Becoming an “Instagram Influencer” is really, at the end of the day,

all about growing a large, engaged Instagram following.

Having a large following, WITHOUT good engagement (the number of likes on your photos)

isn’t enough!

And actually makes you look spammy.

Some people think that growing a large audience on Instagram these days isn’t possible

BUT

I promise you.

Growing on Instagram is so doable for YOU

Even now, with all of the pesky algorithm changes

AND growing on Insta is pretty important – no matter how you look at it

There are more than 500 million active (active every day!) users on Instagram, and 80% of accounts follow at least one business.

It’s the first place people are going when they hear about a new brand to see if they’re popular (i.e., have a lot of followers), and have a healthy number of likes on their photos

(because you know otherwise – if you have a lot of followers but very few likes on your photos – it looks like you have a fake spammy account!)

Here are 8 simple steps to beat the algorithm on Insta in Q4 2019 that I see WORK without exception

I see them work every day in my group and they are responsible for my 350k Instagram follower growth in the past 1.5 years!

Step 1. Pick a target audience, and a specific way you can help them

Otherwise known as “niching down”

Niching down is incredibly important, because

While growing on Insta right now is 100% doable…

it has become a very popular social media platform, so there is a fair amount of (healthy!) competition

What is a niche?

Pick 1) a profession (or way to help people) and 2) a target audience

Here are some good examples:

• A nutritionist who helps college students (hehe me @CollegeNutritionist)

• A personal trainer who helps brides to be

• A home organizer who helps moms with children <5 years old

• A lifestyle blogger focused on finding & sharing local events and restaurants in Dallas, TX where singles and friends can meet

• A relationship coach focused on helping women in their 50s find love after divorce

Step 2. Understand your audience’s struggles 

One of the biggest issues I see is people making their Instagram accounts all about what THEY want to focus on, talk about, take pictures of, blog about etc

without any consideration of what their followers want to see

I actually was just talking with someone who said:

“I feel good posting about what I like, I don’t care about likes”

First of all, sorry dear, but I know you do in fact care about your Instagram growth and likes, because… even if people don’t want to admit it… everyone does!

And social proof (number of followers and likes), is important to your success (like it or not!)

No ifs, ands, likes, or buts about it!

So the first thing to do is to understand what your audience wants to see – what are the problems they’re having, their pains, frustrations, and fears

So how do you understand their struggles?

ASK THEM!

Do a survey, ask in Stories, talk with actual humans, you name it 🙂

This is a critical, critical step. Don’t skip over it!

Step 3. Update your bio to reflect their struggles

Remove all the mumbo jumbo about you

Yes, 100%, you are a wonderful, lovely person

But people are more interested in how you can help THEM versus all the details about your personal life

Here’s an example:

My bio used to have this type of info about me:

• Student at Columbia University

• Lover of bagels and ice cream

**crickets**

Who cares???

My bio now ONLY reflects my target audiences’ goals and desires. Check it out here 🙂

Step 4. Look for accounts doing really well in your same niche

By really well I mean: accounts that have a lot of followers and that get more than 1% engagement (number of likes divided by number of followers)

Ask yourself these questions:

• Who is doing well?

• WHAT are they doing with their photos/ videos?

• Can you see any commonalities?

• What types of photos are they posting?

• Is there a certain editing style they’re using?

• Are they including text in their photos?

• Do they have pictures of themselves?

Every niche will be different – but e
very niche will have commonalities which you can EASILY discover for yourself!

An important note: Photos are key – hashtags, how many times you comment on other peoples’ photos, how many hours you’re actually on Instagram, none of that will make of break you

Content is key!

Step 5. Create viral content 

Once you know the common traits of the content among the popular accounts in your niche,

Create THAT type of content!

Please please, do not spend your valuable time and resources recreating the wheel

If you see something working, learn from them and do it too!

Step 6. Review your Insights

The next step is to review YOUR insights (go to: your profile —> then the 3 lines on the top right —> then Insights) – too see what type of content actually performs well on your feed

Once you know what does well, DO MORE OF THAT!

It’s that simple 🤩

Step 7. Be consistent  

Consistency matters a LOT

Here’s what I mean by consistency:

1. Be consistent with the look and editing style of your photos

2. Be consistent with how often you post

3. Be consistent with what time of day you post

Step 8. Don’t forget to include YOURSELF 

I know I said in Step 3 to stop focusing so much on yourself

And that absolutely remains true

BUT

An important distinction is to make sure to include at least some photos of yourself in your feed, and include your face in Stories (e.g. talking about how to solve your audience’s struggles)

This way, your followers will grow to know, like, and trust you

And they’ll be investing in following you – not just the initial follow, but staying engaged with your content for months and years

Will you try these steps? 🤩

I would LOVE for you to check out my Beat the Algorithm course where I’ll walk you through, step by step, how to grow your Insta too –

But first, make sure you get my Instagram growth cheat sheet (FREE) so you can jumpstart your success NOW!

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