn't help.

E.g: someone posts a picture of their pony rolling in mud.
When I see pics like this, I would like and comment stuff like "Looks like you're gonna give him a good old bath later! lol"

The effort vs results ratio for this technique is very poor IMO.
Some of them will end up being followers but it's a very painfully slow method.
I'm sure there's other more efficient ways.

 

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[Fox]

Lets switch gears and go over how we can actually make money on IG.

Now OP is a good example of using Instagram as social proof for a product being sold elsewhere. Its an attempt to build a personal brand to justify and amplify the cost of some other service being sold elsewhere. Nothing wrong with this but this is not the approach most of us would want to take if we want to make money of IG.

Why not?

- You will want to focus on your product/service
- You aren't selling life coaching / money making course so no point working so hard on a personal brand
- It is a lot harder and slower than what I will show you

So how can we get profitable fast without being "cool" ourselves?

Using other people who already built a loyal following.

So far I have been more showing how to detect fake followings > this is how to use IG in a real and valuable way
This is way more applicable to everyone on here since 95% of us are selling products/services.

For all my posts above on fakes keep in mind - there are legit people on Instagram who have massive loyal followings of fans who love them.
Its time to partner up with these people to create some win-win relationships. Let me give you a real example to see how this works...

Douchebags™ - Award-winning travel gear (I actually own three of these so I know it works hahah!)



Douchebags are a travel/lifestyle company that sell luggage items. Big suitcases, carry on bags, laptop carry cases etc.
They have a HUGE loyal following and are making some serious money. Let's see how...

First we have people drawing in the crowd and building that emotional connection to the brand...



The company is owned by Jon Olsson who is an ex pro skier but who has been making amazing travel and lifestyle vlogs for years. He has a massive loyal following. In a lot of episodes the bags are shown (either directly or indirectly) and over time you start to build a real connection with the brand.

"But Fox you said this is something I could use - I dont have 1 million YouTube subs" < very true, hold on one moment...

The thing is it isn't just Jon promoting these bags. Its 100s of others Youtubers and Instagramers. People with a real and loyal following.



So you don't ever have to have known of Jon but maybe you really love the content of X snowboarder, or Y photographer. And they just happen to post about these bags every 10 or 20 pics. Over time that spikes your interest and you follow that easy to click link and now you are following douchebags too. Then one day there is a new product that you love, or a call story that makes you buy, or a limited new offer, ... you get the idea.

Now for us here who don't want to go to the effort of building a personal brand but do want to make use of Instagram you got to start building that web.

- First you need a great product that looks good visually (or has very visible results) that you can create good content around.
A product that looks good visually might be sunglasses, a product with great visual results might be teeth whiting or dog food (look how happy my dog is!)

- You will need to build a somewhat decent product/company page. You can use follow/unfollow to get it going but you really do need to have some cool pictures and videos of your product. Again mix these in with cool related content (no one wants all ads) but you do need a core of great product content to sell later.

- You need to find the perfect people to partner with . Make sure their following is real and they have super passionate fans that will be highly likely to buy whatever it is that you are selling. Again - make sure its real fans.

- Come up with a reward system. This could be discount codes, monthly payment, shout outs, company share > something to make your brand partners stay on board and keep promoting you. It takes time for them to show their followers your stuff so you need to think long term. Shouts outs are way weaker than a more slow burning approach over weeks and months.

- Get them to link to your page > use your page to sell. Or they can sell direct off their own page too.
There is advantages to both (if people want I can go over them) but you need to be directing this interest somewhere clear so people can actually buy.

- As the brand grows you hire more brand partners (brand ambassador as they are usually known as) and you continue to scale up.

This is the way easier and more profitable road for nearly everyone on this forum to go down. Unless you have some particular reason to build up your own personal brand along the way then stick to using others. Just make sure their numbers are real

Edit:

A VERY important concept here is social proof. Most people will be kinda connected with brand if ONE of people they use recommend it, but when its DOZENS things really start to take off. This is how brands like MVMT watches and Gymshark have cleaned up on social media. People see so many big names using and recommending their products (within their very particle niche) and are massively drawn to buy also.

You need to circle you market with multiple influencers and then create that "these guys are everywhere" feeling. Of course this all needs to be backed up with a great brand and product. But its way easier to tap into others followers than to build the brand from scratch.

 

[Fox]

@Xeon what is the purpose of building your following? What is the end goal?

Is it a product to sell or are you trying to grow a personal brand to use/monitize elsewhere.

 

[craig1928]

New landing page published:

Penthouse Cheapest room they have.

 

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[secondhanddog]

Massive thanks to @Fox and the others for bringing some real value to the thread.

 

[Damian Pros]

Two legit way of telling if a page has real engagement or not...

1) Videos.

You can use bots very easily to get likes (and generic comments) but videos are harder to fake...

Videos are hard to fake cause they go off actually watch time. I think it is a minimum of 3/5 seconds.
But bots don't quite make this happen - unless you really know your stuff - so you need somewhat real numbers.

Lets check Peter McKinnons page and see how this works...

View attachment 18687
View attachment 18689 View attachment 18688

The video has WAY more views than the pictures around it has likes. This makes sense since only a few people will like either but a lot will view both.
The video tracks the views though and the pics the likes. We got a nice 10:1 engagement here (58k views on video to 5.4k on that photo - it passes the Fox BS test).

But over yonder...

View attachment 18690
View attachment 18691

The photo has more likes than the video has views.

Way out.

Some real engagement here (maybe) but its heavily propped up.


2) Comments

Comments (and likes) are bought (in one way or another) in two main ways...

- Using a ton of spammy pages that follow 5,000 people and only has three pictures. If you have ever been on IG you know what these look like.
- OR using a few "big pages" but as we know these come from a network and don't represent anything real (as far as brands and actual people go).

The second are a little harder to get but fake all the same (again in terms of having an actual brand)

Lets see what is going on here in action...

View attachment 18692

Comments from both big and small pages which are all clearly unique and legit.
The content of the page/pic is mentioned along with the personal brand ("Yo Peter")

But...

View attachment 18693

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Detailed enough for ya OP?

Peter Mc Kinnon doesn't have any videos on his page: Screen Recording 2018-03-18 at 15.59.gif

Not sure where you picked up those images from to make your point

Also, you selectively chose the one image of mine that has the highest engagement of all, because it made it to the explore page.

All of the pictures get around 700 likes, and by that measure the video got 2X that in terms of views.

Also, you are comparing a YouTuber with 1.8 million subscribers, of whom several hundred thousands were transferred to Instagram.

OBVIOUSLY, he is gonna have much better engagement due to A) the critical mass he's reached that pushes his content to the explore page B) the connection that his audience has built with him by watching his YT videos, which shoots up the engagement across all platforms and C) the fact that a photographer/videographer produces by FAR superior content that's 100% tailored for Instagram's environment, and thus has a significantly higher propensity to get better engagement.

Am I saying that I've got the highest engagement account on Instagram?

No.

But you are deliberately making comparisons that omit certain information just so you get your point across.

Oh look!

Person A has bigger muscles than Person B, because he works out 6 days a week instead of 4, and eats 1.5X more protein.

Forgot to account for 1) the prohormones he's taking 2) the fact that he is 15 years younger with higher testosterone levels and 3) he's been working out for 5 years compared to the 1 year of Person B.

Am I a social media rockstar?

INC magazine included me in a list of people perceived as such. This is not something I said for myself, although I am pretty damn good at social. I ain't the best, but I know a thing or two.

Take a look: Damian Prosalendis on Twitter

What Twitter account have you seen getting such insane numbers? Organically?

This is more than people with millions of followers are getting. Not every tweet is like that, but I've done this multiple times. Hence where this claim of social media rockstar was based on.

There is not a single person on Twitter who can pull those numbers off, (tweet engagement vs follower base) unless they are a celebrity with millions of followers. Even then, it's not common. And it's easier to accomplish with a bigger follower base, because of the scale of your reach.

Anyway, you are gonna think what you want to think no matter what.

So, whatever, yes you are right. I am wrong.

 

[Fox]

You are being easily deceived by appearances, and do not pay attention to details.

Peter Mc Kinnon doesn't have any videos on his page: Screen Recording 2018-03-18 at 15.59.gif

Not sure where you picked up those images from to make your point

I thought you were a man who prides himself on the details : Peter McKinnon on Instagram: “What is this sorcery?! It's a CINEMAGRAPH!! ❤ Link in profile if you wanna learn how to make your own. #boosh”

This was way back when he was just starting on YouTube too.
But if you want I can use another example to make it easier for you.

Also, you are comparing a YouTuber with 1.8 million subscribers, of whom several hundred thousands were transferred to Instagram.

The ratios are what matters. You look at engagement as a ratio that roughly stays average no matter what the total.

Just like how a ecommerce store has 3% conversion on 1,000 hits and maybe 2.7% conversion on 100,000.
I am comparing the ratio of someone with a real following versus someone who is propping theirs up.
If you want I can use someone closer to your numbers but the results will be the same...

You have a views-on-video ratio that nearly matches your like ratio.
So more people click like one of your photos (and likes are usually 5-10% of the total number of people who actually seen it) than then the total who watch a video? Okay.

Am I a social media rockstar?

INC magazine included me in a list of people perceived as such. This is not something I said for myself, although I am pretty damn good at social. I ain't the best, but I know a thing or two.

You seem to be downgrading your story a little from the tone of your original post.
How did this article come about?

Anyway the only reason I am calling you out is you came in here like some sort of superstar that we have to hope drops another secret. Anything you shared in this thread can be found with a quick google search. If you had been open about using these tactics I wouldn't care but you are purposely misleading people.

If you were just sharing what was working and what wasn't fine.
But you are setting this thread up for more social proof elsewhere ($3,000 coaching calls for example) when its misleading/incorrect information.

 

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[Envious]

OP right now:

 

[Xeon]

@Xeon what is the purpose of building your following? What is the end goal? Is it a product to sell or are you trying to grow a personal brand to use/monitize elsewhere.

Actually, my plan is similar to Damian's.
That is, to first grow my IG account for social proof, then use my posts on IG to drive traffic to my website.
(of course, I'm not selling some guru course or seminars lol)

First you need a great product that looks good visually (or has very visible results) that you can create good content around. A product that looks good visually might be sunglasses....Again mix these in with cool related content (no one wants all ads)

My products are for young females and is sold entirely based on its visual appeal and aesthetics, so as you can see, it fits your description above. That's why I'm hiring a pro photographer to take nice and shiny pics, and will be posting them on my IG account (it's also why I chose IG over FB).

But I can't post my product pics every post (too commercial). So, for the past 1 year, I've been doing nothing but reposting content from my target audience and niche in order to build the follower base.
My follower base currently is the same audience that I'll be selling to. The total follower count is currently at 4.7K.
The engagement rate is abysmal (assuming we don't count those from pods).
I believe this is because followers see my IG as some kind of repost account where they've no attachment or emotional connection to, except for getting a good laugh or feeling inspired etc.

Shouts outs are way weaker than a more slow burning approach over weeks and months.

The slow burn approach would be to find multiple brand ambassadors and pay them monthly fees, for them to post my products on their feed, and a link to my website in their bio?
Not sure if this is what you're referring to in a nutshell. This also means it might be very very costly?

There is advantages to both (if people want I can go over them) but you need to be directing this interest somewhere clear so people can actually buy.

Yes, please do tell!

But its way easier to tap into others followers than to build the brand from scratch.

I agree, I think it's very hard to build up my brand from scratch even though that's what I've been planning to do.
Branding is actually important for my case, though. Especially for products like say, yoga pants (Lululemon), lipsticks and makeup kits etc...., people tend to associate such kind of visual products with a brand.

But I guess the most important thing now is to do something similar to what you suggested (use others to build brand and social proof).
What other advice would you have for my particular case?

Thanks!

OP right now:
View attachment 18769

OP probably sees most of us as fat juicy zebras for dinner (I admit I believe his first couple posts 100%). Until he awakens the sleeping lion which then comes and destroys him.

 

[Manchild_Unbound]

Hoo boy. Damian is getting A LOT of flack on this thread. Which I find unfortunate, but his cheesy Tai Lopez-inspired presentation was bound to cause that. I really wish he wouldn't have such a corny presentation because he IS the real deal.

To all those doubting try this: go on Fiverr and go to the "Writing and Translation" section. Then go to "Business Copywriting" You should find his Fiverr business as one of the first results. If you find the right one you'll also see that there is a consulting website connected to it after Googling around a bit.

There, now you know all about him. And what is his $30-40k "formula"? Something like this: build your skills up, get hustling online (he likes Fiverr but you could probably have similar results on Upwork), go from freelancer to consultant and beyond until you are in the high six figures. All you need to know is in this article in Damian's Dare and Conquer:
High Six Figure Income Job Could Be Done By Anyone (Not A Dream)

Guys, Damian is someone that you should follow and listen to. I know that the way he presents himself is shady and suspicious. I seriously don't even know who he is trying to appeal to. Knowing that he is exactly who he says he is, I really wish he'd present himself in a more genuine way because as one previous poster said, it is very easy to fake a wealthy rockstar lifestyle and show it off online.

 

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[Fox]

Actually, my plan is similar to Damian's.
That is, to first grow my IG account for social proof, then use my posts on IG to drive traffic to my website.

My products are for young females and is sold entirely based on its visual appeal and aesthetics, so as you can see, it fits your description above. That's why I'm hiring a pro photographer to take nice and shiny pics, and will be posting them on my IG account (it's also why I chose IG over FB).

But I can't post my product pics every post (too commercial). So, for the past 1 year, I've been doing nothing but reposting content from my target audience and niche in order to build the follower base.

My follower base currently is the same audience that I'll be selling to. The total follower count is currently at 4.7K.

4700 is a solid base to go off.

So ay focus on making great content. Instead of looking at what you can repost (which isn't the worse) start thinking of how you can make content other pages might want to share. Learn to make micro videos or tutorials and then approach the bigger viral pages. They always need good content to keep active so you can maybe strike up a partnership.

Let's say you niche was horse riding helmets for girls. Make some videos on the top ten movie horse scenes (that they would like), or a tutorial on the best way to comb their hair, or what foods they like most. You dont have to be in these (use that common viral style that does well), but you can also if you want to.

For photos think along the same lines. What great photos can you take that use can then get other horse pages to link back to.
Photos will be harder since the standard there will be so much higher.
With videos you can edit others content > with photos you have to make your own.

When you use photos that aren't yours its harder to get a free link back since its not really your material.

So that means you will have to pay...

Shout Outs

Can work but I think they are way over priced and nowadays the attention span isn't there. Try and see but I think you won't get the results that make for a postive ROI.

Partnerships

These would be better - give 10% to people who help promote and use a discount code or affiliate link. Contact pages that don't have their own product and strike up a deal. Better to get these people on the phone to show them you are serious and move towards a longer term deal structure.

Commission only means you can't lose and it keeps them aligned with your goals.
A shout out is cutting into their influence while a partnership is win-win.

 

[Maxboost]

Hoo boy. Damian is getting A LOT of flack on this thread. Which I find unfortunate, but his cheesy Tai Lopez-inspired presentation was bound to cause that. I really wish he wouldn't have such a corny presentation because he IS the real deal.

To all those doubting try this: go on Fiverr and go to the "Writing and Translation" section. Then go to "Business Copywriting" You should find his Fiverr business as one of the first results. If you find the right one you'll also see that there is a consulting website connected to it after Googling around a bit.

There, now you know all about him. And what is his $30-40k "formula"? Something like this: build your skills up, get hustling online (he likes Fiverr but you could probably have similar results on Upwork), go from freelancer to consultant and beyond until you are in the high six figures. All you need to know is in this article in Damian's Dare and Conquer:
High Six Figure Income Job Could Be Done By Anyone (Not A Dream)

Guys, Damian is someone that you should follow and listen to. I know that the way he presents himself is shady and suspicious. I seriously don't even know who he is trying to appeal to. Knowing that he is exactly who he says he is, I really wish he'd present himself in a more genuine way because as one previous poster said, it is very easy to fake a wealthy rockstar lifestyle and show it off online.

It is unfortunate. It seems Damien went from solving needs and problems to money chasing and was rightfully called out on it.

@Damian Pros could have explained his end goal and documented his process where we can give constructive feedback to help him get to his end goal, instead of waiting for his "1 secret hack" that he won't reveal.This thread would have been WIN-WIN for everyone but it seems like he was only interested in getting our money.

 

[Musashi]

To all those doubting try this: go on Fiverr and go to the "Writing and Translation" section. Then go to "Business Copywriting" You should find his Fiverr business as one of the first results. If you find the right one you'll also see that there is a consulting website connected to it after Googling around a bit..

Cant find it. But anyways: How exactly do you know he is "the real deal?" Do you know him in person? Or did you just read his website and articles?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

@Damian Pros could have explained his end goal and documented his process where we can give constructive feedback to help him get to his end goal, instead of waiting for his "1 secret hack" that he won't reveal.This thread would have been WIN-WIN for everyone but it seems like he was only interested in getting our money.

All the Instagram value bombs are coming from @Fox, and as such, the thread has been upgraded to NOTABLE, not withstanding the other reasons.

As @Vigilante says, truth survives inspection. (Or something like that?? Dunno, my brain is bad on memory circuits)

At this point it would be smart for Damien to just ignore the criticism and offer up the value he originally wanted to offer, minus the salemanship and minus the chest pounding.

The forum can be forgiving.

 

[Fox]

All the Instagram value bombs are coming from @Fox, and as such, the thread has been upgraded to NOTABLE, not withstanding the other reasons.

As @Vigilante says, truth survives inspection. (Or something like that?? Dunno, my brain is bad on memory circuits)

At this point it would be smart for Damien to just ignore the criticism and offer up the value he originally wanted to offer, minus the salemanship and minus the chest pounding.

The forum can be forgiving.

Thanks for the rep. I will lay off and let him continue.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I will lay off and let him continue.

No, no, that's not what I'm asking. If there's something discerning, we need to hear about it.

I'm simply stating that Damien should post up his value w/respect to IG, just like you have done. (And I hope you continue to do.)

Having a dialogue on which strategy has merit is excellent.

 

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[p0stscript]

Thanks for the rep. I will lay off and let him continue

Don't, some great stuff has been coming our way.

Damien should post up his value w/respect to IG, just like you have done.

Seconded.

 

[GSF]

Lol Fox has owned this thread, it's his thread now lol, turned it from cheesy sales script into epic much needed insights into Instagram strategy, nice one @Fox

 

[Envious]

@Fox Does the follow/un-follow stratergy still work growing an account from 0? I thought instagram has clamped down on the amount of people you can follow/un-follow per day?

Or maybe i'm incorrect with that.

 

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[Fox]

@Fox Does the follow/un-follow stratergy still work growing an account from 0? I thought instagram has clamped down on the amount of people you can follow/un-follow per day?

Or maybe i'm incorrect with that.

It’s good for building a base. Getting shout outs etc looks strange (and most pages won’t do it) when you have 0/low numbers.

Plus follow / unfollow works well when you have lower numbers. If you are going to use it that’s the time. But try get a base of 20-30 good images first and maybe 50-100 followers.

I forget the exact limits but they do exist. Just stay safely within the limits and don’t push it too hard.

 

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

Cant find it. But anyways: How exactly do you know he is "the real deal?" Do you know him in person? Or did you just read his website and articles?

Not here to pimp OP's business, but based on his Fiverr account (location Greece, etc) and web design style I'm 99% sure it's a service for Amazon Sales Copywriting.
Dig and you'll find it, but it's not really that important.

Point being, he's certainly quasi-successful.

I actually purchased one of his books on Fiverr, which actually helped me get a start. There was definitely useful information in there regarding how the site ranks gigs.

But yea,
Not a fan of the deceptive marketing and genital measuring contest going on here.

edit:
For OP's benefit, @Damian Pros I highly suggest you read @Vigilante 's thread about integrity here: NOTABLE! - Fake It Until You Make It - Where Is The Integrity Line?

It involves a personal story of how Tom Petters ended up in jail;
for compromising his integrity one small decision at a time.

Do NOT open that can of worms dude. You've already heard it from people here.
There really isn't any need for credential pimping here. We're your peers, not an audience. Be real. Be authentic. The Forum will forgive and listen to you, and I hope the REAL Damian can come back from the grave.

In the meantime, get this tatooed on your arm. Now.

"The only thing bigger than who we are... is who we say we are."

 

[Envious]

It’s good for building a base. Getting shout outs etc looks strange (and most pages won’t do it) when you have 0/low numbers.

Plus follow / unfollow works well when you have lower numbers. If you are going to use it that’s the time. But try get a base of 20-30 good images first and maybe 50-100 followers.

I forget the exact limits but they do exist. Just stay safely within the limits and don’t push it too hard.

Thanks Fox!

 

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[Xeon]

4700 is a solid base to go off.

So ay focus on making great content. Instead of looking at what you can repost (which isn't the worse) start thinking of how you can make content other pages might want to share. Learn to make micro videos or tutorials and then approach the bigger viral pages. They always need good content to keep active so you can maybe strike up a partnership.

Let's say you niche was horse riding helmets for girls. Make some videos on the top ten movie horse scenes (that they would like), or a tutorial on the best way to comb their hair, or what foods they like most. You dont have to be in these (use that common viral style that does well), but you can also if you want to.

For photos think along the same lines. What great photos can you take that use can then get other horse pages to link back to.
Photos will be harder since the standard there will be so much higher.
With videos you can edit others content > with photos you have to make your own.

When you use photos that aren't yours its harder to get a free link back since its not really your material.

So that means you will have to pay...

Shout Outs

Can work but I think they are way over priced and nowadays the attention span isn't there. Try and see but I think you won't get the results that make for a postive ROI.

Partnerships

These would be better - give 10% to people who help promote and use a discount code or affiliate link. Contact pages that don't have their own product and strike up a deal. Better to get these people on the phone to show them you are serious and move towards a longer term deal structure.

Commission only means you can't lose and it keeps them aligned with your goals.
A shout out is cutting into their influence while a partnership is win-win.

Thanks for the actionable tips, Fox!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Point being, he's certainly quasi-successful.

I have no doubt about that. But we're now 6 pages and multiple days into this and we've got nothing.

But it looks like he certainly put a lot of time and effort into his signature.