I hope this past month has given you some helpful ways to increase the effectiveness of your Instagram engagement.

As we wrap up this series, we wanted to share one additional tool: an Instagram workbook to follow as you continue to implement your strategy going forward.

The workbook is a step-by-step guide that covers the key areas we’ve discussed. Just to recap:

The Giving Mindset

We start by shifting our mindset from “How can I get” to “How can I give” – this perspective alone can change everything. Instead of thinking, “How can I get more followers?” think: “How can I give my potential clients what they desperately need?”

Key question: What problem am I solving?
The Target Audience

Who is the demographic of people that is most likely to be interested in your product or service? Remember: Random equals Random – when you put out random content, you get random followers, and random followers means random sales and random engagement on your content. One of the most important things you can do as a business is get specific – use categories to define a precise area that you want to own.

Key question: What’s your niche?
Emotions & Visuals

You want to communicate in a way that makes people feel something, whether it’s through slogans, photos or even the colors you use.

Key question: What emotions do you want your audience to feel when they interact with your business, and how can you communicate that visually?
One final note, especially for anyone who still hasn’t gotten the level of engagement that you’re hoping to see: don’t give up. Maybe you don’t have huge numbers, but each of those likes and comments are real individuals who are connecting with your content. It’s more important to foster a few strong relationships at a time than to have thousands of uninterested followers.

If you have any questions about how to best use this workbook, please let me know – I’d love to help. In the meantime, hope to see you around Instagram! I’ll like your stuff if you like mine.

Download Workbook

I’ll never forget this surprising truth about communication that a high-level business leader once shared with me – he said, “People don’t really listen to you. They listen to the conversation that’s happening in their head while you’re talking.”

This feels especially true in today’s world. People encounter millions of bits of information every day – how do you communicate in a way that stops them from mindlessly scrolling and causes them to actually pay attention?

On Instagram, this requires two things:

1. Communicating with Emotion

“People may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” The fact that everyone attributes those words to Maya Angelou just shows what a great quote it is. Either way, the wisdom is undeniable – you want to communicate in a way that makes people feel something, whether it’s through slogans, photos or even the colors you use (in light of the Olympics, here’s a powerful example LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnBvlz8EaZ0 )

Pause for a moment and think: What emotions do you want your audience to feel when they interact with your business?

Once you find what emotions best communicate your story, choose a few to be your main focus, then keep them in mind with all of the content you create.

2. Communicating with Visuals

Also known as your aesthetic, this is how those feelings are communicated visually. If one of the emotions that you want to communicate through your brand is joy, think of all the visual ways you can communicate that – it could be through:

-your color scheme
-the lighting of your photos and videos
-your editing style
-the layout of your profile

As people scroll, they usually decide within the first few seconds of seeing something whether they’re interested or not. I strongly recommend the Preview App as a way to plan out your content and know what your images will look before posting, to ensure a cohesive look and feel that will help draw people into your story.

*Bonus: Communicating with the Algorithm

In order for your content to be seen by as many people as possible, you’ve got to be friends with The Algorithm. Rather than feeling intimidated or getting discouraged that your post might not be seen, hopefully we can use this to our advantage and share strategically. The key word to know is: ENGAGEMENT.

Instagram determines how many people are going to see a post within the first 30-60 minutes of you posting. So if you have high engagement on your post right away, Instagram sees that and says, “Wow, people are enjoying this post. Let’s show it to more people.”

Engagement is all the ways that people interact with you or your posts.

Likes and comments are some of the most obvious ones, but is also includes:

-the length of time people look at your posts
-the number of times people save your post
-how many times the video is viewed
-the length of time that video was viewed
-re-sharing of your posts
-a D.M. in your post to someone
-the number of people that go to your profile after seeing your post
-tagging friends in your post

Keep in mind: The quality of engagement is just as important as the amount of engagement on your posts. To filter out the bots and fake accounts, Instagram places a higher value on comments with four or more words, as it reflects a more authentic engagement.

As someone who values relationships, I’ve actually come to see the algorithm as a positive – it rewards the real connections that we’re building over everything else.

I hope that’s the reality of our companies, whether online or in person.

Last week, we kicked off a new series designed to help you leverage Instagram to grow your business. It started with a shift in thinking from “How can I get” to “How can I give?” More specifically, it’s asking:

“How can I give my potential clients what they desperately need?”

To answer that question, you’ll need to have clarity on the audience you hope to reach. Take a minute to consider: Who is your target audience? Who is the demographic of people that is most likely to be interested in your product or service?

You might be tempted to say, “Everyone,” because obviously you’d love to have the whole world paying attention to what you offer. But beware: Random equals Random – when you put out random content, you get random followers, and random followers means random sales and random engagement on your content.

Here’s another way to think about it: What’s your niche?

A niche is a specific part of the market that you want to focus on. One of the most important things you can do as a business is GET SPECIFIC. Use categories to niche down and define a precise area that you want to hone in on – that’s where you’ll find your target audience waiting for you.

It may also help to imagine your target audience as one ideal follower. Paint a picture of a single person that you hope to engage:

-How old are they?
-What are they interested in?
-What do they value?

Create this dream follower’s profile with any other specifications relevant to your business. Maybe start by using someone close to you as an example, since you’re already familiar with some of their interests and needs. I know it may feel a little weird inventing this make-believe person, but have fun with it – it can seriously change how your messaging comes across. As they say in writing, “The more specific we are, the more universal something can become.”

So don’t just speak generally to the masses – address that one dream follower, and all those thousands of people will feel like you’re talking directly to them. If you do it right, they’ll look at your content and think, “Wow, I feel like this was made just for me.”

Here’s to that dream follower leading you to many more!