jakesocial2me-blog

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Carousel Posts and why we love and hate them

Carousel Posts - Instagram’s newest feature.

Carousel Posts allow users to post up to 10 pictures and videos at once. This feature is created by Instagram because it wants users to post more.

Some Marketers hate this because it flies through content. Because creating good content and editing it is very time consuming. 

Instagram is full of perfect feeds. And it’s a reason why some people are reluctant to post. Some people will often take posts down if it doesn’t get enough likes right away.

Instagram purposely added this feature so everyone will worry less about the quality of their content - and post more. They’re hoping the carousel posts gives you the opportunity to post more pictures even if they’re not perfect.

As a marketer - I love this new feature.

I’m all about shipping content and not obsessing over it.

This feature allows me to make a post and put a video behind it! Even if the video is not perfect.

I can post a really good picture and then put nine more OK pictures behind it. They’re only going to scroll through if they’re intrigued by the first picture. And when people scroll my gallery feed they’ll only see the best picture of the bunch. All about it.

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Curating Content - Reposting for Business

Advice: Repost EVERYTHING.

Don’t focus on the flaws. Remember a picture a customer takes is never going to be perfect.

Reposting a customers picture is like a rewards program. It’s the free gift you can give back to your customers.

And don’t ask the customer for permission - because it only slows down the process. Just make sure to give the customer CREDIT <— That is the key step.

WHY REPOSTING IS ALWAYS THE RIGHT MOVE:

As a personal instagramer - I’m posting so people can see my lifestyle. If a business sees I’m using their product and they repost my picture and give me credit I am STOKED. It’s like doubling my LIKES. People that follow the business might start following ME.

WHAT IF THE PERSON REALLY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SHARE THEIR PICTURE?

This doesn’t happen. Because if they don’t want you to share their picture then their profile will be private. And you’ll have never seen the picture in the first place.

HOW TO FIND PICTURES TO REPOST?

Search your location. Look at your followers pages. And put a hashtag you’d like your customers to use in your profile - search that hashtag.

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How to #hashtag for Exposure

Search relevant hashtags to your post - and use those hashtags. 

For example, I run Instagram Marketing for a bar and restaurant in Pacific Beach San Diego, CA. So my main hashtags are based on my location and most popular items;

#pacificbeach #sandiego #mimosas #sdcraftbeer

You can use up to 30 hashtags. And I recommend using atleast 25. The best way to organize your hashtags is below.

Step 1: Open up Notes in your phone.

Step 2: Create a folder called #hashtags and add 5 dashes by clicking dash and return 5 times.

Step 3: Add 25-30 hashtags (Sometimes you can fit 30, sometimes only 25)

How to Post: Post your picture and caption on instagram with no hashtags unless it flows nicely in your caption. Once you’ve posted, comment on your own post and copy & paste all the hashtags including the 5 dashes into the box. 

How is it Effective?: If you’re posting #pizza and people are searching #pizza they have a chance of seeing you. You’ll show up in Recent Posts under anyone exploring #pizza. And of course, if they like your photo - all their followers will see that they liked the photo. And your photo could be liked again; creating a viral effect.

Want to see it work now? Go ahead and comment on your old photos with 25-30 hashtags using this format. You’ll see the likes roll in :)

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Thought Process of Instagram Algorithm

Instagram shows you content that you want to see based on your interests. (Interests in people, things, etc.)

What you click on determines what you will see.

I like food, sports, and my close friends. I’m always clicking on this shit. And I’m always tagging my close friends in ridiculous food photos and videos. So the algorithm is going to show me similar things to all that stuff. 

Whenever I hit the Explore button it’s showing me food and sports highlights. And whenever my closest friends post it’s at the top of my feed. That’s because Instagram tracks your clicks. They even see what your search in google - which dictates the advertisements you’ll see. 

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How to setup Automatic Updates on iOS

Step 1: Go to Settings (if you can’t find settings, drag down on the middle of your screen and type it into search)

Step 2: click iTunes & App Store

Step 3: Click Updates so it turns Green

Why this is necessary. If you don’t update your app then you’ll miss a lot of content and features as they roll out. Good marketing is always in the know.

Warning: This will start to update all your apps. So be near a charger and do it when you can afford to stay off your phone for a little bit.

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The Most Powerful Sales Tool - Word of Mouth

When my friend tells me about a bomb slice of pizza - I need to go try that slice of pizza. 

When a friend Tags me in a post of a bomb slice of pizza - that’s the equivalent of her telling me about it. If I value her opinion I’m going to take her word for it. And want to share with her my own opinion on the slice of pizza.

As a business, when someone “tags” a friend in one of my posts; it’s hands down the best type of engagement. 

Because a Tag is the equivalent to someone telling me about something (ie. word of mouth). Word of Mouth is how my grandfather owned a small grocery store in the 1980′s. He didn’t run one advertisement. He was located on a busy corner, with a good product, and people told their friends and family about him. 

To run a successful instagram - put your instagram on the “busy corner.” - to create the “busy corner” you need to consistently put out content everyday. 

If you have a good product, and you document content on instagram - people will tag their friends and family. And that’s the Word of Mouth. Which is the Most Powerful Sales Tool of all.

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Robots on Instagram

Instagram is filled with Robots. Want a robot for your page? -> Instagress.com

I don’t recommend using robots for your page right away. I actually don’t recommend relying on robots at all. Nothing can substitute for good content. 

What are instagram robots? Basically you pay a rate for a 3rd party to automatically like and comment on relevant posts. You Enter the relevant hashtags and location and the robot likes and posts comments. Likes notify other accounts - so they could be intrigued to check out your account. And a comment can be seen by anyone who looks at post - both ways give you more exposure. This can help rapidly grow your following.

I’ve heard of small businesses gaining some real traction and it leading to sales. 

Be weary: Instagram finds out you’re doing this and you will be shut down. This can happen if you like something the same time as the robot. That will flag instagram and they will shut down your account. 

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What is Engagement?

Engagement, Impressions, Reach, and Saved posts. How to find out what these mean? And the best way to gauge. (pictures from iOS). 

How to Find these Numbers? First: make sure your app is up to date. Turn on automatic updates (See automatic updates blog) 

Step 1: Inside one of your posts - click; View Insights. 

Step 2: Click; What Do These Mean? 

Step 3: Read. Below I elaborate on the definitions.. 

Impressions: “The total number of times your post has been seen.” This number is counted whenever someone scrolls over your post. They don’t need to click or like it.

Reach: “The number of unique accounts who saw your post” People will log into their feed many times in the same evening. And keep seeing the same post a few times. Each time they see the post it counts as an Impression. The FIRST time they see your post it counts towards Reach 

Engagement: “The number of Unique accounts that Liked, Commented, or Saved your post.” Add these up and you have the people (or robots) who took action on your account. (See Instagram Robot article for clarity) 

Saved: “The number of unique accounts that saved your post.” This means someone is really digging your post. They’re saving it to remind themselves how much they want a post. And show their friends.  

These numbers carry their own weight. Saved is the most impressive. If people are saving your content then you’re really doing something right. 

Then it goes to Engagement. The more likes and comments typically means the better the content. However, some comments are much better than others. The best type of comments is the Tag (See the Word of Mouth - The Most Powerful Sales Tool blog). 

The tag is the best type of comment because it’s the equivalent of saying to your friend “Hey, check this out” and showing them something interesting. It’s the equivalent to Word of Mouth Marketing which is the most powerful sales tool of all. 

Impressions and Reach are both bland to me. Their definition explains them clearly. Basically - If the engagement goes up - then these will go up, too. That’s how Instagrams algorithm works. To learn more about Instagram’s Algorithm - see Thought Process of Instagram Algorithm blog.

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Documenting the Journey

After deciding to Launch my business exactly 1 week ago - there’s been a lot of high and low feelings. Went strong on Instagram story for 4 days and then stopped for 4 days. Now I’m prepared to start again. 

It’s been weird because I have so many different relationships with people. And when you’re documenting your story anybody can watch. And that’s a strange thing to think. Like what if I’m nervous about going to lunch with someone - and I want to express that on Instagram story - and they watch the story before we sit for lunch. Seems weird right?

Maybe I just need to stop caring so much what people think. That’s exactly what I need to do - however, I’m self aware enough to know that what I say and do effects others. And sometimes it’s best to not say anything at all..