Figuring Out Instagram

[Andy Black]

(This could be a very short lived progress thread!)


Background:

• I’ve a personal Instagram account and follow maybe 3 people. I’ve never posted. Ever. I wouldn't mind getting my head round Instagram as another marketing channel though.
• I’ve been meaning to drop all my favourite business quotes somewhere for quite a while, but didn’t know where.
• This seems like a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and I might as well document it as I go along.
• I wanted to launch quick and see if this was something I could do regularly, maybe even daily.
• If it’s too fiddly or I get bored then it gets a swift bullet.
• I’m not going to link to the account. I want to see how I can grow it from scratch, with zero knowledge of Instagram.
• So this could be a fun side project, and could be very short lived. If it starts getting traction I may move it inside.

Completed over the weekend:

1. Brand new IG account created unrelated to my personal FB or IG accounts.
2. Brand new matching .com domain purchased.
3. .co.uk domain purchased to prevent squatters and redirected to the .com domain.
4. Email address andy at domain dot com created.
5. ActiveCampaign list created.
6. Initial IG profile image created. Just a background colour and the name of the account/domain. We have ideas for an icon logo but won’t implement until we’re getting visitors.

To complete before I publish my first ever IG post:

1. Implement the Email Capture Page, plus Thank-You page.
2. Set one email up in the auto-responder.
3. Figure out what other pages to create (and create them). My default are Privacy, Terms, and Disclaimer pages.
4. Figure out this GDPR stuff.
5. Optin/out popup on the site if we’re tracking cookies.

Later:

1. Install Google Analytics.
2. Install AdWords and Facebook retargeting pixels?
3. Install heatmap software?
4. Turn the site into a blog where each IG post is also posted to the blog (with some copy below each quote explaining what it means to me - the same copy that I’ll put in the IG post in fact)?
5. Create the icon logo.
6. Have a play with some follow/unfollow tools?

 

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[Ika]

I like the style of your posts - clean & simple.

One important thing to remember: A lot of people are uploading quotes to Instagram. While I know your's are valuable (because they've helped me before), how can you set yourself apart?

Think of the example in Unscripted about the fitness trainer: He has great knowledge and skill, but so does every other trainer, and he gets lost in the crowd of personal trainers.

Maybe it would help to write how the quote helped you in the caption? Or share a story that explains the quote with a real-life example? In some way or another you are already doing it here on the Forum, so you could just take the text, shorten it and use it as a caption to add more value.



I don't know what vision you have for the account, but if you are going to posts quotes about different topics, you could use a different color for each topic too.

General Entrepreneurship -> Purple
Service Business / Freelance -> Green
Sales -> Yellow

That way people can scroll through your profile and directly see what advice is in for them.

In a later time, it could be helpful to have a set schedule for each topic.
Sales on Monday, Mindset on Tuesday etc.


At this point I'm just rambling, but I'm interested to see where this is going!

 

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[Andy Black]

Made my very first Instagram post (ever!)

Was completely baffled on my PC as to how to make a post:

​

Then a bit of Google showed this workaround on Chrome:

View: https://youtu.be/dcA4qK82Tl4​

I then realised I'd posted without adding any text or hashtags. I couldn't figure out how to edit the post so deleted and reposted.

I then wanted to edit the text and realised I couldn't do so from my PC. (Argh!!!)

But could on the app on mobile. (Go figure...)

But on my mobile I can't add carriage-returns and create paragraphs. (Sheesh.)

Aha, but I can copy/paste into a text editor and edit it there, and copy/paste back into IG.

Nice. Except some of the carriage returns aren't recognised, so I went with the workaround of adding a "." between paragraphs.


While I'm doing all of the above I get three likes of the post. (Huh?!)

So I check them out and try and do my usual of message them and thank them. But can't (from my PC). But can if I follow them on my app. (Sigh... I'm seeing the pattern).

I'm curious if they're genuine likes, or "auto-likes" if there's such a thing.

Sooo... I send them all the following message: "Thanks for the like on my first ever IG post. Curious how you found it though?"

Let's see if anyone answers. That could well tell me all I need to know.


Thoughts:

1. It's a mobile app so maybe I should figure out how to use it from my mobile exclusively.
2. Except the app won't let me do anything unless my phone is connected to Wifi. (Wut?!?)
3. I can follow and message people? Without the other person allowing messages from me? I bet there's a lot of message-spam going on.
4. I suspect there's also "like-bots"?

 

[Castro]

Have a play with some follow/unfollow tools?

Not quite a follow "tool", but more of a method that I have used for my Instagram account.

1. Search for an Instagram page that has more followers than you(that relates to your niche!)
2. Go to their POST, click on likes, and it should show you a list of everyone who liked their photo.
3. Follow the accounts that liked their photo.

There's one goal to this, follow people who engage with post(likes), because at the end of the day, engagement is what matters! Therefore you end up with a greater amount of followers who like to engage with post rather than followers who never like your photos.

These are just my two cents and they have worked for my account(hobby account). I am in no way claiming to be an expert!

 

[Andy Black]

Woohoo. One in a row.

Got my first email signup. Not sure if it was from people coming from Instagram mind.

Haven’t lifted a finger since the last update, so all those actions are still outstanding.

Current stats from the IG interface:

• 27 posts
• 732 followers
• 462 following
• 200 profile views in the last 7 days

 

[Envious]

Made my very first Instagram post.

Was completely baffled on my PC as to how to make a post:
View attachment 19170


Then a bit of Google showed this workaround on Chrome:

View: https://youtu.be/dcA4qK82Tl4


I then realised I'd posted with adding any text or hashtags. I couldn't figure out how to edit it so deleted and reposted.

I then wanted to edit the text and realised I couldn't do so from my PC. Argh...

But could on the app on mobile (go figure).

But on my mobile I can't add carriage-returns and create paragraphs. Sheesh.

Aha, but I can copy/paste into a text editor and edit it there, and copy/paste back into IG.

Nice. Except some of the carriage returns aren't recognised, so I went with the workaround of adding a "." between paragraphs.


While I'm doing all of the above I get three likes of the post. Huh?!

So I check them out and try and do my usual of message them and thank them. But can't (from my PC). But can if I follow them on my app. (Sigh... I'm seeing the pattern).

I'm curious if they're genuine likes, or "auto-likes" if there's such a thing.

Sooo... I send them all the following message: "Thanks for the like my first ever IG post. Curious how you found it though?"

Let's see if anyone answers. That could well tell me all I need to know.


Thoughts:

1. It's a mobile app so maybe I should figure out how to use it from my mobile exclusively.
2. Except the app won't let me do anything unless my phone is connected to Wifi. (Wut?!?)
3. I can follow and message people? Without the other person allowing messages from me? I bet there's a lot of message-spam going on.
4. I suspect there's also "like-bots"?

I’m have just signed up my business to Instagram, I’m using a program called Buffer which allows you to post and schedule from your pc or mobile.

It’s completely free and a lot easier than using the mobile app

Edit:Social Media Management Platform | Buffer

 

[Andy Black]

Day 4, Post 5

Thoughts:

1. Follow people who've liked posts? It seems to make sense to follow these more engaged users. A lot will be bots, but then will bots follow back? Unfollow those that don't follow back after a few days?
   
   
2. Someone said these images could be taller rather than square. If they were taller could I put the quote at the top, have the author name, then the short copy below it - in the post itself instead of as a caption?
   
   
3. Hashtags. I don't really know what I'm doing with these. I've been told to have a few that have a million plus posts with that hashtag (the broader ones), and have ones with less posts. I'm more likely to show up for the ones with less posts. Makes sense... and the more precise and targeted ones likely have more defined followers. (Kinda like short-head search terms at the start of someone's online search lifecycle, compared with the more specific ones of more educated searchers.)
   
   
4. I'm keen for this to NOT be another motivational quotes channel. These are my favourite quotes and what they mean to me. I think about these all the time.
   
   
5. I'm downing my IG tools till this evening when I'll check and see how things have gone, and post again.

 

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[Andy Black]

After 5 days in the quagmire of IG reading some of the cr@p motivational quotes I feel a small mission developing.

... which I've just written in my IG bio:

"On a mission to move you from team consumer to team producer."​

It seems a bit weak but will do for now.

I'd like to login, post, then run.
The bots can follow, but I'll be gone.

 

[Andy Black]

Just wondering, Andy....are you using everliker?

I’m not using any tools at the moment. Trying to do everything by hand to understand what’s going on.

I’m so new to IG I wouldn’t even class myself as a consumer.

I’m picking up bits of knowledge here and there from you guys, and from observing my own frustrations with posting.

I followed a lot of people the other night in the business/celebrity space, so I could be a consumer for a bit. I’m trying to immerse myself for a while so I’m more of a native than a tourist.

I’ve skimmed through some of the IG threads in TFLF, and most of the good advice in them went in one ear and out the other - because I had no experience with the platform.

I’ve deliberately kept away from trying to learn how to “build audiences”, or “generate traffic”. Partly because I hate those phrases. Partly because I want to figure stuff out on my own. And partly because I want to learn by producing not consuming.

I’m having a look at Buffer to schedule posts (and upgraded my account to a business one to take full advantage of Buffer’s ability to buffer up posts and then post them to a schedule.). I’m looking forward to automating it that way because posting from my phone only when there’s a WiFi connection has gotten old very quick.

I’m much more amenable to using follow/like tools now. I can see the platform is rife with them. It’s so common place that people likely struggle to start from ground zero without a bit of a jumpstart.

 

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[Andy Black]

Makes perfect sense, love that approach

Thanks. Part of the reason I’m documenting this is to show this approach in action.

I don’t use IG. I’d never posted on IG. I haven’t taken any courses. I won’t read any books. We worked through a simple launch list and got going.

Producing beats consuming.

Wisdom is earned.

(Hmmm... another quote to post?)



We did link the form up to an ActiveCampaign list and added one automated message. You could argue that was unnecessary.

I don’t see any point writing more than one automated email at this stage, but I thought it worth welcoming anyone motivated enough to signup when the offer isn’t very enticing.

 

[Castro]

First of all fantastic thread .
Is there a tool to find bots from real follower ? If not dont you think there is a need to fulfill ?(On any Social media platform)

There is no defined tool that can tell you if an account is a bot or not, you must determine that for yourself by doing investigative work. Instagram has algorithms in place that can detect if an account is portraying bot-like activity(Mass following/unfollowing users, mass commenting, etc.) .
If you trigger an of these alarms, Instagram will typically apply a ban on the account temporarily, or sometimes make it harder to discover your account when people use the search bar (less engagement with other users).

However, Instagram's algorithm isn't always spot on and effective, but I don't think there is enough of a need to fulfill here. Not many people are too interested in getting rid of bots on social media, in fact, many accounts buy bots to follow them! in order to gain more followers(albeit fake).

 

[Envious]

Hey andy.

Was doing a bit of research when you mentioned that you were seeing less engagement when you didn't add hashtags.

I came across this article which may be helpful to you.
Complete Instagram Hashtag Research for Any Niche With JARVEE

The main points are:

• #1 You’re not using targeted hashtags for your niche.
  Before starting using hashtags as a growth method for your Instagram accounts, you need to conduct a thorough research to identify the best performing hashtags for your target market. You want to attract only those users that are interested in what you have to offer. The best approach here is to do a hashtag research before starting using them with your posts so that you maximize your reach. In this tutorial, we will learn exactly that: how to find the best hashtags for your business.
  
• #2 You’re using the most popular Instagram hashtags or generic ones like #love, #happy or #dog
  This might be counter-intuitive, but sometimes using the most popular hashtags might not be such a great idea. Even if they are targeted, you might get a few likes or followers, but soon enough your posts will be buried by the avalanche of new posts that keep appearing under this kind of hashtags. So the second tip is to look for those tags with medium and even low popularity, where your posts can get the chance to be featured in the famous top 9 section. The idea is to stay longer on the first page of those particular hashtags and get discovered by more people in the process. Getting in the Top Posts sections can even result in a huge network effect and make your posts go viral on Instagram.
  
• #3 You’re not using 30 hashtags with all your posts
  With each hashtag that you’re not using you’re missing out on a considerable Instagram reach. Think of all those people that are searching for each tag to discover new content/brands/people to follow. This is actually Instagram’s recommended method to grow your account and expand your reach: using all the allowed 30 hashtags with your posts. If you’re worried that it looks a bit spammy, you can just add them to the first comment on your post. This way your caption will look nice, and your message will be easy to read.
  
• #4 You’re not “cycling” your hashtags
  Just like with every other aspect of a marketing campaign, you need to test your hashtag, try new ones and see if you’re getting better results. Using the same hashtags for all your posts might even make them inefficient after a while. The strategy here is to have a cheat sheet of about 60 – 100 hashtags and rotate them with your posts.
  
• #5 Using branded hashtags can be a double-edged sword
  Using branded hashtags is a good strategy when you are already a popular brand. Otherwise, it will just take the place of some other more useful hashtags, that could bring you more potential followers and clients. And, of course, you don’t want to promote another brand by using their branded hashtags.
  
  It then continues on recommending tools to find relevant hashtags but you have to sign up.
  
  So i then found this tool called Display Purposes which allows you to do this without signing up and its very simple to use.
  
  Display Purposes | Photo Hashtags for the Modern Trollop
  
  Hope that helps!

 

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[Castro]

Like yourself, I’m also tempted to delete all cr@p comments. I’m tempted to block comments entirely so I don’t waste my time trawling through auto-comment-spam just so I can find a genuine comment. Life’s too short.

If you find yourself constantly trying to block auto-comments on photos then you will come to find yourself HATING Instagram a lot more. Especially when your accounts grows bigger there will be a point where the comment section can become too much to constantly monitor. I would agree on deleting malicious comments though (those that link to scam sites), although I find that those aren't very common at all.

The comment section can play a BIG factor in the growth of your account. That's where people @tag their friends, many of which will become new followers.

I’ve just checked and I’ve got 14 posts and 73 followers.

Great start! One trick I would recommend is to create a photo which reads something along the lines of.. "Tag someone who will become successful" or "Comment your favorite quote below" etc. Anything that pushes your followers to engage in the comment sections is a good way to have people tag their friends in the comment section in addition to engaging with your posts.

 

[Andy Black]

Don't know what day I'm on, but 19 posts, 79 followers.


I really don't like Instagram

I've lost the will to live with the inane comments and the platform in general.

I don't want to reply to bots. I don't want to read comments to try and work out which was an auto-comment and which was genuine.


The icing on the cake was what I saw yesterday though.

• The phrase is wrong.
• Double tap (like) if you agree?!?
• WTF is this?

I'm totally over this experiment, but I'm going to keep going till I've reached 100 followers because then there's apparently additional stats we get in our IG business account.

I'm glad I discovered Buffer. It can post to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Now that I've created 19 posts, I will start looking at posting on those platforms and seeing whether that's a better use of my time.

Once I get to 100 followers on IG then I'll have a play with some of those bots myself. Not auto-commenting as I see how super annoying it is, but maybe auto-follow/unfollow and auto-like just to see if getting people to view the the posts I have is enough for them to stick around.

Maybe it's a good platform to get in front of consumers, and maybe as a producer I should get my head round it. I just think me and folks who consume on IG don't have much in common? Maybe I'm totally in the wrong vertical and it's overrun by BS. Maybe checking out gardening, recipes, or fishing would help. I'll go do that over the weekend.


On a more positive action taking note...

I changed the font in today's post as it seems the others aren't so easy to read.

 

[Andy Black]

(Messaged to someone asking how I was getting on with my IG experiment.)

I literally haven’t logged into IG in a week because I’ve had no WiFi connection while on holiday in Spain. I know I've had no email signups as I'd get an email notification if I did.

I haven’t quite figured out the ideal post type for IG. I probably need to use better imagery, although with my black background I suppose I’m going against the grain and that could be a consistent brand thing.

I don’t engage in comments anymore. Too many fake ones. I may even turn off comments on the account. I totally don’t mind being contrarian with testing.

And I know Gary Vee recently Tweeted that if your sole strategy is follow/unfollow then it makes you a clown, but I don’t want to consume on IG anymore. Waaay too much drivel. It’s my least favourite platform. Twitter has more intelligent conversations on the platform.

I don’t want to put my face or name to my IG account. I’m not interested in building a personal brand in the freelance/entrepreneur space.


Current stats from the IG interface:

• 27 posts
• 836 followers
• 368 following
• 182 profile views in the last 7 days

That's a pretty consistent number of profile views in the last 7 days. A squeeze page is needed to convince people to enter their email addresses. Still not enough of a priority to do though.


EDIT: I did have a second email signup a couple of weeks ago. I had a short email conversation with them. Pretty cool really.

 

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[Nicoknowsbest]

Subbed, because I like the way @Andy Black approaches things.

It's always the same angle.

What angle you might ask?

It's Andy doing things his way.

You do.

You move.

You get results FAST.

You pivot.

You are Lightning McQueen. (“I am speed”)

If Andy does Instagram, it is completely different than somebody else doing Instagram.

You don't hack systems, but you come from a very simple, human approach.

...

"These people are all humans. So what do I have to do to interact with these humans on Instagram?"

This could be running through your head.

"The algorithm picks me up if I get 100 likes on average, so I'll use MAGIC STRATEGY 1 and take it from there."

Could be going through the rest of the world's heads.

Do you know what I mean?

 

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[Andy Black]

After post 1 yesterday I had maybe 9 followers and a couple of comments. I've no idea if they're genuine comments, or genuine followers.

Here's the post:

This morning I wanted to post my second quote, but got hung up on
.
.
.
(wait for it)
.
.
.
What background image to use?
(&*%!)


This wasn't right, especially considering the quote I wanted to post.

So I ditched the background, and knocked up the post below in Canva.

I want to do a post a day for 30 days. Not religiously, but just to get into a rhythm and see whether I like doing it, and what comes of it.

Day 2, Post 2

 

[Castro]

Thoughts:

1. Follow people who've liked posts? It seems to make sense to follow these more engaged users. A lot will be bots, but then will bots follow back? Unfollow those that don't follow back after a few days?
   
   
2. Someone said these images could be taller rather than square. If they were taller could I put the quote at the top, have the author name, then the short copy below it - in the post itself instead of as a caption?
   
   
3. Hashtags. I don't really know what I'm doing with these. I've been told to have a few that have a million plus posts with that hashtag (the broader ones), and have ones with less posts. I'm more likely to show up for the ones with less posts. Makes sense... and the more precise and targeted ones likely have more defined followers. (Kinda like short-head search terms at the start of someone's online search lifecycle, compared with the more specific ones of more educated searchers.)
   
   
4. I'm keen for this to NOT be another motivational quotes channel. These are my favourite quotes and what they mean to me. I think about these all the time.
   
   
5. I'm downing my IG tools till this evening when I'll check and see how things have gone, and post again.

From what I've heard, the goal of like bots is not to follow you, but for you to follow them, so I wouldn't worry too much about like bots following you back. I would also unfollow those that don't follow back after some time.

It is recommended that you only use about 15-20 hashtags in your photos, and what some people do is they don't include their hashtags in their photo captions, but instead comment on their photo AFTER posting with the hashtags in the comment(This still works).

If you are struggling to find the best hashtags, here's a great website: Find and Analyse Top Twitter and Instagram Hashtags | Hashtagify

 

[Andy Black]

Stats this morning

• (Taken after post 7.)
• Less followers than the 54 I saw last night. I presume bots are unfollowing now?

​

Day 6 Post 7

• Was driving into Dublin for a meeting but it was cancelled. I stopped in a cafe for a cup of tea and did all this on my phone.
• Copied yesterday's image in Canva and changed the colour, quote, and author.
• Created the caption in a text editor on my phone (so I can have carriage returns).
• Loaded it up to the Buffer app that I installed on my phone.
• The Buffer app popped up with a reminder to post it, which meant I tapped a button and it dropped me into IG with the image ready to post, and the caption copy in the clipboard for me to paste.
• If I changed the IG account to a business account then Buffer can actually do the posting for me - I believe I just schedule it and let it go. This is appealing. Not sure of the implications of switching from a personal account to a business account but will do it anyway.
• I played with having less hashtags the first time I posted and we can see there's not many likes compared to when I had different hashtags. I'll edit the caption to have previous hashtags and (I think) this will pop the post up in those "feeds".

​

Observations
I saw this interesting post in my feed. It's smart because I'm on IG and who doesn't want to "skyrocket your instagram following"?
I screenshot this very simple funnel:









Here's the bio URL btw: The Instagram Checklist

 

[Andy Black]

Some of the advice in that PDF above about hashtags is as follows (I'm not posting the content in it's entirety as that's not right):

​

So let me do some "hashtag research" (I presume that's what people call it?)...


Oh, and a nicely written autoresponder email came through for being on his list. Sure, there's grammar issues because he's not a native English speaker, but good content over-rides that.

 

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[Andy Black]

Thanks for the input and tips guys.

I suppose they’re all real accounts, it’s just that some are using bots to follow/unfollow and like/comment.

I’m bored of IG as a platform already. It could be the vertical I’m in of course, so I may go follow some food or gardening related stuff from my personal account.

If I read one more lame inspirational quote I’m gonna poke myself in the eye with a rusty fork.

And Grant Cardone is all over my feed with selfie videos. I’m gonna have to unfollow the dude.

I still want somewhere to post quotes as they come to me. I still want to understand IG as a marketing channel.

Understanding it as a consumer through immersion is tiring me out and making me feel ... I dunno... jaded?

I’m going to go to a coffee shop and try and post my first automated post via Buffer.

 

[Envious]

Thanks for the input and tips guys.

I suppose they’re all real accounts, it’s just that some are using bots to follow/unfollow and like/comment.

I’m bored of IG as a platform already. It could be the vertical I’m in of course, so I may go follow some food or gardening related stuff from my personal account.

If I read one more lame inspirational quote I’m gonna poke myself in the eye with a rusty fork.

And Grant Cardone is all over my feed with selfie videos. I’m gonna have to unfollow the dude.

I still want somewhere to post quotes as they come to me. I sill want to understand IG as a marketing channel.

Understanding it as a consumer through immersion is tiring me out and making me feel ... I dunno... jaded?

I’m going to go to a coffee shop and try and post my first automated post via Buffer.

I feel exactly the same way when it comes to instagram. I think the platform as a whole presents a level of narcissism and a "look at me" culture which is hard to swallow.
If you look at the most popular accounts it pretty much consists of models, celebrities, fitness enthusiasts and playboy millionaires.
That pretty much sums up what people look up to in the world. *Sigh*

 

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[Andy Black]

Quick update:

• I decided I didn't like putting my thoughts into the image itself as I did in the last post. I find I edit my take on it a few times before I'm happy, and I can't do that if my take is in the actual image.
• I redid that post, then realised I'd misquoted Dan Norris in an earlier post, so archived that one and redid it in Canva.
• Then thought I might as well redo the first (Mother Theresa) quote now I've settled on a template.
• I'm still trying to get Buffer to automatically publish to a schedule. It's sending me a reminder instead, and then drops me into IG ready to post. I'll figure this out.
• Here's what it looks like with posts all using the same template:

 

[Andy Black]

Day 15 (just)

12 posts, 61 followers, 15 following

...

I've removed the Mother Theresa quote again as the orange background was too light for the white writing on it.
It also got me down to a nice grid like so:




Because I want to go black and white from now on and see how that looks.

Even choosing a colour slows me down, and I blatantly fail at doing that too (see the light green Dan Norris quote that someone pointed out didn't have a high enough contrast).

3 black and white ones buffered up just now to go till Monday morning.

I've copied someone else's hashtags who does crappy motivational quotes and has a big following. I presume he knows what he's doing so I'll just piggyback off his research.



EDIT: FML... I've had two genuine comments. The rest look like auto-comments. Can I turn off commenting? Seriously, what a waste of my life sifting through them to find a genuine comment so I can reply.


EDIT2: Feck all traction on IG at the moment. I'll keep going as is till I've done 30 posts and then look at those bot things.

I'm delighted I've started saving all those quotes knocking around in my head though. I'll keep doing this even just for that.

 

[Andy Black]

If you find yourself constantly trying to block auto-comments on photos then you will come to find yourself HATING Instagram a lot more. Especially when your accounts grows bigger there will be a point where the comment section can become too much to constantly monitor. I would agree on deleting malicious comments though (those that link to scam sites), although I find that those aren't very common at all.

The comment section can play a BIG factor in the growth of your account. That's where people @tag their friends, many of which will become new followers.



Great start! One trick I would recommend is to create a photo which reads something along the lines of.. "Tag someone who will become successful" or "Comment your favorite quote below" etc. Anything that pushes your followers to engage in the comment sections is a good way to have people tag their friends in the comment section in addition to engaging with your posts.

Good points, thanks.

A milestone for me will be the first time someone tags their friend. Unless it’s a bot then that would be a tiny indication what I’m producing adds a bit of value to Instagram.

Ha... I’ve just had someone tag me for the first time. To read some unactionable motivational quote.

EDIT: I had thought of doing a Monday morning, 1st of the Month, and 1st of the Quarter post asking people what they’re doing to make a sale, or what needs to happen for them to be happy with progress this period... Maybe white background and black writing to stand out.

 

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[GatsbyMag]

I've accumulated 5k followers on Instagram in the past (last Summer). And I have friends with 500k followers.

Instagram is a great platform as a producer to post content because there are so many creative ways you can share a message. However it can be irritating to work with because you realize most people on the platform are just interested in looking at sexy bodies, luxury items (easiest niche to get followers in imo), exotic adventure, celebrities, memes and sugary foods.

Motivation as a niche is over-saturated. It only works if you are building a personal brand where you display pictures of your own luxurious lifestyle and add quotes that make people think it's possible for them to also drive a ferarri if they "double tap". Add some humor and other spammy content and you've got yourself a fast growing page. I suggest checking out Tai Lopez's IG and observing his strategy.

However, I believe there are people on the platform looking for genuinely valuable content. One of my IG accounts shared business advice from my own experiences, I received a lot of real engagement in terms of comments and followers. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to grow the page further and test how many people I could actually convert into email subscribers. I hope you get enough traction to finish where I left off.

 

[Andy Black]

Great thread Andy.
I started a new instagram account on friday to test out some of the tools mentioned above.
I really enjoy using "Buffer" to have posts made in advance.
Have you thought about promoting your posts to send people to your website?

Yeah, buffer is great.

I’m not going to promote posts on Instagram to send people to a squeeze page. Not before I’ve done it using paid search first.

I don’t think too much of the consumers on Instagram and can’t imagine business owners spending time on it other than to use it as a marketing channel.

 

[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

I literally forgot I had this running in the background.

Current stats:


No email signups for ages, but then I'm sending people to a blog where I removed the email signup form.

I've just linked to my Substack newsletter that I built in my Paid Email Newsletters progress thread

 

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[Andy Black]

I’m have just signed up my business to Instagram, I’m using a program called Buffer which allows you to post and schedule from your pc or mobile.

It’s completely free and a lot easier than using the mobile app

Thanks @Paolo Rizzo.

I've heard of buffer and will check it out - later.

I prefer to do things by hand first and figure out the little nuances. Sometimes tools put a layer between you and what's going on. Sometimes they miss out functionality too.

I don't know if buffer allows you to put carriage returns in the text of an IG post. If it doesn't, then I've figured out a way to do it that maybe other folks aren't doing (I've no idea, not having read many IG posts).

 

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[Andy Black]

I only had 4 hashtags. No idea how many to use, etc.

Someone linked me to this that I'll check out: Display Purposes | Photo Hashtags for the Modern Trollop


It has a quick guide to hashtags too: