Let’s be real. We all want to grow our audience on Instagram. Social media invented those vanity metrics for a REASON. We’re obsessed with the amount of likes—the validation that someone “approves.” Here’s how I want you to look at it though: if you’re trying to grow your business through IG, it’s not about the likes. It’s about getting in front of your ideal clients, ones who are obsessed with what you have to offer and are ready to PAY YOU THE MULLAH for it. That being said, here’s my top tips to not only get in front of MORE people, but in front of the right people.
#1 Instagram Takeovers
Instagram takeovers are when you take over another account’s stories for the day. This allows their audience to meet you and experience a day-in-the-life of what it looks like to be you. The important thing is to takeover an account that has your ideal clients following it. But don’t think too hard about this because it may surprise you where your ideal client is tuning in from. For example, I am an ambassador for #girlgetafterit, an amazing community of womxn who are getting after it in all aspects of their life from sports to entrepreneurship. I have done an Instagram takeover for them a couple of times. I show what it’s like to be a photographer in New York City as well as tips and tricks from my business coaching back pocket. Not only do I usually gain new followers from doing these takeovers, but #girlgetafterit also gets exposed to my following because I’m promoting the takeover on my own IG page as well.
How do you land a takeover?? Just ask! You never know if you don’t. “Hey xyz brand! I love your brand and what you stand for. I’ve been a part of xyz since the beginning. I was curious if you’d be interested in having me do a takeover on your stories sometime in February. I know my followers would love to follow along over on your page and hopefully, your followers would get a lot out of what it looks like to be a female entrepreneur in a big city. Win, Win!” Loose example, but try it! Another way is doing an exchange with a connection or a friend. They take over yours and vice versa. The best case scenario is that someone just asks! And believe me, if you stay consistent, keep showing up, and get your messaging straight, you’ll be asked.
#2 Instagram Lives Are you using all of Instagram’s features including lives, IGTV, and Reels? If not, it’s a good idea to start. IG rewards those users who use the tools they are putting out on the platform (especially new ones) with more eyeballs on your page. The key to a live being more successful is doing one with a partner. Whether it’s on their page or yours, as long as you’re both promoting the live beforehand, you’re sending people to each other’s pages. This is what I like to call #crosspollination. A few new sets of eyes never hurt a business, let me tell ya.
To properly promote, set an exact date and time and start telling your audience in your stories and/or in a hard post in your feed. Put a countdown timer on your story slide so that people can click it and be reminded when you do go live. To go split screen (two people in one live), the person who’s joining will request to join once they enter the live. The split screen will pop up and you’ll be able to have a “talk show” convo right there on Instagram for everyone to tune into. Be sure to save it as an IGTV after so it’s shareable and people can tune in later if needed.
#3 Share Other Posts To Stories The easiest way to support someone is to share their post to your story, but make SURE to tag them in that story with the post. If you don’t, Instagram doesn’t actually alert that account that you reposted from. When they get a notification that you tagged them, there’s a high chance that the account that you shared from will engage back and even share your story of you reposting, which puts you in front of their audience. It also puts their eyes on you. It’s huge when someone shares your post. It makes you feel truly supported. You never know where these connections and interactions could lead! Engage, collaborate, and support.
All in all, engage, collaborate, and support. You get what you give so you can’t expect everyone to come to you when you’re not supporting them. Be the one to make the first move. And ALWAYS come from a place of service versus just getting that follower number up. I know people with 200k followers who are dead broke. Followers do not equal success.
Tell me below which Instagram strategies you’re going to try next!
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