Ladies. Lately, my eyeballs have been falling out of my head from boredom. I am SO sick and tired of hearing the exact same advice about Instagram being regurgitated again and again. It takes everything I have not to cast some serious shade on certain people who have grown followings in the sleaziest ways possible and are ACTUALLY TEACHING others to do the same thing.
Whaaat? I know you aren’t sleazy, sales-y, or spammy. That’s why I love you.
It’s no secret that I LOVE Instagram, but you may not know that I have been working on creating the best Instagram course on the planet. Yeah, I KNOW.
Anyhoo, with the launch of my brand new course, I thought it would be the perfect time to dive into some Instagram myths. You KNOW I love a good myth busting session. See here and here. Let’s get to busting!
INSTAGRAM MYTH #1: YOU NEED TO FOLLOW PEOPLE SO THEY WILL FOLLOW YOU BACK
Ummm…no. There are people out there that actually teach this as a growth tactic. Let me tell you, I have four separate methods for gaining relevant followers on Instagram and following people compulsively is NOT one of them.
Drop everything and read Instagram Myths Busted! Share on XThese four methods are proven to work. Just take a look at my stats. You will see that I net around 300 followers a week. I actually get more than that, but some people are spammy spamsters and unfollow me if I don’t follow them back. Guess what? I don’t care. Those people were never actually interested in doing business with me to begin with. They were just trying to increase their own numbers in a sleazy way.
INSTAGRAM MYTH #2: ALL I NEED ARE PRETTY PICTURES
Nope-ity nope. Until a month ago, I took all my own photos. Guess what? They were decent, but they weren’t amazing. Follow me here and scroll down to the very bottom of my feed and you’ll see what I mean.
I was able to gain 9,000 followers since January WITHOUT professional photography. FYI, you can learn more about Natasha, who does my Instagram photography, right here. I am EXTRA lucky because she is teaching an entire section on flat lay photography in my new course. Right???
It’s important that you understand that NO ONE is a photo pro at the beginning. You can scroll down to the most popular Instagram feeds and see that most people have an awkward start.
Aim for progress, not perfection. Stop comparing yourself to everyone else and get to work. Share on XFocus on progress over perfection. Your photos will improve with time as long as you are practicing. Don’t get caught up in how amazing everyone else is. Again, my photos used to look super basic, but I was still nailing it and bringing in sales. You can see here that my editing was nothing fancy. Just increasing the brightness made a huge difference.
INSTAGRAM MYTH #3: INSTAGRAM IS GREAT FOR SELLING PRODUCTS, BUT NOT CONSULTATIONS
No way, Rosé. When I launched my consulting biz in January of 2015, I had zero clients. By March I was BOOKED OUT two months in advance. The whole reason I came up with an online course was because I could not keep up with the demand. Instagram is a great place to develop real business relationships with potential clients and customers.
I love getting to know my customers through Instagram. I learn so much about who they are and what they care about my scrolling through their feed. Target Market Research Alert. Yeah. You can learn a ton about your target market by finding your ideal customers on Instagram and learning what makes them tick.
BTW, I found my first biz coach ON INSTAGRAM. She started commenting on my photos and before I knew it, I bought a package. Leaving real comments, not vague stuff, can help you find people who would benefit from what you’re selling.
Just make sure the comments you leave are genuine. Whatever you do, never, ever, never, leave the comment, “Nice pic!” I know YOU know what I’m talking about. You don’t want to be associated with people who leave the exact same comment on a bajillion photos. So impersonal. Ick.
