Instagram Management: How I manage a few clients' Instagram and make almost $8k/month

[Ziad]

Hello!

Boy, it's been a while since I posted here!

I was never an avid poster here but I did post often on my threads here.

About Me

I've been in the Instagram game for several years now, and I always believed it to be a gold mine for businesses, especially the new ones starting out, for exposure. It still trumps other social media platforms, in my opinion, and can help you earn some good money if you know how it works and how you can help businesses grow on it.

I started out with Instagram automation and landed many customers who were paying $40-$140 per month to have their page grown. Click here for my instagram automation thread which I created here a while ago.

Once I saw good money in this, I studied other aspects of Instagram marketing and management and found out there is a more natural way to grow followers, where customers are willing to pay you up to $1,500 or even $2,000 per month to have their Instagram managed, most of that price being your profit. Click here for my thread that rants about Instagram automation in greater detail.

I gave serious thought to giving up on my automation business and focussing solely on Instagram management. However, I already had a lot of customers on my automation program so I kept that going, until I started getting more clients for Instagram management. I still have about 18 customers on the Instagram automation program.

Why Instagram Management is worth it

Put it simply, it is quick, easy, and most of the brands have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to Instagram. You only have to spend an hour or so per day per client! Getting good images, scheduling posts, getting network influencers on board to help these brands grow doesn't take long at all.

My Method

I connect with several powerful pages on Instagram via the use of powerlikes. I help the customer's Instagram page get involved with several DM groups that is very essential in growing your page naturally. Basically, once I post on my customer's Instagram account, I get thousands of likes from very powerful and large pages that helps that post get viral by hitting Explore on Instagram. Once the post goes viral, it goes into an engagement loop where thousands of people view the post by the second and they like, comment and tag etc... See my rant thread for results I've gotten for clients.

4 Essentials in running this business

Your Network - your network of influencers who provide you with the "powerlikes" can make or break your client's Instagram page. I will go in detail in this thread later on.

DM Groups - DM groups are the most natural way of growing your Instagram page. It involves 10 to 15 people in each DM group that are in your niche and engage with each others posts on a regular basis.

Scheduling - Scheduling your Instagram posts is vital; you need to analyze and pick the right times for posting.

Content - Posting an adult 18+ NSFW image on a tourism company's page won't get you far. You need to consult with your customer and get details on the type of content they are looking for. A couple of my clients send me images themselves, I just choose the best ones that will give the best results. Other clients ask me to find images that will go along with the company's image.

I can detail out all of these 4 key components later on in this thread.

How do I get started?

There are 2 routes for you. Instagram automation and Instagram management. Instagram automation, you can make $30 per month per customer, and it helps you get a foot in the door of Instagram marketing. There are many programs out there that can help you get started. I basically use a program that allows me full control of the automation settings, without having to rely on other websites.

As for Instagram marketing, you need to simply do a detailed study of the 4 key components I've mentioned above. I will explain how to get clients in my next post.

It is extremely easy for you to make quick money via Instagram management, because only 1 or 2 clients can help you earn $800-$1,800 per month. Lets say you have the basics set up and have all the knowledge ready, it takes you 1 week to land 1 client. That is a mimimum of $800 profit in your pocket right there. All you have to do is spend a couple of hours with the client at the beginning, and then manage his Instagram account for a maximum of 1 hour per day.

The reason I have only 8 clients at the moment is because I spend most of my time helping people get start their own Instagram automation business. And recently, I've helped 2 people get started with Instagram management, from start to finish. I am currently writing a full course on Instagram management which I plan to sell online. I figured that Instagram management can help you make good money which you can use to invest in a Fastlane business, since managing Instagram accounts for clients is still a time-bound business.

To conclude, this business is good cash, doesn't really require you to spend any money up front and its especially for those who lack cash to invest in to bigger, fast lane opportunities.

Feel free to ask questions. I will talk further about this business in detail, along with getting your first client.

Ziad

 

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[Ziad]

Ive tried growing my Instagram although have found it impossible. (pet niche, cats + dogs)

Reshare other viral videos, bajillion hashtags, frequent posting, funny pics etc.

Majority of my followers are just useless bots and business pages. Considering paid advertising on Insta although with all the bots seems like a waste of cash

Any ideas how to improve this? Cheers

Useless bots and business pages only land up when you spam your Instagram page. A spamming page gets bad followers. I think you've tried "too much" with your page and have gone over board. Quality over quantity when it comes to Instagram, any day.

Paid advertising can go well if the influencer is reliable. A shady influencer can charge you a lot and get you minimal results.

What's the best tool to target certain demographics? Also the best bots that I can set the parameters to only target forth worth male ages 18 to 30?

Targeting certain demographics means targeting other pages that focus on those demographics. The best bots out there can't get you males aged 18 to 30. I dont think any bot currently does that. You can get close by targeting pages that most likely will have males aged 18 to 30.

My biggest struggle is convincing businesses to let me manage it for them, and to convince them that it will in fact get them more revenue.

How do I convince a company that Instagram is a platform worth investing in?

Are you selling them on making more revenue, or just increasing followers?

Thanks.

I sell them on the idea that Instagram is one of the most dominating social media platforms today. I then look for pages in their niche and give them examples. As far as building trust goes, I offer them a free 3-4 day trial run and show them the results within those 3-4 days. They happily oblige.

However, personally, since I've been in the Instagram game for so long, I only had to do a trial run for 2 clients. Most of them came to me through word of mouth referrals.

Very interesting write up. Congratulations to you!

How does one manage this though?

How do you contact them showing that you are credible, get them to to pay you $800 and how do you ensure they pay you? There is a big trust aspect here.

Credibility builds by offering something for free. Offer your service and your time for free. Not too much that they take advantage of it. But enough to see that you can deliver results.

 

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[Ziad]

Thanks for answering my questions I have a few more.

What's the best tool for Instagram in general?

Should I start an account from zero or buy one from https://fameswap.com/browse-instagram-accounts-for-sale?

The reason I want a big following is to create a brand around me spirituality+entrepeneurship. From there I'll sell services on how to grow your brand and show my own personal brand as proof. The services will include general digital marketing agency services.

DM your consultation information.

The best tool is the Instagram app itself to be honest. Go through various pages, see posts, see how it works, see what big pages do to get bigger etc. For automation, there are many tools. But for instagram management, there is no tool or software that can help you other than studying and researching instagram itself.

Always start an account from zero. Never pay for an account. Most sellers will impress you by buying fake engagement beforehand, buy fake followers and polish up the page on the outer end. That page will be dead most likely on the inside.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge in this area.

I've got a very small Instagram page that I have not focused on at all, but when I do I create content that will help others - 4 Steps, Quotes, etc.

Do you find organic growth a possibility on Instagram or is paid advertisement the way to go these days?

Organic growth is what i do. Read my opening thread again and read my Instagram management service thread.

This is very interesting, thank you for this thread. Am working on getting a Digital Marketing agency up and running in the next couple of months and this should definitely be part of my field.
Do you think that there is still space to grow in this field? I feel like every guy who wants to start an internet business is going with digital/social media marketing hustles. And they have to compete with the already established agencies who are part of all the networks and have all the right contacts.
Am looking forward to your course on the matter, but are there any other learning resources available already for those trying to get a headstart?

Thanks again!

There are a lot of hustlers out there, but most of them waste time trying to grab clients and once they do, they don't know jack shit on how to properly manage a client's social media. This is why most of them earn some quick cash but lose clients as quickly as they get them. I'd rather study my social media platform thoroughly and know all the ins and outs of it, grab very few clients and charge them high because my results would be freaking amazing for them.

There are limited learning resources for Instagram, but if you're wanting to go for social media management, go for Tai Lopez's social media management. Tai Lopez may be fraud, but the people who teach in his SMM course are legit and good. Its a good thing he isn't the only one teaching you in this course.

Great tips. Would be interested in learning/hearing more for sure.

Someone asked it above, but I feel it gets skipped over a lot from any social media marketing people.

Does growing your instagram presence for a non-ecommerce platform (think local business) actually produce an increase in appts/sale/bookings? If so, how do you measure and report this to the client? google analytics?

What do you provide in terms of metrics to your clients for management? I assume it's just the posting and growth in likes/followers?

I feel like in order to keep a client long term you have to provide some sense of value other than the social metrics.

Non e-commerce businesses focus highly on demographics (specific location, for example) when looking to grow their Instagram. I provide them results after reaching these target demographics. If your Instagram is a business profile, the analytics in Instagram actually tell you how many people clicked your email, went to your website etc. and so far, for my clients, those metrics have been enough to satisfy them and keep my service. If any one complains in the future, it is their responsibility to analyze whether my Instagram management is getting them results, as they can't really complain if i am satisfying their specific requirements on how their page should grow.

If a person wanted to learn Instagram Automation or Management where is a good place to start? How much time realistically would they need to invest to learn this skill?

I am a good place to start. No boasting, there are Instagram courses out there but I've never bought or tried any of them, so I can't vouch for them. I've just gone through years of learning Instagram growth and marketing so I know everything about it. That's all. I'm not "certified" by any means, I just know how it all works.

To learn automation, it'll probably take a couple of days up to a week, depending on how fast you can learn.

For instagram management, it can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to learn. I have no time limit, I just make sure you know everything and are getting results.

 

[Ziad]

Get ready for a bombarment of questions?

How do I get into these networks of people on Instagram?

If I can't get in where do I start by building a network?

Also how do you pay this people back in the network?

Where do I find DM groups?

What's the best overall tool to use for Instagram?

When will your course be available?

Will you mentor me?

Can I work for your comapany?

Getting in to the networks requires many months or at least a year of experience in Instagram. They choose pages to network with that have proper authenticity.

If you can't get in, you try to find people who have years of experience and can help you. That's where I come in.

These people in the network already have fixed pay that they get for engaging with your posts and helping them go viral.

You find DM groups by looking for similar pages in your niche and contacting them, asking them if they have a DM group or if you'd like to start one yourself.

There are many tools. For Instagram management, there is none. Just good networks and knowledge of what to post, when to post, and who to look for to get your posts' engagement up.

Course is still under write up, will take a couple of months at least before I launch it.

I can offer consultations for you, either for Instagram automation or Instagram management, or even both. This is what I've been doing recently.

There aren't any spaces available for my Instagram marketing business, but if I need someone to work for me I'll give you a shout.

 

[Xeon]

Great info in this thread, I've just installed Everliker to see the initial impact.

I was wondering, what would happen if many of small accounts formed a DM group, would that work? or do you need big accounts to make it work?

Also, how many followers do you need before you're accepted into a DM group?

Cheers

As someone who's been there and done that, my advice is not to use everliker.
People who follow you back because you used everliker to like their accounts, will not engage with your posts, because many of them feel like they've to give something back because you liked their posts (reciprocation). They're not following you because of your content.

When your account is made up of a major % of such followers, and you post something, most of these followers will not engaage, causing your post to perform badly in Instagram algorithm (the first 10 mins). This becomes a vicious worsening cycle as each post you put out gets seen by IG as low quality posts that no one wants to see....

If there's one thing I learned about IG all these while, it would be that content is King. Those DM groups and power likes will not help if your content is boring. I bought powerlikes, telegram groups..... everything....but because content is poor + my followers count are mostly everliker folks who followed me out of obligation, they did jack shit.

 

[sparechange]

Ive tried growing my Instagram although have found it impossible. (pet niche, cats + dogs)

Reshare other viral videos, bajillion hashtags, frequent posting, funny pics etc.

Majority of my followers are just useless bots and business pages. Considering paid advertising on Insta although with all the bots seems like a waste of cash

Any ideas how to improve this? Cheers

 

[Eric Vriesman]

Ive tried growing my Instagram although have found it impossible. (pet niche, cats + dogs)

Reshare other viral videos, bajillion hashtags, frequent posting, funny pics etc.

Majority of my followers are just useless bots and business pages. Considering paid advertising on Insta although with all the bots seems like a waste of cash

Any ideas how to improve this? Cheers

Hey there sparechange,

Dm groups are essential for growth. A dm group is just a group of pages that likes and comments on eachothers posts. I run my account @jdstufff with only 1 dm group and I gain around 600-700 followers a day. You can use hashtags, just make sure to not use more than 25 (even tho the maximum is 30). If you combine viral content with high tier dm groups, you will go viral.

Your sincerely,

Eric V.

 

[TonyStark]

My biggest struggle is convincing businesses to let me manage it for them, and to convince them that it will in fact get them more revenue.

How do I convince a company that Instagram is a platform worth investing in?

Are you selling them on making more revenue, or just increasing followers?

Thanks.

 

[Zcott]

Very interesting write up. Congratulations to you!

it takes you 1 week to land 1 client.

How does one manage this though?

How do you contact them showing that you are credible, get them to to pay you $800 and how do you ensure they pay you? There is a big trust aspect here.

 

[Ziad]

What niches do you mainly work in? I would think it could be somewhat hard to make a page and posts for say a local auto dealership, RE company, restaurant, or other typical businesses go viral and have high engaging followers.

What are you finding helps make the content get thousands of views?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A local auto dealership could post a super cool car video that they found interesting and that could go viral. Any niche could work because almost every niche has viral content that is related to it.

 

[Ziad]

I've managed to set up a team and grow bigger with this whole Instagram scene. Going to cold call my way to 100 clients.

 

[Ziad]

Landing your first client

I haven't posted some tips here in a while so here's what I get asked the most when it comes to being an Instagram manager "Ziad, how do we get our first client and build the portfolio?"

The one simple answer to this is offering free Instagram audits.

What is an Instagram audit?

A word document (or pdf) nicely laid out which analyzes an Instagram account. Point out the account's first impressions, does it tell you what the page is all about? How is the bio written? Display picture? Content? Frequency of posting? Average likes and comments per post? How is the engagement?

Conclude with recommendations for the client as to how they can improve their Instagram page.

I suggest you choose 1 niche, such as dentists, plastic surgeons, lawyers or realtors. Any niche which offers big value. For example, the niches I've mentioned make big money off 1 client, therefore they wouldn't hesitate paying you $1,000/month or even $1,500/month as long as you are getting them results through Instagram.

Once you have chosen your niche, go to yelp or simply search around on Instagram. List down as many pages you can find which have low engagement and overall a poor display (you can tell they aren't getting as many sales as they could through Instagram).

Finally, produce as many audits as you can and email all these potential clients. I guarantee you some of them will reply with "Thanks for the report! Can we discuss this further? Here's my number..." or "How much do you charge?"

The amount of audits you send out in a month would tell me how well you are doing. This is the single thing which made me go from 2 clients (which I got from word of mouth) to 11 clients now in a matter of months.

 

[krystian94]

Hi,

This post is really interesting.
I have been trying to grow my Instagram for 2 or 3 months and it is very slow process. I have been following GaryyVee 2,80 cent rules. He tells to choose one niche then choose the 8 most popular hashtags in that niche and comment 9 the most popular photos every day. I also send messages to people. It takes 2 about 2 hours Daily.
Any idea how to speed it up ?
See you

 

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[NewManRising]

I am a good place to start. No boasting, there are Instagram courses out there but I've never bought or tried any of them, so I can't vouch for them. I've just gone through years of learning Instagram growth and marketing so I know everything about it. That's all. I'm not "certified" by any means, I just know how it all works.

To learn automation, it'll probably take a couple of days up to a week, depending on how fast you can learn.

For instagram management, it can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to learn. I have no time limit, I just make sure you know everything and are getting results.

Cool, man. Thanks for replying. I will probably hit you up in the future. I have this thread on my watch list.

 

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[Eric Vriesman]

Just saw your IG page. Amazing.
How did you get into those DM groups initially? Did you contact similar car repost pages and ask if they do DM rounds?

Yes I contacted a lot of people in the car niche and had some good conversations with some big pages. Eventually one of the pages asked me if I wanted to join his dm group. And it are not really rounds, When someone posts they say ''posted'' in the group and everyone will like and comment. The time you post doesn't matter and the people in the group will like and comment on you when they can.

 

[Benito Alvarez]

Great info in this thread, I've just installed Everliker to see the initial impact.

I was wondering, what would happen if many of small accounts formed a DM group, would that work? or do you need big accounts to make it work?

Also, how many followers do you need before you're accepted into a DM group?

Cheers

 

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[MattR82]

Can't help you on this as I don't have experience with partnering with influencers. But you did get me thinking. Maybe I should start this with the social media account I'm managing for a local hangout.

Just make sure any influencers you use have a genuine following as well as one that's your target market. I use hype auditor to check them. It's paid but not expensive.

 

[Ziad]

I have the same EXACT problem when I tried years ago. I just did the max hashtag amount. If you guys ever noticed, no celebrities or big accounts ever really do the hashtag cloud anymore. They are just people running some bot and a generic canned comment.

What do you consider spamming? Using the max hashtags? I have only posted a few pics on my current account and still get useless followers.

Never understood how people do actually get results on instagram. One of my past accounts was a fit female page. All the engagement was from some clickfarm and bangladesh or pakistan or something like that. There were real girls that DM'd me to post photos of themselves (shoutouts), but they weren't exactly pretty/fit and wouldn't fit well with the page. I realized that these girls are the type of clients I would be getting. So I left the account dead.

I did repost a photo of verified account person and she liked it.She was obviously a Powerlike and that post definitely got on explore page. Post kept getting likes non stop relative to my other photos. I thought wow, let me gets some more. I paid for a powerlike and engagement from a bigger account. NOTHING. These repost, niche pages that everyone is building don't have Power Likes.

I see these instagram threads every once in a while and it makes the assumption that getting real engagement/success is guaranteed, as long as you put in the work. Has never worked for me. Read every blog, strategy, and some inbound marketing content. All the same advice, no results.

Going a bit off topic with growing instagram instead of management, but they won't keep paying me to manage if their instagram if I can't grow it.

Put it simple: Influencer network + growing your page massively and fast with real followers + high engagement + good content with proper scheduling ends up giving you a really solid brand image for your company on Instagram and thats when the sales/followers you desire start pouring in massively.

 

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[Ziad]

Just curious as this is an objection I'd say if someone were to approach me about this, but isn't charging $1000 a month just to post on instagram a lot of money, especially since a lot of digital marketing companies will do that and more for a grand more. How do you overturn that objection?

It's not just posting it. It's getting you customers through Instagram. Growing your page, growing your brand on that platform. Instagram is a gold mine if you have a reputable image with a solid following and high quality content.

There is a brand, the fifth watch or something like that based out of Australia. The owner turned the startup in a million dollar company within a year, all through Instagram. This was last year, if you want to read about it send me a message and I'll search it up and send it to you.

 

[AFMKelvin]

What's the best tool to target certain demographics? Also the best bots that I can set the parameters to only target forth worth male ages 18 to 30?

 

[jcvlds]

Credibility builds by offering something for free. Offer your service and your time for free. Not too much that they take advantage of it. But enough to see that you can deliver results.

Thanks for sharing all your experience with us!

Could you dice a bit deeper into the sort of results you can comfortably tell your clients to expect? What kind of results are previous clients getting that they can continue justifying the $800/X amount of $ per month?

Is it amount of leads flowing through or just mere reach/followers?

Would love to get some insight on this to improve sales messaging during prospecting and pitching and I’m sure would help others as well.

Many thanks in advance



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ziad]

Hi Ziad,

Nice post

Do you always ask the customer for their photos, or occasionally design your own photo?

Sometimes the client has their own set of images, sometimes they just ask me to grab photos that would suit their niche online.

Thanks for sharing all your experience with us!

Could you dice a bit deeper into the sort of results you can comfortably tell your clients to expect? What kind of results are previous clients getting that they can continue justifying the $800/X amount of $ per month?

Is it amount of leads flowing through or just mere reach/followers?

Would love to get some insight on this to improve sales messaging during prospecting and pitching and I’m sure would help others as well.

Many thanks in advance

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I try to get at least 5 posts to go viral which causes them to gain thousands and thousands of views to their page, which attracts natural, high engaging followers. Most of those followers followed you because they liked your content and are interested in what your page is about, which results in an increase in leads to your business.

Not my niche at all but this was a very detailed informative post.

Thank you

 

[Ziad]

Set up an Instagram account for this. Just need the basics set up and to land clients.

PM me if you need consultation. I can guide you

 

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[AFMKelvin]

Get ready for a bombarment of questions?

How do I get into these networks of people on Instagram?

If I can't get in where do I start by building a network?

Also how do you pay this people back in the network?

Where do I find DM groups?

What's the best overall tool to use for Instagram?

When will your course be available?

Will you mentor me?

Can I work for your comapany?

 

[Dunkafelics]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge in this area.

I've got a very small Instagram page that I have not focused on at all, but when I do I create content that will help others - 4 Steps, Quotes, etc.

Do you find organic growth a possibility on Instagram or is paid advertisement the way to go these days?

 

[AdamMaxum]

Great tips. Would be interested in learning/hearing more for sure.

Someone asked it above, but I feel it gets skipped over a lot from any social media marketing people.

Does growing your instagram presence for a non-ecommerce platform (think local business) actually produce an increase in appts/sale/bookings? If so, how do you measure and report this to the client? google analytics?

What do you provide in terms of metrics to your clients for management? I assume it's just the posting and growth in likes/followers?

I feel like in order to keep a client long term you have to provide some sense of value other than the social metrics.

 

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[NewManRising]

If a person wanted to learn Instagram Automation or Management where is a good place to start? How much time realistically would they need to invest to learn this skill?

 

[Ziad]

Cool, man. Thanks for replying. I will probably hit you up in the future. I have this thread on my watch list.

Sounds good!

 

[Eric Vriesman]

Thanks, is there also a reason why you tag your other account jdwhipz? Don't understand why you need to have two car repost accounts lol

Yes I tag my jdwhipz with my main page to drive more traffic. For some reason big car accounts are strugling to grow, so I made a new small account to show that my strategies still work. @jdstufff is growing around 600-700 a day while @jdwhipz is growing around 1-2k a day

 

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[Eric Vriesman]

Hi,

Eric, have you tried Telegram ?
I have tried several times but I have received only a lot of likes and nothing else.
I will try DM groups.

Yes I have tried telegram groups aswell as Fuelgram. But I had the same thing you have, just a lot of likes in the first 20 min of the post but not much after that.

 

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