My Instagram Strategy - 2020
Instagram is great, right? But the ever changing algorithm and pressures to perform make it a difficult platform to face head-on sometimes!
Over the past year, the way that I look at Instagram as a business tool has completely evolved. I guess you could say that this started in 2018 when I took my big Instagram fast to focus my energies into my Pinterest account and blog. I quickly realized that Instagram was great and all, but Pinterest, my mailing list and my website’s SEO was the real way that I was going to make the needle move in my business.
And honestly, if I’m not making money from Instagram,
then WHY BOTHER with the platform? That’s a lot of work for no reward.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2019, I hosted the #FloralDrawingChallenge on Instagram and HAD A BLAST, but was super burnt out afterwards. I’m an extrovert, so I really felt like I was giving and giving all of this energy away but didn’t have anyone to read or feed off of and I totally crashed. I knew something had to change or I would quit the platform all together. After about 9 months of experimenting, here’s the basic points to my new Instagram strategy:
1: I Don’t Sell Or Pitch On Instagram:
There’s a couple reasons that I don’t do this. A, it wasn’t working. B, it’s not how I want others to use Instagram.
When I go onto Instagram as a user, I’m usually tired, looking for pretty things or just want to be distracted. I’m there for the funny mom who’s kids are as naked and covered in peanut butter as mine. For the artist who captures color and texture in ways that I find inspiring. I don’t want to hear a sales pitch or hear “only 3 hours left for this amazing discount”! I unfollow those accounts. SO FREAKING FAST. Even accounts that I have LOOOVED for a long time are getting super sales-y and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Even though I love THEM, I’ve seriously considered unfollowing and that’s not what I want to do to my audience! So I don’t do it anymore. If I’m making a pitch, it’s to my mailing list or on YouTube, but my main way to advertise is Pinterest.
I’ve found that the harder I try to “sell” on Instagram,
the less interaction and sales I actually make.
Also, “sales” that I promote on Instagram do not work (for me). People, in general, don’t care about your sale or limited time offer. If they love you and your product, then they will pay full price, a sale is just a convenient time to get more than one.
Sales to my mailing list? That’s where the money is, so that’s where I go. Personally? If I’m checking my Email, I’m in more of an attitude/mood to buy. On Instagram? Nope, just show me the funny cat video and move right along.
Disclaimer:
This is not to say that I will NEVER share about my products/services on Instagram. I will mention it or chat about it as I’m working on it, but more like you would tell your best friend about something you’re excited for, and not like “hurry, the sale ends in just THREE DAYS” when you’re already over it or even purchased and sick of the news flash. Does that make sense??
2: Relationships Are KEY:
My main goal on Instagram could be summed up in this sentence: I’m there to invest in my community.
I’m building relationships, and investing in the few people who already follow me—not chasing after those who aren’t. I would rather love hard on 20-50 people who love Blushed and are excited about what I am creating than have thousands of followers who don’t always know who I even am. From the viewpoint of just being a human being: WHYYYY would I not hang out with, talk to and invest in the friends that already I have and who value me in order to become some sort of Internet Prom Queen?
I left high school a long time ago
and didn’t enjoy it enough to relive it in my adult life!
From a business standpoint, I’m learning from my audience and gaining insight. This is seriously the best market research tool out there. They will literally tell you their pain points and what products they are interested in and how you can help them. I knew that I wanted to create 2 new courses for this year, but it was my audience that told me what they wanted, what they were struggling with and how I could help them.
Every single video and blog post that I have planned for this year comes from a question that someone Emailed or DMed me. And when I share the solutions publicly, others are enlightened, will message me in response or even share my posts with their followers. Which, in turn, grows my account/following with people who are actually interested in what I have to share.
Learn people’s names, RESPOND to their comments (even if it’s just “thank you” or “you’re so nice”), be a nice human.
4: How I Actually “Make Money”:
You know how I DO make a profit on Instagram? There are two main ways that I actually make money on Instagram:
From Dedicated Friends/Followers:
Occasionally, someone will “stumble upon” my feed and be interested in purchasing something—but these people rarely pull the trigger and usually only take up time in my DMs. Sometimes they do purchase! But not usually. In general, most of my profits are from my more dedicated followers who already love me and my work.
The best way to describe this “technique” is that I pretty much “do nothing”.
I just share what I’m creating and I don’t worry about selling artwork or booking my calendar. I’ve found that the more I just share artwork, my sense of humor and focus on building friendships, the more dedicated and invested my followers are in what I am doing—whether it’s artwork, a product, YouTube videos, etc—and are then more likely to inquire about purchasing something. Lately, it’s been friends who have followed me for 1-3 years who are investing the most in Blushed, though the past 4ish months has witnessed a flux in newer followers who are at least invested in my account, if not purchasing yet (largely due to the reasons listed in point 2).
Be The Answer:
My goal is to provide the answer to all of my audience’s questions.
The biggest way is through my free offers, and namely the Floral Drawing Challenge. It’s a free mini-course for those who are interested in growing in their drawing abilities. If they like it, they often purchase one of my full courses—and if they don’t purchase, they are usually a dedicated follower after that and we build a friendship. If they don’t like the challenge, then they know that I’m not the teacher for them and they usually ghost. But I spent no extra effort and rarely even know about it!
Sooo… what do you think?
Did this all make sense to you? Or did I just sucker punch you?
I’d love to hear what you think—while this, admittedly, does not include every aspect of the tools or techniques that I use on Instagram for my business (such as cohesive feed, when to post, SEO, hashtags, content, etc), this overall strategy is the underlying gem. The real foundation for everything that I’ve been doing. I’m so much happier and it is actually WORKING. So I’m planning to stick with this for a while!
I’d love to hear what you think in the comments! Are you excited to try this? Do you DISAGREE??
Leave me your favorite tips and we can all grow this year!
