Are you ready to grow your influence and your impact on Instagram? If you’re reading this blog post, one (or all) of the following probably applies to you:

1. You are trying to use Instagram to build your business and/or personal brand;

2. You are sharing from your heart and soul about your offerings, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference for you in terms of leads or sales; and/or

3. Your following is stagnant i.e. grows a little and then decreases a little.

Whilst I do not hold myself out to be an Instagram expert, I am a side hustler who has pushed back against the algorithm and made some small changes that helped me increase my following (therefore my platform = greater influence and impact) by over 150 followers within 1 week (and kept them as well).

It took a bit of time and effort, but with some strategy and determination, you can also easily implement these changes yourself to grow your influence on Instagram. To see the very practical way I’ve implemented these three changes, see my Instagram page and in particular this post.

CONTENT IS KING

You’ve probably heard this phrase before but it’s true: CONTENT IS KING.

Content is what helps you break through the noise around you, it’s your opportunity to show your current and future customers/clients that you are the person they should work with and that you are an expert in your field.

But how do you make sure that your content is connecting with and helping your audience? Before you even think about selling your products or services, you need to get clear on the following:

• WHO is your ideal customer?

• HOW do you want them to feel?

• WHAT do you do to help them feel that or help them generally?

Once this is clear, write and create content that addresses all of these.

CAPITALISE ON HASHTAGS

Here’s what I learnt and implemented about hashtags recently (thanks to my magical mentor session with Ali Adey from SheMentors):

1. Do your research on the hashtags you are going to use:

   • Take note of what hashtags your competitors or the people in your industry are using;

   • Choose a mix of relevant hashtags that vary in numbers of people who have used them i.e. choose a few that have been used between 20k-50k times; it’s ok to use a few hashtags that have been used more than a million times, just be mindful you may not get as much exposure from them given the volume of people who use them; and

   • Follow the hashtags you are planning to use and interact with people who are using those hashtags or following them.

2. You’ve got 30 hashtags available for each post so use them wisely by dividing them into three different categories:

   • 10 hashtags that are specific to the post that you are posting;

   • 10 hashtags that are for that your ideal customer is likely to be following;

   • 10 hashtags that might reach a wider community that might still be interested in your post.

3. Experiment and have fun! – Hashtags shouldn’t be intimidating or scary, get to know how they works and capitalise on its power for the growth of your business and influence!

COMMUNITY OVER FOLLOWING

I was encouraged by my coach Ruby Lee to think about my Instagram page as a physical shopfront. If you owned a physical shop and a customer came into your shop for a browse at your products, what would you do?

Customer service 101 would say that you should welcome them in, get to know what their needs are and see if you can help meet their needs.

In the same way, when someone new likes your post or follows your page, why not jump over to their page and “like” and comment on their posts as well?

Better still, if they are your ideal customer or even someone in your industry that would complement your services, why not follow their page, jump into the DMs and send a personalised message to let them know that you are glad they liked your post or followed your page and find out more about them (Why did you like my page/post? How can I help you further?).

I personally found that voice messaging people always creates a closer connection and builds rapport.

Focus on Building Connections

This may be counterintuitive given the title of this blog post but rather than focusing on gaining followers, reframe your mindset and focus on building connections, finding new ways that you can serve your online community.

You’ll find the increase in the quality and quantity of your followers will be a natural outcome of this type of mindset.

To keep the conversation going come and join our community on Facebook and Instagram – @erinmayhenry. I would LOVE to support you!

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