Taylor Mosley
4 min
Taylor Talks Newsletter - 8/4/2020
Instagram Tips
I am back from vacation and here to give you this week's Newsletter! I am not an Instagram Coach by any means. I did, however, want to give you the tips and tricks that I have tried in the past. These are tips that helped either get more engagement or reach more people that would be interested in my content.
Tip 1: Get out of massive engagement pods
Let’s talk about engagement pods. More importantly, I want to talk about using engagement pods as a means of hack the algorithm. Spoiler: They do not work!
If you are a new creator here, engagement pods (text groups or anything with a brunch of influencers in it) are groups where you drop a link in order to boost each other's posts by liking and commenting. Pods are easily found via searching online, and some are open to the public. The most common place to find them is Telegram. They have 1,000s of users in them. It may seem like a sweet deal but it actually hurts you in the long run.
You get banned...
The practice of groups mutually liking one another’s posts is called reciprocity abuse. Instagram knows when accounts do this. IT HAPPENED TO ME. I was in an engagement pod years ago. Instagram banned me from my account for a few days and restricted my profile so that I didn't reach new users. My account was never the same after all of that.
It will recommend your account to the wrong audience or limit it...
By only exposing your content to the same people repeatedly, influencers are limiting their reach, engagement, and influence to a certain set of people. While this can help you sustain a low level of engagement, it doesn’t help to grow your following.
You should be using Instagram as a meaningful way to connect with your audience and build relationships that drive loyalty. While pods may increase your reach and engagement, it’s not with the right people, i.e., potential followers.
Brands also appreciate your post being seen by a lot of people, and good engagement helps... But if your post is ONLY seen by other bloggers, marketers will not spend a brand's marketing budgets on you!
It is suspicious
Any current or new followers coming to your page can tell that you use a pod. If you have a small amount of followers and thousands of likes and comments...the numbers will not add up. This could be a turn off to true followers of your account.
Tip 2: Engage with other users
I am going to tell you about a strategy I learned. It is called the $1.80 strategy!
This tactic is all about engaging on posts under hashtags that are related to your niche. This approach means that you're giving your “two cents” on 9 posts, over 10 hashtags. The equation goes like: $0.02 x 9 (posts) x 10 (hashtags) = $1.80.
This means that you should pick 10 hashtags related to your niche, and comment on 9 accounts listed under the “most recent post” section under each of those hashtags.
It is a massive task and takes time. But this is what brings actual results. Just think of the visibility and awareness you'll be bringing to your profile if you comment on 90 different posts!
THIS WORKS. I GET SO MUCH ENGAGEMENT FROM THIS AND NEW FOLLOWERS.
Tip 3: Engage with current followers
Another strategy I learned helps bring your ghost followers back to life. With this engagement tactic, you will pull your inactive following back to life, making sure they will see your content and engage with it.
Go to your follower list, scroll deep down and find the people who have gone inactive. These are the accounts that have not interacted with your content in a long time.
Go on the dormant follower's profile, like at least 5 of their most interesting posts, and pick one post you find most intriguing. Ask a question about that post in the comments. One of the main reasons why your followers don't like or comment on your posts is that they just don't see your content. If you do not have recent 2-way communication with a particular follower, there's a high likelihood that Instagram will not show your post to them.
HOMEWORK:
Try one of these tips and let me know how it goes.
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