Every couple of weeks our founder @kylehjelmeseth shares musings with our exclusive talent roster that he thinks will give them big ideas to think about. Generally the topics come from the firm’s work with each influencer, and what he’s hearing at the top of the industry. Here is one of those musings, reformatted for our friends and followers:
This week…
HOW TO BUILD A BULLETPROOF INSTAGRAM BUSINESS
As a follow-up to an article we posted about making your business bulletproof, we wanted to give some great insight into the business of Instagram. Many of you create most of your opportunity on that platform, and the point of the post was to say, “Hey! Stop doing Instagram only…if you want to survive into the future of social media money making.” I believe this is SO important for everyone who wants social media to be their “career” or way of earning a living, but we need to nurture what’s paying the bills right now, right?
Recently our firm had the opportunity to visit Instagram, and learn a bit more about what they think makes engagement today rock…and if your engagement is poppin’ then the brands will come knockin’.
ZING…man, I’m so good with the rhymes.
Anyway, here is what we learned about how Instagram thinks you should structure your sharing to maximize growth and engagement:
Imagine your Instagram account is a car with four tires…each tire corresponds to a way of sharing: Pictures (static post), Video, Stories and Live. How far would you get with a flat tire? What they meant is, how far can you expect to go if you’re not spinning all four tires? Not very far, in growth or engagement. If you want to maximize the opportunity for engaging on this platform, and really see solid / sustained growth, you have to do it all…because that’s what people want to see, users have different consumption habits, and the goal is maximizing how people consume YOUR content.
How far would you get with a flat tire? Not very far…in growth or engagement.
image courtesy of @noelledowning
If you are only posting static photos you’re literally only creating for one type of Instagram content consumer…when there are four (really five, with Instagram TV) distinct consumers. It’s impossible to get very far on a flat tire…so make sure your whole IG presence is inflated and ready to roll.
ZING AGAIN. PUN INTENDED.
Naturally we asked — what is the best content mix? It seems overwhelming to be on all four tires at all times, and it would be for you AND your followers. Instagram suggests actually mixing it up to create a weekly schedule something like this:
Static post: 2x / week
Video: 1x / week, minimum 15-seconds, in feed
Stories: 4-8 frames per day
Live: 1 hour per week, broken up across each day (10-15 minutes / day)
1 video / week
And to us this makes perfect sense. Just like we talked about in that other blog post, in order to make your business bulletproof you must DIVERSIFY. I said diversify your platforms, but really to keep earning on Instagram you need to keep diversifying your content and make a point to GROW with the platform.
In order to make your business BULLETPROOF you must DIVERSIFY. To keep earning on Instagram you need to keep diversifying your content and make a point to GROW with the platform.
image courtesy of @fancytreehouse
So, thoughts?
We want to know what you think about all of this insider info. Really, take it to heart, and change up your battle plan. Try a new approach over the next two weeks and let us know about your results…bad or good!